Upper limit on your own investment should be set by you. Some sort of function of how much money you can spare to part with and how much confidence you have th

Upper limit on your own investment should be set by you. Some sort of function of how much money you can spare to part with and how much confidence you have that your project will generate a financial return. I use a virtual private server, atop which I have tried offering a variety of web services. The cost is pretty cheap. It seems a decent way to experiment while keeping my dayjob... I built up a library of functions to use, and can often whip out a version one in a few weeks of part-time work. If my prototype seems to be a waste of time, and/or I can't convince enough people it's a good idea, I either move on to something else or try it again.