in my case I built the product and got sales going on my own. Lived EXTREMELY frugal for the next two years and stashed away six figures of profits. At that poi

in my case I built the product and got sales going on my own. Lived EXTREMELY frugal for the next two years and stashed away six figures of profits. At that point I decided to bring people on at market rate salaries. Investors were impressed and since the need was on their end, they gave me quite a sizeable first round of investment, which I used to hire more people at market rate