Are quality and price in conflict?

Most people that I know truly believe that in order to get a high quality service, one must pay a lot of money. Think if the following arguments ring a bell:

• The lawyer rips my skin off
• The graphic studio is expensive
• I need to invest much in good infrastructure

I bet that you have many more points like the ones above.

My experience proves that there are many hidden erroneous assumptions behind these arguments. For example, it is true that for a merger deal one needs a top notch law firm which is expensive and it is worthy of the money. But is it true in all cases you have? Probably your needs as a start-up are somewhat easier.

I will give a personal example of a friend of mine. He needed to phrase a user agreement and privacy policy for his website that involves some copyright issues. The offer he received from a good law firm was several thousands USD. He decided to try finding an expert that works on-line and get another proposal.

He used Guru.com and elance.com to seek for a professional lawyer in this field. One who is rated high by others. It is obvious he found one and paid about 1/10 of the proposal of the law firm without compromising on the quality. This lawyer does not need an office in downtown where the rental fee is sky rocketing and he does not need apprentices, a secretary, a big decorated meeting room, and so on. Of course he charges much less and make a nice margin as well.

Another example for graphics. A different friend of mine needed some cool flash animation clips for his marketing campaign. Instead of going to an expensive graphic studio. He hired a student from one of the best art schools that majors in animations during his summer vacation and paid much less. The student was very happy and my friend was very happy as well.

Regarding software and hardware - check used products or models which are not the latest ones. In my former company we bought new routers in perfect conditions.

The morale is: think outside the box. It is very easy to spend a lot of money since it seems normal and sometimes it is indeed necessary. However, as a start-up you must control your budget and find creative ways to put a better use for your money

Feel free to write comments with more ideas and experiences you had.