OviEdu - Lean Startup Budget
REALISTIC 12-Month Budget: ₹15-20 Lakhs
Budget Philosophy: Bootstrap-friendly, minimal viable team, pay-as-you-grow infrastructure.
Focus on reaching 5,000-8,000 users in Year 1 with 2-3 core team members.
💻 Infrastructure Costs (Monthly)
1. Hostinger VPS - Web Hosting
| Plan |
Specs |
Monthly (₹) |
Annual (₹) |
| KVM 2 (Recommended) |
2 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 100GB NVMe |
549 |
6,588 |
Source: hostinger.com/in/vps-hosting (October 2025)
2. AWS S3 Storage
| Storage Size |
Data Transfer OUT |
Requests |
Monthly Cost (₹) |
| Month 1-3: 30 GB |
50 GB |
50k GET, 5k PUT |
630 |
| Month 4-6: 80 GB |
120 GB |
150k GET, 15k PUT |
1,260 |
| Month 7-9: 150 GB |
200 GB |
300k GET, 30k PUT |
2,100 |
| Month 10-12: 250 GB |
350 GB |
500k GET, 50k PUT |
3,570 |
S3 Standard Pricing (US East):
- Storage: $0.023/GB/month = ₹1.93/GB/month
- GET requests: $0.0004/1000 = ₹0.034/1000
- PUT requests: $0.005/1000 = ₹0.42/1000
- Data Transfer OUT: $0.09/GB = ₹7.56/GB
Month 10-12 Example:
Storage: 250 GB × ₹1.93 = ₹483
Requests: (500k × ₹0.034/1k) + (50k × ₹0.42/1k) = ₹38
Data Transfer: 350 GB × ₹7.56 = ₹2,646
Free tier deduction (first 12 months): -₹420
---
Total: ₹2,747 ≈ ₹2,800/month (conservative)
Source: aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing (October 2025)
Exchange Rate: 1 USD = ₹84 INR
3. Firebase Authentication
| Auth Method |
Cost |
Strategy |
Monthly (₹) |
| Email/Social (Google, LinkedIn) |
FREE |
Use for 90% of users |
0 |
| SMS OTP (10% of users) |
₹0.84/SMS |
Only for trust/security cases |
420-840 |
| TOTAL FIREBASE |
500-800 |
Month 10-12 Calculation (7,000 users):
New users/month: 1,000
SMS for 10%: 100 SMS × ₹0.84 = ₹84/month
Existing users occasional SMS: 500 × ₹0.84 = ₹420/month
---
Total: ₹500/month
Source: firebase.google.com/pricing
India SMS rate: $0.01 per verification = ₹0.84
4. Agora Video Calling - THE BIG COST
| Month |
Daily Sessions |
Monthly Minutes |
Cost Formula |
Monthly (₹) |
| 1-3 |
20-40 |
21,000-42,000 |
Within free 10k, rest charged |
8,400-10,500 |
| 4-6 |
60-100 |
63,000-105,000 |
60% video HD, 40% audio |
21,000-27,300 |
| 7-9 |
120-180 |
126,000-189,000 |
With 5% volume discount |
33,600-47,250 |
| 10-12 |
200-280 |
210,000-294,000 |
With 5% volume discount |
52,500-73,500 |
Agora Pricing (verified October 2025):
- First 10,000 minutes/month: FREE
- Audio: $0.99/1000 min = ₹83.16/1000 min
- Video HD: $3.99/1000 min = ₹335.16/1000 min
- Volume discount: 5% off after 100k minutes
Month 10-12 Calculation (240,000 minutes):
Distribution: 60% video (144k min), 40% audio (96k min)
Video HD cost:
- First 10k free (6k of video quota)
- Next 138k minutes: 138 × ₹335.16 = ₹46,252
- 5% discount on 100k+: -₹1,388
- Subtotal: ₹44,864
Audio cost:
- Remaining 4k from free tier
- Next 92k minutes: 92 × ₹83.16 = ₹7,651
- Subtotal: ₹7,651
TOTAL: ₹52,515/month ≈ ₹52,500/month
Source: agora.io/en/pricing/video-calling (October 2025)
⚠️ VIDEO CALLING WILL BE 50-60% OF YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE COST
Cost Control Strategies (MANDATORY):
- 45-minute session limit (automatic cutoff)
- Promote audio-first for quick check-ins (75% cheaper)
- Default to HD video, NOT Full HD (saves 58%)
- Scheduled sessions only - no unlimited ad-hoc calls
- Monitor daily usage and set alerts
5. AWS RDS Database
| Period |
Instance Type |
Storage |
Monthly (₹) |
| Month 1-6 |
db.t3.micro |
20 GB |
2,100 |
| Month 7-12 |
db.t3.small |
40 GB |
2,520 |
RDS db.t3.small Pricing:
- Instance: $0.034/hour × 730 hours = $24.82/month
- Storage: 40 GB × $0.115/GB = $4.60/month
- Total: $29.42/month = ₹2,471 ≈ ₹2,520/month
Source: aws.amazon.com/rds/pricing
6. Other AWS Services
| Service |
Purpose |
Monthly (₹) |
| CloudFront CDN |
Fast content delivery |
630-1,260 |
| AWS Lambda |
Serverless functions |
210 |
| AWS SES |
Email sending |
168-420 |
| TOTAL OTHER |
1,000-1,900 |
📊 Infrastructure Cost Summary
| Service |
Month 1-3 (₹) |
Month 4-6 (₹) |
Month 7-9 (₹) |
Month 10-12 (₹) |
| Hostinger VPS |
549 |
549 |
549 |
549 |
| AWS S3 |
630 |
1,260 |
2,100 |
3,570 |
| Firebase Auth |
210 |
420 |
500 |
630 |
| Agora Video |
9,450 |
24,150 |
40,425 |
63,000 |
| AWS RDS |
2,100 |
2,100 |
2,520 |
2,520 |
| Other AWS |
1,000 |
1,260 |
1,575 |
1,890 |
| MONTHLY TOTAL |
₹13,939 |
₹29,739 |
₹47,669 |
₹72,159 |
| QUARTERLY TOTAL |
₹41,817 |
₹89,217 |
₹1,43,007 |
₹2,16,477 |
Year 1 Infrastructure: ₹4,90,518
⚠️ Reality Check: Infrastructure alone = ₹4.9 lakhs/year.
