Software vs. Hardware

Take a look around, perhaps some of the biggest companies around you are not software companies. They're perhaps engineering/infrastructure based companies. These companies really do rake in the billions but these billions did come at a price. Is it possible for a person like me with very little financial backing to be able to erect a infrastructure of that sort? The thought is almost Utopian.

On the other had there's software. 2 PhD students at Stanford created Google with little more than a PC and a great idea. Microsoft, Ebay, Yahoo, IBM, Oracle etc have been acquiring companies almost at will. These companies are mostly small firms which started out in a garage somewhere in the Bay Area. My point is this - in a software company, intellectual property is what is of prime importance. In order to create that intellectual property, the resources needed are basically a personal computer and some accessories around that. Now look at the returns on that. Agreed that perhaps 1 out of every 30-40 startups does any justice to the funding pumped into them, but if they do reach a certain level, the returns are healthy multiples of the investment. For e.g. Shopping.com, a 40+ person company was bought by Ebay for about 700 million. Now, assuming that abt 35 million went into the company, thats 20 times the investment. Thats a winner for you no matter what calculator you use.

No other domain affords you that opportunity to go out there with an idea that overnight becomes a resounding success, a household name, a brand.