While, in dollars, founder time and equity don't cost anything, in real terms, they do. Unfortunately, even in public companies, there isn't a good way to reall

While, in dollars, founder time and equity don't cost anything, in real terms, they do. Unfortunately, even in public companies, there isn't a good way to really account for these numbers... So I believe the bigger numbers (Mobissimo, Wesabe) are more indicative of the "real" costs of starting a business. For instance, if I were start and self-fund a new business, the development and design costs would be zero, but I'd be paying rent, eating food, paying for gas, etc etc, since I'd be working full time. For a real account of the overall costs, I'd have to take those expenses as "salary" in my overall cost evaluation.