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List of 8 do's and don'ts for aspiring startup founders looking to bootstrap an AI startup 
.
Tag @SenYeezus @_sanje_ @wasimlorgat. There are others I should tag but I've only had 1 coffee
. Maybe @JacquesQuant and @alxcnwy can add extra tips.
.Tag @SenYeezus @_sanje_ @wasimlorgat. There are others I should tag but I've only had 1 coffee
. Maybe @JacquesQuant and @alxcnwy can add extra tips.
1/
Do: move into a cheaper apartment, cut unnecessary expenses, and save >12 months of personal expenses.
Don't: keep your lifestyle the same and think you will be able to build a product in 3-6 months. AI is hard AF.
Savings: 50%
Do: move into a cheaper apartment, cut unnecessary expenses, and save >12 months of personal expenses.
Don't: keep your lifestyle the same and think you will be able to build a product in 3-6 months. AI is hard AF.
Savings: 50%
2/
Do: use @filebase and/or Wasabi for storage. It is 85% cheaper than using AWS S3 or GCS. AI is data hungry.
Don't: pay cartel prices to AWS S3 or GCS and get locked in by egress, API, and lifecycle management fees.
Savings: 85%+
Do: use @filebase and/or Wasabi for storage. It is 85% cheaper than using AWS S3 or GCS. AI is data hungry.
Don't: pay cartel prices to AWS S3 or GCS and get locked in by egress, API, and lifecycle management fees.
Savings: 85%+
3/
Do: use cloud SaaS alternatives like Google Source Repositories / Google Error Reporting. They have generous free tiers to undercut SaaS companies.
Don't: buy premium subscriptions for every nice SaaS service like GitHub / Sentry. It adds up fast.
Savings: 100%
Do: use cloud SaaS alternatives like Google Source Repositories / Google Error Reporting. They have generous free tiers to undercut SaaS companies.
Don't: buy premium subscriptions for every nice SaaS service like GitHub / Sentry. It adds up fast.
Savings: 100%
4/
Do: rent bare-metal CPU servers on @OVHcloud. They are performant, reliable and extremely cost effective.
Don't: pay a massive premium to rent what amounts to really shitty virtual machines from AWS or GCP. They are so shit you will need far more of them.
Savings: 50-60%
Do: rent bare-metal CPU servers on @OVHcloud. They are performant, reliable and extremely cost effective.
Don't: pay a massive premium to rent what amounts to really shitty virtual machines from AWS or GCP. They are so shit you will need far more of them.
Savings: 50-60%
5/
Do: buy some GPU rigs + a cheap OVH server. Make the GPU rigs web-accessible using frp and nginx.
Don't: spend fortunes renting GPU servers from AWS or GCP to train crazy deep learning models.
Savings: ~85% MoM (12 month breakeven)
Do: buy some GPU rigs + a cheap OVH server. Make the GPU rigs web-accessible using frp and nginx.
Don't: spend fortunes renting GPU servers from AWS or GCP to train crazy deep learning models.
Savings: ~85% MoM (12 month breakeven)
6/
Do: buy a subscription to Envato Elements. Unlimited downloads of stock imagery, graphics templates, PowerPoint decks, you name it they have it.
Don't: pay a designer to mock up custom graphics for you until down the line when you can afford them.
Savings: +-95%
Do: buy a subscription to Envato Elements. Unlimited downloads of stock imagery, graphics templates, PowerPoint decks, you name it they have it.
Don't: pay a designer to mock up custom graphics for you until down the line when you can afford them.
Savings: +-95%
7/
Do: use Google Cloud Tasks for queues and DynamoDB for logs. They have generous in free tiers and there is no way to self-host anything half as reliable.
Don't: self-host your own queues or databases. Those things cannot go down. Build for fault tolerance.
Savings: stress.
Do: use Google Cloud Tasks for queues and DynamoDB for logs. They have generous in free tiers and there is no way to self-host anything half as reliable.
Don't: self-host your own queues or databases. Those things cannot go down. Build for fault tolerance.
Savings: stress.
8/
Do: be relentlessly resourceful: http://www.paulgraham.com/relres.html
Don't: be capital inefficient. It costs you equity and freedom in the long run because you will need to turn to Venture Capitalists far more often than you need to.
Savings: 15-30% of your equity in <2 years.
Do: be relentlessly resourceful: http://www.paulgraham.com/relres.html
Don't: be capital inefficient. It costs you equity and freedom in the long run because you will need to turn to Venture Capitalists far more often than you need to.
Savings: 15-30% of your equity in <2 years.
