Reading the article carefully, one realizes

- this is very likely a side project. Conclusion made by the fact that the author was writing, re-writing and re-writing again the project because of a new 'cool framework' that came out. They were taking their time to do that and doing it repeatedly for years. Proving that releasing the project was not their first concern, nor making money out of it judging from the fact this was not designed to make money but merely having a github sponsor button. Author's main concern seems to having been to just have with it and learning was likely a bigger factor.

- it didn't need funding to startup, as it seems like the only costs were the operating costs which were likely just a server on vercel

Also, to answer your question more thoroughly

- usually people that make projects like these have a main job, which funds in one way or another their side-projects.

- A million $ is a very unusually big capital. Side projects are very unlikely to need such big amount of funding just to start-up. People just throw a small capital if needed at all, and if the project self-funds itself, maybe they'll throw the money back.

Nobody starts by dropping quarter of a mil, you start by dropping $1k and being very frugal, releasing something minimal, seeing how it behaves, and once you have some actual data to work with, you pivot again and again and again.

It's always a huge money sinkohole until it isn't.

It's not really clear from the blog post, but it seems like it was a side project. That's why it took so long.

Personally, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of doing freelance work 2-3 days/week and working on my own projects in the remaining time.

Surely a side project. It is actually really good too.

There is quite a problem with creativity being stifled by the infinite possibilities of a modern DAW.

Everything feels super fast and responsive on it too. I am going to spend a good amount of time in this.

Helio is a desktop app that is down this line but more complicated and not as easy to use. This just all makes sense if you know how a piano roll is going to work.

How do you get freelance work?

Networking, in the broadest sense of the word. Gone to tech meetups, gotten to know a lot of people in my particular niche (sound and image processing).

It may be possible for you later in life. Most bootstrappers have worked up some wealth via traditional methods like savings, home equity, inheritance, and freelance/consulting work.

VC money and accelerators are primarily for people who dont have the wealth to bootstrap, but who are young and willing to take investors on early.

> Most bootstrappers have worked up some wealth via traditional methods like savings, home equity, inheritance

How in the goddamn fuck do you work up an inheritance?

Maybe you misunderstood me. Some people get an inheritance. Other people have to use their savings.

I think having a day job was a big part of why that took five years?

I assume you work in your freetime, besides your actual job.

You could just not do a Web app.

There are plenty of apps you can build that don't require any upfront costs.

I'm working on an app that runs entirely on a consumer PC.

Hey, my question was about the costs of living, not the costs of web hosting :)

There's still the big cost of time spent working on it without making money from having a job.

How do they get funding? They're already rich. Every single one of them, even if they haven't yet earned a personal fortune, ask them what their parents do. Find out they either own a Carl's Junior franchise or a semiconductor company. NBD, just build things, amirite?

Yup.

To be fair, even if you only work in software you already have a leg up (not as much as someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth) both because the salary is pretty good, and because you're used to designing, programming, debugging, and documenting.

From the article:

> Nice to meet you. I'm an engineer who runs a small mobile app development company.