The database The cost ladder
What it actually cost them to start
Every startup figure we have documented, smallest first. These are not estimates or industry ranges: each one is a number the owner stated publicly, attached to a business whose outcome we also know. Read down the column and the pattern arrives on its own.
The most common question we get is some version of "how much do I need?" The honest answer is that in this database, capital predicts almost nothing. The two smallest starts on this page produced an exit and a forty-year business. The largest single number belongs to the only documented bankruptcy.
Under $1,000
Window cleaning gear, 2017. Sold the company ~4.5 years later.
Hand tools, 1981. Still reports $600-700k a year.
Used tools and a $50 mower, 2008. Now $22-29k a month.
Detailing equipment. Now ~$900k a year at 60% gross margins.
One used pickup truck, 1989. Now ~$600M systemwide.
$1,000 to $10,000
A $1,000 truck plus incidentals, 2016. Sold in 2024.
Her last savings, 2023. $10k months within 15 months.
Cleaning supplies and a start, 2015. Now $120-140k months.
Pressure washing equipment, 2016. Now ~$2M a year.
Junk removal setup. $10,000 back in month one.
Used truck and mower, no trailer. Franchise now $50M+ systemwide.
Two machines and card readers, 2018. $500k in sales by 2022.
$10,000 to $100,000
An existing vending route, 2014. Now $58k+ a month.
A built Scoop Soldiers territory. $900k in year one.
A failing Craigslist laundromat, 2010. Now a $2M+ chain.
Above $100,000
Credible porta-potty start: ~$800 a unit, ~$160k a truck.
Bought a $1.2M HVAC company via SBA loan, 2021.
A failing car wash, 2013. Now ~$6M a year across three sites.
What the ladder actually shows
Three things, none of them motivational.
Capital buys time, not outcomes. The cheap end of this ladder is populated by people who spent years compounding: Winch has been walking parking lots since 1981, Kokenge stored his tools in an apartment. The expensive end skips those years by purchasing an existing customer base, which is what Hill's $60,000 and Menz's $85,000 really bought. Both work. Neither is faster than the other by accident.
The number that matters is not on this page. Almost every owner here funded their living costs some other way while the business kept its own money. Kokenge worked multiple part-time jobs. Menz kept his phone company job for years. Gallagher and her husband cleaned bars after their day jobs. The real startup cost is the runway, and nobody quotes it.
More money creates more ways to lose. The only documented failure in this database is also its second-largest transaction: a $2.1 million HVAC business with $800,000 in owner earnings that ended in bankruptcy after the seller turned out to have lied. A $150 mistake is a bad weekend.
Common questions
What is the cheapest business to start?
Of everything documented here, $150 of window cleaning equipment, which Robinson and Silesky turned into a company they sold about four and a half years later. Winch's roughly $250 of hand tools in 1981 has produced the longest run: forty-plus years at $600,000 to $700,000 a year.
How much do you need to start a service business?
Documented service starts cluster between $150 and $10,000. Cleaning at $2,000 and $5,000, junk removal at $1,700, pressure washing at $5,000, vending at $10,000. Asset businesses are a different category entirely: $85,000 for a laundromat, ~$250,000 for a porta-potty fleet, $3 million for a car wash.
Does starting capital predict success?
Not in this data. The two smallest starts produced an exit before 25 and a forty-year business. The one documented bankruptcy involved the second-largest sum. What correlates with outcomes here is duration and route density, neither of which can be bought outright.
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