How limited access to paid tools as a startup made me realize the need for a community

When I started out as an entrepreneur the journey was fueled by big dreams that were perhaps a bit too daring. It wasn’t smooth sailing and early days were tough. Life in a startup is dotted with challenges that can be overcome only by sacrifice.

Bootstrapping required a lot of restraint – both professionally and personally. Leaving a good-paying job at Zoho and trying to build a company meant cutting a lot of corners. We had to forgo luxuries, back out from family & vacation time, self-inflict pay cuts and moved into an apartment-turned office.  

However, the biggest gripe was lack of access to the tools and services we loved. From basic necessities like Mail or CRM solution to universally used tools like Photoshop and Invision seem like a luxury when bootstrapping. As the saying goes ‘Nothing good comes for free’. We were pushed to try and find open-source alternatives. But they were nothing but painful compromises! It hurt us a lot – we couldn’t get things done in the same timescale as we could’ve.

A lot of products, tools and services do have offers but there were none tailor-made for the struggling startups. We had to make do with the free stuff and somehow managed to get our product out! Our product attracted funding and things slowly started to change and got to a better place. However, we still remember the struggles of our startup life!

Here is a small tribute to startups and the struggles we face: 

Somewhere amidst the mad rush of shifting to our new office and redesigning our logo, I realized that it’s time I gave back to the startup community. The easiest option was to provide a free trial extension for startups but it rather made sense to initiate a change!

Every solution, product or service a startup requires is most likely what another startup is working on and if we are able to set up a mutual sharing, we can surge ahead as a single startup ecosystem!

This is the idea behind #RespectStartups, powered by Zarget, for the startup community. It is an opportunity for every startup, no matter how small, to make an impact and reach out in a big way. I personally urge every entrepreneur to look at this as an opportune moment to give back to the community.

Share your offers and claim the ones you need at www.respectstartups.com

Voice your opinions about the movement with #RespectStartups on social media.

Let’s say “No!” to startup sacrifices! Let’s march ahead as a startup ecosystem…

Guest Post by Arvind Parthiban, Co-founder & CEO of Zarget. He loves travelling, is a foodie and is crazy about football, a Chelsea fanatic. With 12 years of experience in the SaaS industry, now into startup life.