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elevationtoday at 2:35 PM4 repliesview on HN

Could a veterinary business not be bootstrapped?

Assuming you had $$$ for some supplies but couldn't afford to lease a commercial building, you could provide small mammal services from your vehicle, driving to people's homes to give vaccinations and well care.

Being mobile would also allow you to serve a larger market than a fixed clinic; you could serve a couple small towns on Monday, a couple others on Tuesday, and server a larger metro on the weekends.

Once you're consistently profiting $$$$/day you'll be able to start saving for the equipment you'll need for a commercial lease somewhere because you have both the cash, cash flow, a loyal customer base, and critically, a good sense of where a good location would be to serve them from.


Replies

burkamantoday at 3:01 PM

Sure, that sounds plausible. I'm not saying you need an enormous amount of money, but for this scenario you need supplies, car payments, gas, probably some kind of licensing fee, insurance, some kind of advertising, and a few months of rent and living expenses until you start making a profit. Maybe like $10,000, plus more as a safety net in case it doesn't work out and you need to find a job?

Even if they are lucky enough to have no debt, I don't think the average graduate has $10,000+ in the bank to spend. I have never started a business so I honestly have no idea how hard it is to get a small business loan for something like this, maybe it's easy, but even so it's certainly risky.

Sebguertoday at 3:11 PM

this is a peak HN comment in terms of cluelessness about the realities of how the world works if you're an ordinary person.

fzeroracertoday at 6:11 PM

Do you know how much it costs to start a business, and how much the average well-off American has saved?

srigbok157today at 5:59 PM

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