Real costs associated with a startup?
patio11: My biggest cost, by far, is AdWords, but I always planned on that.  Its a "pay $1, get $2" situation, so I'll do that all night long.The big unanticipated cost for me is freelancers.  When I started, I did everything myself, by hand.  Turns out that most things are not worth my time.  Freelancers are also a "spend money to make money" option for me these days, but I got a shock when I did my taxes last year and realized I had paid out the equivalent of about a month's salary on them.[edit for context: one-man software business, 2.5 years old, produces roughly dayjob salary.]