Successful entrepreneurs who risked all their money (and sometimes their family's money) to pursue dreams that others considered foolish get lots of press. Their stories are exciting and inspirational but they are also misleading. These risk-taking entrepreneurs are actually the exception. Most business builders succeed by taking a far more conservative approach.
Some examples are: Ben and Jerry. The two budding moguls started by selling their ice cream in a converted Vermont gas station. Only after two years in business did they expand into wholesaling their products to local stores. Google was a side project of two Stanford grad students. Dell Computer was started in a University of Texas dorm room for just $1,000.