Saving Accounts

How did entrepreneurs pinch pennies when launching theirbusinesses?

• "We outsourced some of our services that weren't keyitems, such as copywriting and print advertising. We felt thatoutsourcing helped us stay competitive, allowing us to bid forlarger jobs and handle them should we land them. This helped us togrow faster and eventually bring those services in-house, giving usa higher gross profit. [We were also] frugal. There were times whenwe [worked] in the dark with our doors propped open and noAC."
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  -Michael J. Beresford, 35, founder of NetScope Inc., aninteractive marketing agency and web design firm in Irvine,California

• "We took advantage of the unfortunate fact that manydotcoms in the San Francisco Bay Area didn't succeed, and webought almost everything in our office used: credit card terminal,desk, computer monitor, chairs, lamps, you name it. And usingCraigslist.com, [an online community], we found aninfinite amount of office materials. We saved a lot of money bydoing a little extra legwork."
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  -Lynn Deregowski, 32, co-founder with Jenny Maxwell, 32, ofThe Cat'sPajamas, a novelty pajama manufacturer in Berkeley,California