If you had the last $100 in your pocket, what product would you invest in to get back on track?
This is a small test of your financial literacy and entrepreneurial mindset. :)
The art is mostly about making the most of the least, so share your approach to situations where you have to be creative.
I would pay for some no-code (probably monthly plan @Lovable to build the MVP) and paid for FB/IG ads to distribute it.
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You can build a decent MVP without subscribing to a paid plan on any platform, so I would save the $100 and focus on organic growth. However, if I had a time limit to get back on track, I would still build the MVP using a free plan and then find a niche micro-influencer to promote the product.
These days, it’s easy to find niche influencers with smaller, engaged audiences. They typically charge less and are often generous if your product genuinely benefits their audience.
I'll use BetaBoard to get more exposure 😅
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@betaboard The most crucial thing here is to create a useful product. Because if you create "cat inside the bag" no marketing will save you long-term. :D
@busmark_w_nika On point
$100 on black
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@omer_faruk_bulut2 Hazarding with the last money? I dunno, but I think your destiny in this kind of game is "less in your hands".
@busmark_w_nika
There are many people in the casino who are ready to risk their thousands of dollars.
By initiating a friendly interaction, buying them a drink or two, and starting a good conversation, you might find potential investors for your project with just a $100 budget. 😄
Jokes aside, $100 won't get you enough clicks or views for a proper launch announcement, but it can help you build new connections. It all comes down to your social skills. Of course, you may not land a $50-60K investment, but even $1-2K is better than nothing.
Back when I was living in Poland, I experienced two different situations similar to this. Of course, I wasn’t there looking for investors at the time, but the conversation naturally led in that direction and I ended up developing a product someone actually needed.
So this suggestion actually comes from real experience. 😄
If you're looking for people who are already there to take risks with their money, don't underestimate these places. 😄
Eth ical? That’s debatable.
Does it work? Absolutely!
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@omer_faruk_bulut2 So were you buying drinks for potential investors? :D To be honest, I haven't been thinking about this too much :D That changes everything and will let other people buy things for me, so I do not have to spend a single penny to get back on track. :DDD
I would spend them on some LLM API credits.
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@admiralrohan 🤝 If you know code, you are safe. I have a worse position. 😀
@busmark_w_nika Even if you use lovable you have to pay the LLM API providers if you integrate AI in your product.
I would invest in building a MVP on top of an LLM for a specific vertical SaaS use case. And use the remaining funds for targeted Reddit/X ads to validate demand with real users.
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@bismayy_mohapatra targeting on B2B?
@busmark_w_nika Yes, B2B will be the #1 choice but I am currently building a B2C SaaS.
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@bismayy_mohapatra Can you share the link for your BC2 SaaS?
@busmark_w_nika sure, it's interviewbee.ai
@bismayy_mohapatra You mentioned reddit ads. Do you have experience there? Can you share your insights. We've launched one traffic based ad there. People just visit for a second. I tried launching a conversion objective campaign but it wasn't approved for an unclear reason.
@mubashirullahd Most of these social media + Reddit ad platforms are only good for TOF/ MOF metrics. Not for conversions/ BOF metrics. Unless you are selling e-commerce products or are a performance marketer.
For Reddit, if there is a very specific subreddit that you want to target, and you already are a member and have gauged the intent by posting/ commenting, etc, then this approach works for awareness and clicks. Look out for Google Analytics data for tracking referral traffic.
I'd invest the the last $100 on myself (I'm the actual product)
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@tusharthethe In what sense would you invest in yourself? What would you buy for yourself?
I'm interested in the answers here! For me, I've been using free software for managing my business:
gnucash for bookkeeping/accounting. You have enter things in manually, but it's free and doesn't distract you by asking you to upgrade to some new plan.
taiga.io for project management. This replaces notion, trello, monday, whatever. You can plan out all your tasks, keep notes in a wiki, and generally plan next steps for the business onto a schedule. It's completely free, there are no limits.
