There are a couple of reasons A) They have some ideas they want to launch NOW; not 3-5 year down the road. B) Saving money won't make a dent in what's needed

There are a couple of reasons A) They have some ideas they want to launch NOW; not 3-5 year down the road. B) Saving money won't make a dent in what's needed C) They don't have access to rich family or friends. In my local startup scene I've noticed a lot of founders coming from well-paying backgrounds. Ex-Finance, consulting, and such - usually they have pooled money with co-founders from similar industries. Often times in combination with loans or similar from family or friends. Or even more often than that, you have already successful founders that are spending money from previous sales / exits. In either case, those tend to be the people with hundreds of thousands to spend. For regular folks with normal salaries, it's cold-calling every investor under the sun.