[jpcx01]

Sorry, that's horse shit. Pirating software to make money is the epitome of hypocrisy. If you need something for your startup, buy it.

Pirating it outright is straight up bad for you and for your startup. If you are successful, someday you might have employees. How can you get any respect from anyone if you tell them to load up a pirated copy of something. Even if not, self respect is an important thing (even if subconsciously). If you know you're cutting corners, you'll end up be less motivated to follow through on things.

Whatever, just dont do it. It's stupid.