Coming from a family of entrepreneurs (in India), this seems empirically false to me, regardless of whether you count tech startups or regular 'small businesses

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs (in India), this seems empirically false to me, regardless of whether you count tech startups or regular 'small businesses'. Almost without exception, we've needed significant capital to start a business. Whether this came from a bank, a private investor, or existing family wealth has changed over time, but the need for it has not. I'd actually argue the opposite. Business has traditionally needed outside funding, but the incredible cheapness of software startups is decreasing that need. Finally, you say that investment "is only neccessary because technology is changing so quickly...but this will end soon enough." That definitely seems wrong. Technological change is accelerating.