Far more often than not I hear DC startup people here takling about how they are so much different than government contractors. The conversation usually follows the predictable skill set lines or the mindset lines. Today, as I was sitting in a coffee shop frequented by both DC startup and government people I overheard a conversation between two government workers talking about their retirement packages. They were talking about how to work all the angles to make sure they retire with the maximum possible amount of money. The “good government job with great pension and benefits” thought did cross my mind, but this prompted me to think about an important lesson that startup founders can learn from the government types out there. The lesson is that as a startup founder you have to manage your finances at least as wisely as a government type who is shepharding their nest egg. I am sure that for some this idea will go over like a lead baloon. For starters, consider what your startup costs could be vs. what they should be. A few weeks back someone sang the praises of their Mac Book Pro to me for nearly 30 minutes. I just sat back and listened, then told them that while their Mac Book Pro was shiny it was an extreme luxury for a bootstrapping startup company. For the price of just one Mac Book Pro I could equip three people with top of the line PC laptops. Double that for six people. That extra money could add up to a month of employee time, interns, pizza money for user groups that we want to sponsor, or bonuses for people who meet their milestones. The same goes for quite a few other things. I think you get the idea. Just imagine what you could do with a month of a full employee’s time for every six people you hire.
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