6 tips for getting self-funding right
Jilna Shah is the founder of Throda Skincare, a UK luxury skin health brand, which she has selffunded by working full-time in tech sales alongside building the business as a solo founder. Below, she gives Business Advice readers six insightful tips on the art of self-funding.
1. Normalise not quitting your job straight away
Growing a business takes more money than you think, so you need a consistent stream of incomebehind you while that groundwork is being laid. Overnight success and lucky breaks are not common. Expecting anything faster can set an unrealistic goal, and quitting your job before you reach that point can only add to the stress of trying to hit it. I’m still working a full-time job in technology, working 12-15 hour days at times, committed to building Throda every evening and weekend. It is that income that has carried every stage of the build so far. When you self-fund, investing this much is a genuine sacrifice, but it’s one of the most important things you can do for long-term growth and success. Be prepared to delay paying yourself for a while too. For me, any revenue generated goes straight back into growing Throda.
2. Spend early on what builds long-term credibility
Getting the foundational things right from the start saves you from a far more expensive rebuild later. For example, protecting a name, technology, or formulation at the outset through trademarks and patents. Brand strategy is crucial, not simply deciding who you are, but the research behind it: your market, your competitors, your tone of voice and values, since that groundwork informs everything that follows, including the visual branding. Getting it wrong and changing direction later is more expensive, and means rebuilding trust with customers who bought into a different version of the brand. I invested in attaining a Masters in Cosmetic Science before developing Throda’s hero product, The Face Barrier Serum, and that knowledge ensured it was created at the best possible standard from the outset, rather than rushed and corrected later, which takes more time and money. The right manufacturer, chemist and partner, rather than the cheapest option, protects the standard of what you’re building.
3. Launch narrow rather than wide
adequately. Throda launched with a single hero product, and for me that wasn’t solely a funding decision,
but also underpins the whole philosophy behind the brand. Launching with one product also means everything you invest goes into making that single product as good as it can possibly be; the time invested into research and development, running extensive clinical trials, sourcing the highest quality ingredients, partnering with specialist chemists and manufacturers, selecting the highest quality packaging. All of that adds up, and I would much rather prioritise one product that is genuinely proven, than spread the same budget across five products of a lower standard. This also ensures the likelihood of repeat business increases exponentially.
4. Separate your personal finances from the business from day one
Self-funding blurs the line between what belongs to you and what belongs to the business more easilythan external funding does, simply because it is all coming out of the same place. Keep a separate
business account from day one, and be disciplined about what moves in and out of it. Live off your own
income rather than drawing from the business, and let everything the business earns stay in as working
capital. It is easy to talk yourself into not spending on something the business needs, because spending it would mean less left over for you personally. Keeping accounts separate removes that conflict. You stop asking whether you can afford to lose the money and start asking whether the business needs it to grow. It also forces you to genuinely know your numbers. When there is no one else watching cash flow for you, you have to understand your margin on every product, how many months of runway you actually have. It also means tracking the return on everything you spend, because when you’re self-funded, you want everything you’re investing to work harder for you.
5. Know which hats are yours to wear, and which aren’t
As a solo founder, being efficient with money also means being efficient with yourself. I manage as much of the business as I can personally, because hiring for every gap simply is not an option when you are self-funded, and that is part of the workload you take on. I believe every early-stage founder should be willing to acquire new skills and wear a lot of different hats out of necessity. But that only works up to a point. If something falls outside what you can genuinely do well, or you don’t have the time to execute it to the standard needed, outsource it. Paying someone to do it properly is worth far more than doing it yourself and watching it fall short. Spending with intention means knowing exactly where your own strengths end, not stretching yourself thin trying to prove you can do everything.
6. Reframe the pace as a choice, not a disadvantage
Self-funding a business is slower, and as a luxury brand going up against competitors with millions in investment behind them, the pace is different. But slower does not mean worse, it means being genuinely intentional with every pound you spend and patient enough to know that sales and growth will not happen overnight. If you are doing the right things for the right reasons, that growth comes, it just comes on its own timeline rather than an investor’s. I could raise external funding and it would likely mean faster growth, but it would also come with a new set of responsibilities and expectations attached to that money. At this stage of Throda, I want to hold onto creative control and stay true to my own vision, because ultimately I am building this for the customer I set out to serve, and that matters as much to me as speed does. Self-funding is not the consolation prize next to a competitor who raised investment. It is simply a different route with different benefits, and one I am fortunate to be able to take.
