🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <kihkdiINNdc2@early-bird.think.com> barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) writes:
>
>Manufacturing company founders generally have to take out huge loans or get
>venture capital investment; software companies don't usually have to.  They
>start out small, and can use their income to fund growth, instead of
>starting big and paying off the loans with much of the income.

Another (in my opinion, unethical) approach often taken these days is
to do the R&D work on machines owned by a university, and only start
investing your own money once you have a product.  This can significantly
reduce your startup costs, if you're able to do this and still look at
yourself in the mirror.

>Marketing can also be done
>inexpensively; a one-person operation doesn't need to take out full-page
>ads in every publication.

I've done this (actually a two-person operation).  I was over $10,000 in
the hole before reaching the break-even point, and this was for a niche
product advertising in small-to-medium circulation mags.  Minimal ads these 
days cost upwards of $500 a pop, even for small ads in small magazines.  
Unless the world literally beats a path to your door, you need a fair 
amount of capital to get established.