Jitsi Meet to replace zoom. You can create permanent meeting links and use this for meeting with customers, also this is a completely free service that they host for anyone to use. I don't think there are any limits on the platform, but service may drop just from load on their free server. I haven't experienced any issues in years of using it with groups of < 10 people.
listmonk for managing an email list. This is a self-hosted option, but it's unlimited. So you can set up a tiny server on digitalocean or another cloud provider for about $5/month. Unlimited subscribers. Most newsletters I've seen charge you based on the number of accounts you're mailing to, with this self-hosted option there are no limits.
If you need/want a business phone number, I just started using Tello. They're a T-Mobile reseller, but I was able to set up an eSIM with unlimited texting, 100 minutes (but I don't plan to be on the phone a lot). This costs me $6/month and there was a $3 sign up fee.
To start making money, well that depends on your business and I don't think investing it in one specific product can get you going. For myself, I wrote Cook More, it was a prototype my spouse and I have used for years, so I finally decided to polish it and publish it. This only cost me $25 to register on google play to publish, coding it was monetarily free, but it took months of time. Now I'm running ads and trying to promote it on social media. I have very very low monthly expenses, so I hope things get going!
I'm really good at finding free/low cost software though!
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@appsforhumans you sound like a thrifty person. I like you! :D
@busmark_w_nika I'm super cheap 😂. I'll spend more when I start earning more. Once I know my revenue can cover some monthly expenses then I'll start paying for more services.
Right now my biggest expense has been setting up and registering the business as a legal entity. My next biggest is going to be running ads.
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@appsforhumans From which country are you? Because if you set business, it can cost you 5000 euros, but it can also cost you 100 dollars :D Depending on where you are based :D
@busmark_w_nika I'm in the US. It cost me a little over $500 to register the business.
Smart idea, Nika! I love the idea of creating an MVP using a no-code solution like Lovable with the $100. It wise to focus on releasing the product first using a low-cost setup. FB/IG ads are excellent to pilot test the waters and generate early traction. All about being creative and resourceful!
I did likely do the same, perhaps concentrate on creating a clean, solid landing page to begin acquiring leads while constructing the MVP.
What your testing and iterating cycle once you have acquired some early users?
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@hassan786 I would probably do research interviews with first users to clarify to myself what convinced them to make a purchase. And doubled down on what worked.
Since I already have tech knowledge and some experience in building products, I’ll start by buying a domain and a professional email—this should cost me around ₹800 or $10. This will help me look more professional and build trust from day one.
Now I’m left with about $90. From that, I’ll spend around $12–$15 on a Canva Pro subscription. It’s super useful for making good-looking posts. I’ll use it to create eye-catching templates and post regularly on Instagram around my niche to build an audience.
After that, I’ll still have around $75 left. I’ll use it to buy a subscription to an AI website builder—something like @Lovable . This will help me create a blog-style website quickly and easily. I’ll even automate blog posting, and connect it with my Instagram to test and validate my product idea.
Even after doing all this, I’ll still have ₹5000–₹6000 ($60) left. So, from the next month, I’ll only need around ₹2000 ($25) to continue. This way, I can launch fast, keep things low-cost, and see what works before scaling up.
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@prahemant001 Why not to save some bucks and use Figma? :)
$100 is going to be invested in myself to get a stable job. Mark Cuban said something similar. He'd get into a sales job, master it, move up and then start his own thing.
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@mubashirullahd And how would that 100 dollars help you in that way?
@busmark_w_nika might be a skill course like some new web framework. Thats $29 there. Some will go to hosting my portfolio and maybe getting a domain. I can host on GitHub pages for free if domain turns out to be unnecessary.
$20 would go to gen ai subscription. Rest might be freelance bids.
As a programmer, money isn't my biggest asset.
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@mubashirullahd Well, so first, you would learn something and then apply that skill in service or something like that?