[ezekg]

Overall, I think you're putting the cart before the horse. You think you have a valuable product, but it doesn't sound like you've even validated that thought yet. I would do that first before getting caught up in these next steps.

> let anyone who feels it is worth pay for it

You should only do that if you want this to be a side project forever. If you want growth, charge people money. Most people aren't just going to donate money to you if they don't have to. Don't be shy about charging. People who find value in your software will pay you for a license to use it, especially businesses. If they don't find enough value to want to pay, then you don't have a good product yet and should talk to your users to determine value adds.

> To go for a startup selling licenced copies, I would need an investor

I don't see how you came to this conclusion. You can very easily license your software without investors, and charge customers per machine like you mentioned. I even built a business around that fact, which may also be able to help you start licensing your software quickly [0].

[0]: https://keygen.sh