Ultralight Startups

What is an ultralight startup? According to the website definition, its a "a group of technology entrepreneurs who collaborate online and in-person to help each other launch startups quicker and cheaper."

Some more characteristics of an ultralight which i've compiled from the linked in group profile:

Low permanent headcount, low overhead, low budget * Outsourcing (e.g. Guru.com, Elance, oDesk) * Off-the-shelf and open source software and platforms * Cloud/network computing * Viral/gorilla marketing * Any other low-cost, high-flexibility techniques Who are we? * A group of entrepreneurs who help each other launch successful tech ventures.

I chose this topic because i consider beeyoot (the founded company) to be an ultralight startup. I haven't thought about how it differs from bootstrapping - the main difference perhaps is that you remain employed while starting up a company, a venture, while "ultralighting" is then taking an actual leap and hoping living expenses last you long enough to help you reach your goals: start a new venture, build on the idea, raise finance. Another difference is that an ultralight startup has received no funding nor intends to focus on seeking funding from venture capitalist or other finance institutions, at least not until you are fully set up and running the business yourself. Ultralight startups would mean that you and your cofounders take on all the risk involved from concept to running the concept.

I have been ultralighting for the last 11 months and its been a eventful throughout, until now, where we have reached the final days of launching a working service - an online, social real estate platform for buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants, etc. Here is the work www.beeyoot.com - launching in June 1 2009. In one sentence, beeyoot was born from extensive, inexpensive, collaboration between me and cofounders Vertice Tree (www.verticetree.com) and a host of individuals spread out from Spain to the US to the Philippines and beyond.

I would prefer to share my experiences starting an ultralight while living in Dubai more than talk about the ultralight startup which is the web service application itself. This i will leave to the users of the service to determine.

It would be good to see what discussions follow and how many can relate to experiencing or attempting an ultralight startup.