When launching a web based startup (or I guess you could say for any startup really), you want to keep the barriers to entry (what could potentially keep a customer from using your product / service) as low as possible therefore eliminating any and all reasons someone would not use your product / service. From an easy registration process to making the product free or have a nominal cost, these are all the things you consider when creating your startup and product.

But what about the barriers to entry for you, Mr. / Mrs. Entrepreneur? Common thought these days are (now this is my own opinion that has been formulated from talking with startup CEOs, Angel Investors and VCs and of course all that I have read, and that must be the truth right?) that the costs to starting your own startup have come down dramatically since the late 90s and early 2000s that you do not need millions of dollars to get up and running. Hosting costs have come down, you can outsource the development, the list goes on and on. Because the costs have come down, investors are no longer investing in an idea and a power point presentation (well, I guess there are exceptions to every rule, but rule of thumb is that they are not), they are looking for that idea to be implemented. They want to see that you have been able to take the idea and create a product and business around it and show some growth. Show that not only you could launch a product, but people are using it. This is all fine and good, but all of the aforementioned accomplishments take money, isn’t that what you are going to the investors for? I mean, if you have taken your idea, built the product and company, launched it and are gaining customers, what do you need their money for, the hard part is over.

Wrong, the hard part has just started. You need to scale your customer base so you can generate revenue. After all, I am going to bet you got into your venture for the purposes of making money, not for it to just be a hobby (although some people do create products as a hobby but if the products are successful enough those hobbies become businesses and those businesses need money). So even though the barriers to entry have gotten much lower as it pertains to cost, you still need money to grow your business. If you can take your idea, build it out, launch the product and show some growth, the investors then seem to be more willing to join the dance with you. If your product blows up like say, Twitter did, you will have investors lining up willing to give you money like boys waiting their turn to dance with the prom queen at prom (again, just my speculation as I have not built something like Twitter, but that does seem to be the case).

So although the barriers to entry to starting your own startup have gone down, they have not gone away. It still takes a good deal of money to launch your company, but not as much as it used to. So then, unless you happen to have some extra money lying around (if you do, let me know), you are going to need some investors, what do you do? I suggest asking friends and family as a start, you may be surprised at what they are willing to do.