Bootstrapping Under the Tree: Move Your Idea Forward for $0

It feels like now we are in the time where things start to blur with work and school off, family and friends from far and near here, and a lot of sugar from gingerbread cookies.

But this is also the time where you may have a little extra time on your hands. Ideas may be percolating… so where should you start tinkering with a potential business idea over the holiday break?

That’s what we are talking about in this week’s newsletter!

I am also going to take this question within the context of the holiday break, and what I would consider doing if I had a little extra time to trial some new tech tools and peppermint-mocha-fueled inspiration on my hands.

(And with the budget that is more Grinch than Santa Claus friendly.)

Utilize no cost productivity tools to brainstorm and organize your ideas.

Before I start building anything, I have to get things down on paper (even if that is in the digital sense.) I love tools that allow me to have some multi-functionality to them. These are ones you can outline a a potential CRM, kan-ban, or even organize your notes. A few of my favorite no cost ones are:

• Notion (which has a lot of functionality—but don’t get bogged down in too many options in their templates.)

• Trello (if you are more of a visual person)

• Google Suite (Oldie but a goodie. Start a folder to capture all the good energy and efforts on google docs or spreadsheet.)

Use AI to support market research.

I always recommend you root your startup idea in a problem—and you can read more about that in this article here. But if you have a problem in mind, you may want to start peeling back what is happening in the market.

Chat based AI platforms are excellent though to support your understanding of the market or prompt a deeper dive into market behavior.

(Please note though, that you should use AI and prompts responsibility, like always checking sources. And be conscious to what every AI submission does to the environment—don’t abuse it because every prompt uses roughly a liter of water and a lot of energy.)

Think of these no cost ones like:

• Gemini

• Perplexity

• ChatGPT

AI has a lot of benefits, but it should not be a replacement to good old fashioned creativity in primary market research.

Trial some no code tools if you are building a tech-enabled MVP/solution.

There are so many great no code free tools to get started if you are in the mood to tinker an MVP or learn some new no code skills. Again though, if I was investigating which one to start out with over this winter break, center it around the problem you want to solve and/or the MVP you want to build.

You could find a lot of options online, so here are just a few and some sample use cases:

• Figma: If you are of the visually minded or are more intuitive in the design space, this is a great tool to make clickable prototype of a webpage or app.

• Base44 or Lovable: Good for building an app in spaces like productivity or AI using prompts

• Softr: I love Softr if you are building something that is rooted in a database (like airtable) or a dashboard.

• Zapier: This can connect various elements of your build (or even your email sequences!) together with zaps.

• Yep.so: Perfect for a quick landing page without getting bogged down in the design details (which can be distractions) of a landing page.

Even if you are not tech-first, you can build with tech over break.

Now, if you may not be building an app or tech-first solution, there are still some ways for you to build and test your idea over this holiday break. Tech can optimize the process or get your digital assets to the masses with tools like these:

• Buy Me a Coffee: Think of this as virtual tip jar. I have seen creators and educators use this successfully.

• Pay Hip or Gumroad: If you want a virtual store for downloads, ebooks or other forms of content.

• Calendly: Make meeting scheduling a no-brainer with their free option.

• Otter AI: If you want to pay more attention to the meeting rather than taking notes, then using a transcription software could be your friend.

Try, try and try again.

In the haze of holiday left-overs, I encourage you to take an hour a day and try out something new to move your venture forward—without spending a dime. Even just ideating with a piece of paper over a cup of coffee is putting ideas to action!

Just don’t get to hung up on getting it perfect. (Because done is always better than perfect!)

Share with me what you are using!

And, I would love to know what new tools you are using or if you discover anything cool over the break time. Plus, to keep this article snappy, I am thinking of doing an article just dedicated to branding and social media tools as well.

Just drop what you are loving in the comments—sharing is caring, especially in this time of giving.

This set the stage if you were interested in building over break. But next week, I am going to share a to-do list if you already have a venture of things to review before the new year! And as always, don’t hesitate to submit your own Question of the Day (QoD).

I am trying to practice what I preach, and build more in public in 2026 where I want Student 2 Startup to go.

In the new year, we are peeling back the curtain of current founders innovating and building amazing things (a few cool examples include the future of water filtration, edtech using AI for good, and alcohol made from leftover bread).

If you are a student or recent alumni founder, I would love to interview you for this 2026 launch.

If this has been useful to you or if you have feedback to improve, please drop me a quick line. Or share with a friend!