Very much agree. I am planning to do a blog post that will touch on the idea that what investors promote as "the only way" is purely promoting and reenforcing a schema that's purely to their benefit. For me this had set very unhealthy psychological boundaries and pressures to work within. There are completely different ways though, as you state with your friend who slowly grew his venture over a couple of years. That high pressure path is addictive to many though, as you mentioned. I am okay with the slower path now - it's still a struggle but I'm currently hoping I can arrange my life to have the support I need to get me through the time and finance it on my own as I go, and perhaps smaller levels of investment from the local community. It's just not worth killing yourself over (literally or not), and you know, you still might just get lucky - it might just happen you get an opportunity for a large investment down the road.