As I was considering whether to cancel my Ph.D. admission this year and go all-out on the web site instead, it occurred to me that I don’t have enough money to last a whole year. There is some risk that I’d be under financial strain, and end up going to grad school next year with little or no money in the bank—a bad position.

And then, out of the blue, a friend I’d shown the prototype page to said he and his brother are eager to invest $15K.

I said I wouldn’t accept investor money for at least a few months, but having some cushion like that makes me a lot less worried about paying the rent.