When you’re a Maghrebi startup, seed funding is never easy; you have to be ready for a pretty intense period of bootstrapping. We’ve asked a few entrepreneurs how they did it.

“You have to tell yourself that you don’t have any! It’s when you don’t have money that you spend the least,” laughs Chifco’ Amine Chouaib.

For Stagiaires.ma’s Youssef El Hammal, you have to capitalize on what you have. In the case of Stagiaires.ma, this was a userbase and lots of page views. The entrepreneur then inked media partnerships, which allowed him to skip on doing advertisement.

It’s also important to know what can be sacrificed and what can’t, explains Digital Mania’s Walid Sultan Midani. For Digital Mania, the only thing they could scrimp on was salaries, so the team agreed not to make much money at all at the beginning.

Azur Systems’ Walid El Alaoui Mrani has a different strategy. He focused on generating revenue rather than saving money. MesCadeaux.ma’s Youssef Hassar also advises to focus on cashflow optimization. 

Don’t miss the first videos in this series: 

• What makes a good team? 5 Maghrebi experts weigh in [WamdaTV]
• Will 2015 be the year of the Maghrebi startup? 6 experts share their thoughts [Wamda TV]
• How 5 Maghrebi entrepreneurs met their business partners [Wamda TV]
• VC, angels, or pre-sells: What’s the best funding option for Maghrebi startups? [WamdaTV]