I used to work for a couple of guys who are running their own scientific computing startup and are still in business after more than ten years. They've been ve

I used to work for a couple of guys who are running their own scientific computing startup and are still in business after more than ten years. They've been very good at finding people who can benefit pretty quickly from their work and who pay them to develop it further. I haven't been in contact with them in a while, but as of a year ago, they've been working on the same core technology for ten years and developing it further every year. There's no need for speculative funding, because they create R&D plans that result in commercially useful, albeit prototype-quality, products. They're very special in that they have a lasting technical edge, or you could say they've gotten lucky. I think major companies that could compete with them think the technology they're using is so hard to work with that it's a permanently boutique business, but they have always had a cautious eye towards scaling the business, and I don't see any reason why they can't accomplish it someday.