I regularly spend a week or two on a project which immediately begins showing increased revenue on the sites I work for, and that revenue accrues. I don't think

I regularly spend a week or two on a project which immediately begins showing increased revenue on the sites I work for, and that revenue accrues. I don't think that is expensive at all. In fact, I think my company is getting an incredible return on their investment in my labour. The same cannot be said for startups but I feel like the VAST majority of software development is done on projects where small changes are yielding increased revenue, decreased labour costs, better compliance with regulations, etc.