boris

I couldn't read that text and had the most productive day ever! Is it just me or someone else also noticed that a black font on a brown background with little gray circles is not conductive of reading?

I do think the remark about 5 minute IQ test is a bit arrogant. I am not sure if Paul really said this (haven't read the article) or it was just journalism as usual...

"I've done both desktop/server software and web software, and IMHO good web software is harder."

I am not saying web development is necessarily easier. I don't have any problem believing Javascript or AJAX is a lot of pain to get working consistently across various browsers. What I am saying is that serious software (i.e., the kind that people are willing to pay for) requires deeper knowledge and practical experience to get right.

There are plenty of startups that make cool software. Trolltech, Sleepycat (now Oracle), VMWare, Coverity are just a few that come to mind. I think the main difference between software startups compared to web startups is that there is a lot more depth to them. I don't think an average kid out of college is capable of something like this.

I am working on software development tools: http://www.codesynthesis.com

I remember a few years ago Paul was proclaiming that as the cost of starting a company keeps going down, VCs will become extinct. It is interesting to see how the perspective is changing. Now Paul says you need investors to gain advantage over competition even though, oftentimes, a startup needs very little to make a product that people want.

I think it depends at what stage you are. If you are at the beginning then the answer is in the (conservative) estimate of how long it will take you to start getting some real money in. This can be very tricky to get right so be very conservative.

If you are already at a stage where you have some cash inflow from sales then I would say 6 months reserves is what you need. If you see that you have more than enough cash in the bank to last you 6 months without any sales then I would say expand.

C++ I need to support embedded systems, servers and everything in between.

I'm not interested in careful programming to be thread safe, or mutexes, etc.

This is like saying I am not interested in solving any real problem, just in concurrency for the sake of it.

I think you should know by now not to listen to what others think and just go for it if you believe you can do it alone and have enough determination. Be prepared to be a developer, web designer, marketer, salesperson, etc., all at the same time. If nothing else you will at least have fun!