This assumes aggressive cost control on video calling. Without optimization, could easily be ₹7-8 lakhs.
👥 Lean Team Structure
Option A: Bootstrap (₹7-10 Lakhs/year)
| Role |
Salary (₹/month) |
Annual (₹) |
Notes |
| Full-Stack Developer |
35,000-45,000 |
4,20,000-5,40,000 |
Junior-mid level, equity heavy |
| UI/UX Designer (Freelance) |
15,000-20,000 |
1,80,000-2,40,000 |
Part-time or contract |
| Founder Salary (You) |
0-25,000 |
0-3,00,000 |
Minimal, equity-focused |
| TOTAL TEAM |
6,00,000-10,80,000 |
|
Option B: Small Seed (₹12-18 Lakhs/year)
| Role |
Salary (₹/month) |
Annual (₹) |
Notes |
| Full-Stack Developer (Lead) |
50,000-60,000 |
6,00,000-7,20,000 |
3-5 years experience |
| Junior Developer |
30,000-35,000 |
3,60,000-4,20,000 |
1-2 years experience |
| UI/UX Designer |
30,000-40,000 |
3,60,000-4,80,000 |
Full-time |
| TOTAL TEAM |
13,20,000-16,20,000 |
|
Team Cost Reality:
- Salaries shown are below market for quality hires
- Must offer equity/ESOPs to attract talent at these rates
- Add 12% for PF/ESI + laptop costs (₹60-80k each)
💼 Other Operating Costs
| Category |
Annual (₹) |
Notes |
| Co-working Space |
1,20,000-2,40,000 |
₹10-20k/month, or work from home |
| Software & Tools |
60,000-1,20,000 |
Figma, IDE licenses, Slack, etc |
| Legal & Compliance |
50,000-1,00,000 |
Company filing, contracts |
| Marketing (Lean) |
1,20,000-2,40,000 |
₹10-20k/month social ads |
| Miscellaneous |
50,000-1,00,000 |
Buffer for unexpected |
| TOTAL OTHER |
4,00,000-7,00,000 |
|
💰 Complete Year 1 Budget Options
| Category |
Bootstrap Model (₹) |
Small Seed Model (₹) |
| Infrastructure |
4,90,000 |
4,90,000 |
| Team |
6,00,000-8,00,000 |
13,20,000-16,20,000 |
| Team Benefits & Equipment |
1,00,000-1,50,000 |
2,50,000-3,00,000 |
| Other Operating |
2,50,000-3,50,000 |
4,00,000-7,00,000 |
| YEAR 1 TOTAL |
₹14,40,000 - ₹17,90,000 |
₹24,60,000 - ₹31,10,000 |
| Rounded |
₹15-18 Lakhs |
₹25-31 Lakhs |
✅ REALISTIC BUDGET FOR INVESTOR ASK:
₹18-20 Lakhs
This covers:
• 2-3 person lean team with equity
• Full infrastructure to support 5,000-8,000 users
• Basic marketing and operations
• 10% buffer for unexpected costs
📋 Key Assumptions
- User Growth: 1,000 → 8,000 users over 12 months (3-5% weekly)
- Video Usage: 50% of DAU have sessions, 35 min avg duration
- Cost Control: Aggressive audio-first strategy, session limits
- Team: Below-market salaries compensated with equity
- Marketing: Mostly organic + university partnerships, minimal paid ads
- Exchange Rate: 1 USD = ₹84 INR (October 2025)
⚠️ What Could Go Wrong:
- Video costs spike: Without strict controls, could be 2-3x higher
- Slower growth: May need to extend runway
- Team attrition: Low salaries = higher turnover risk
- USD appreciation: If ₹ weakens, AWS costs increase
Mitigation: Keep 15-20% cash buffer, have cost reduction plan ready
📚 Pricing Sources (Verified October 2025)
| Service |
Official Source |
Verification Date |
| Hostinger VPS |
hostinger.com/in/vps-hosting |
Oct 11, 2025 |
| AWS S3 |
aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing |
Oct 11, 2025 |
| AWS RDS |
aws.amazon.com/rds/pricing |
Oct 11, 2025 |
| Firebase Auth |
firebase.google.com/pricing |
Oct 11, 2025 |
| Agora Video |
agora.io/en/pricing/video-calling |
Oct 11, 2025 |
| Exchange Rate |
wise.com, exchange-rates.org |
Oct 11, 2025 |
OviEdu - Lean Startup Budget Analysis
OviVerse Private Limited
Prepared: October 11, 2025
All pricing verified from official sources