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[quote=Anonymous]I guess I "am" one of these people and I'm definitely building and selling something as esoteric as colored bandages.  (DW told me I should post on this thread)

Background? Great b-school, nearing 40, 10 years in other start ups as SVP, COO and then a truly miserable, horrible, soul-destroying experience in a larger corporate environment as a senior executive drove me out.  Traveled 100k miles in 6 months, decided that I'd rather see my kids grow up than make CEO.

How am I funded?  I'm the "operational" member of a partnership, my partners, essentially angels contribute capital and time (when they have it) aligned with their comparative expertise (law, sales, domain knowledge).  I also run 2-3 other small businesses that share some overhead.

How much do I work?  60+ hours a week, but from home which helps.

How do I survive?  It helps that my DW is willing to put up with some pain while I build my brand/company.  I do pull a *small* stipend from my partners and also do start-up consulting for about $20k/yr

What is the goal?  This is what a bunch of posters are missing- as an early stage start-up executive my income ranged from $120-$150k; as a corporate guy it was $210k (including a bonus that never came)- that is not a whole lot vs the opportunity presented even by bandages.  For kicks I looked up "bandages" on Amazon using some proprietary data feeds- this product, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E8JTW8U a silly box full of gauze that cost the maker maybe $2, sells $17K/ [i]month[/i] on amazon alone.  Figure a 50% gross margin on it (probably higher) and bandage guy is taking $100k/year [u]on that product alone[/u].  Even better, once it's set up, Mr. Bandage is on autopilot and moves on to the next product.  Three or four of those, or more likely 10 base hits, and you blow my old salary completely out of the water and work from whereever you want. This guy has like 40 pdts- probably makes $50-60K/month.  Laugh all you want.

My goal is not to sell a company for billions (although I am building a salable brand), my goal is to as nearly as possible replicate my previous income while having nearly unlimited flexibility [u]and it's totally doable[/u].  Seems like a good plan to me.  Looks like I have some bandages to buy ;-) 
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