The next time you find yourself claiming to not have enough time or money to form a startup, just remember the name Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin. While it may not be the easiest name to remember, it could certainly come in handy if you ever want to learn to quickly launch a startup on the cheap.
Eckersley-Maslin, an Australian entrepreneur, has challenged himself to take a startup from idea to business in just seven days on a $500 budget, all while blogging about his progress on the homepage of Australian entrepreneurship magazine Anthill. He says he is tired of hearing would-be entrepreneurs complain about a lack of time and money, so he has set out to prove that all it takes is some will and dedication.
Beginning his journey on January 19th, the daring Aussie is currently on day four of his week-long journey. So far, Eckersley-Maslin has developed his idea, planned out his business, set up his domain, bank, and hosting accounts, developed a pitch and marketing strategy, and has begun to work on the functionality of his site. The idea? An online car mileage log that can be updated via SMS which he calls AutoCarLog.
Next on his schedule is to continue developing while working on graphic design on day 5 and the SMS gateway on day 6 before ultimately launching the product on day 7. Just as any startup needs a business plan, this Australian didn’t jump in to his experiment without thoroughly preparing.
“As there were things I could only do during business hours (visiting the bank) I split each day into two,” writes Eckersley-Maslin. “During the day I would have to cover registrations, marketing and promotions and during the evenings and weekends I could focus on development and design.”
What do you think? Will Eckersley-Maslin succeed to launch a product in just seven days? Or will the busy days and late nights wear him down before his deadline? He seems well on his way to success, but let us know what you think in the comments.
Photo by Flickr user aminCr.
