[framestr]

I can definitely agree with this. I was developing http://framestr.com (SaaS), and at the time, we had to bring on a 2nd developer and server costs were increasing (we all wanted to avoid raising funds and aim to bootstrap). Rather than raise funds, my partners and I built a small SEO business. We ended up scaling the SEO business to around $200k MRR.

Having been through the financing process before for at a previous start-up, I can say that the time invested in the side business was not a whole lot different than time invested in fund raising (+ meetings, reporting to investors after the raise).

By hustling, we were able to build a nice life style business, while being able to grow our tech SaaS. At the same time, we had much more flexibility and have been able to build / invest in what we want, and for what we believe is best long-term.

[cjalmeida]

Anecdotally, Boeing built furniture for a while to keep afloat when developing it's commercial aircraft business

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1832.html