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How much is the starting investment required to start new S/w company

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A precise dollar figure cannot be given without a bottom‑up estimate. As noted, location, staffing, product vs. services, and time‑to‑market drive needs; ’s post shows very small starts are possible; and ’s point about using freelance work highlights a common bootstrap path. The most useful next step is a short, line‑item financial model rather than a broad guess.

Begin with a clear MVP and timeline, then build a line‑item list of one‑time and recurring costs:

  • One‑time: incorporation, legal/IP filings, initial hardware, one‑off licenses, design and launch fees.
  • Recurring: developer/contractor pay or salaries, cloud/hosting, monitoring and backups, support, marketing/ad spend, accounting, insurance, payment processing.
  • Operating overhead: office/comms (if any), travel, taxes, and a contingency buffer.
    Convert those into a monthly burn rate by amortizing one‑offs over the chosen runway and summing monthly recurring costs. That cumulative burn plus working capital for sales/marketing equals the target capital requirement.

Funding routes should match the model: contract work or paid pilots to generate early revenue (as suggested), pre‑sales or paid pilots for product ideas, small business loans or grants, accelerators, or angel/VC for faster scaling. Avoid hiring full‑time staff before product–market fit; prefer contractors and cloud services to keep fixed costs low.

A practical caution: account for hidden recurring costs (cloud egress, support, tax compliance) and track unit economics (customer acquisition cost vs. lifetime value). For a short worksheet and guided checklist on estimating startup costs, see the Small Business Administration’s guide: SBA: Calculate your startup costs.

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Member Avatar for TheDevShop

That depends. Where is the company located? What are the required staffing levels? Are you developing a product, haw many years before it gets to market? What are your maketing plans?

I would say between 10K for a one-man home based business to 1M for a team of qualified US / EU based developers with marketers etc.

The real answer will come from your business plan. offers free resources to begin making a business plan.

Member Avatar for Dani

DaniWeb was started with only $20 out of pocket. :)

Member Avatar for ithelp

How much is the starting investment required to start new S/w company

You can register with freelance websites like , and bid for all projects which belongs to your area of expertise, so you just need few computers and software development softwares installed in them.

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