I think a large part of this is the growth of internet companies, SaaS, ect, compared to the more traditional, we have a product and it costs x dollars, and it

I think a large part of this is the growth of internet companies, SaaS, ect, compared to the more traditional, we have a product and it costs x dollars, and it cost us very little beyond the cost of human capital to build it. It simply isn't possible to build a new internet company unless you either have users who are already going to generate revenue from the second you deploy the product, or some amount of financial backing (either personal/familial, or VC based funding). You can't easily put close to 1000 dollars per day of server costs on to a credit card. Additionally, it's hard to attract skilled developers these days without being already established (and can pay high salaries), or by having the backing of some valued institution (big name VC's/angel investors).