[Finance] Startup Costs

[Russ Garrett]

On 25 October 2010 20:05, Grant Henninger <grant.henninger at gmail.com> wrote:
> It doesn't look like this email list has been too active, but I thought I
> would see if there is anybody out there that could give me a hand.
> A few friends and I are looking at starting up our own hackerspace.  We've
> tried to think through what we'll need to buy in order to get our place up
> and running, but I'm sure we're leaving things out.  For those of you who
> have been through this process before, what were your startup costs?

We started a hackerspace in one of the most expensive cities in the
world (our rental deposit for our current space was ~$8000), and we
didn't worry about money to start with.

We started without a space, we found places to meet (mostly pubs) and
we built a community first. After a while we started collecting a
small amount of membership dues from people.

Your biggest monthly expense will almost certainly be rent, and the
best way to ensure you can afford it is by getting people paying a
monthly fee early. It only has to be a small amount to start with, but
people will step it up when you need it.

Then you obviously need enough to pay a deposit too. But don't worry
too much about equipment, because you will get a surprising amount of
stuff donated once you have a space.

Cheers,

-- 
Russ Garrett
russ at garrett.co.uk