For any startup, will the Getting Real approach work?

The authors of the wonderful book “Getting Real” recommend doing a startup gradually, starting from a single server. “Leave scaling concerns for later,” the authors advise. According to them, for the start of the project, 3 people are enough: a programmer, a designer, and another one who understands both.

Consider a few e-money startups (this area is especially interesting to me). Did these rules work for them?

From the history of Webmoney

On November 20, 1998, the first official transaction was carried out in the system, and on November 24 a press release was published on the launch of WebMoney Transfer.
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The first thousand registered users were credited with 30 WMZ to the wallet, and the first connected stores - to 100. 3 WMZ were due for the attracted user. Tens of thousands of dollars! In a country that had just survived a default, when companies were not so much on the Internet — they were closed with bundles offline, for many it seemed like a reckless waste of money. Then in RuNet, very few people spent such amounts.

In this case, the generosity could be caused by the fact that the money was difficult to withdraw from the system. And, more likely, the presence of solid capital, which stood for Webmoney.

From the history of PayPal, an interview with Max Levchin

The real creators of PayPal are six people: Peter, Max and their first employees.

“The history of PayPal is first of all the story of the team, not me,” Levchin said. - The first six carried the company on themselves. Our leader Peter Thiel, being a professional financier, correctly built the banking business behind the facade of PayPal. I brought the entire technical team, calling two college students there. Peter led an economist from Stanford. And the latter, Luke, we knew well from our old connections: I worked with him, and Peter invested money in him. ”

- Max, at the time of the start of PayPal you had money from the sale of the previous company. Did it somehow change PayPal's chances of success?

- The fact of the matter is that I did not have any money in my hands. There were documents to receive money for two years and $ 7,500. After renting an apartment, two thousand dollars remained on my hands, and I still had to buy a car - my partner, Peter Thiel, ordered me tired of carrying me everywhere. When we created PayPal, it was necessary to deposit the capital required by law - 10 thousand dollars for all. I hesitated to take a smaller share. We lived without pay for a long time, I got into debt. And I also met Peter from lack of money: I lived in a very cheap apartment without air conditioning, I was looking for a place in Stanford where I could sit out the heat, and so I wandered into his lecture.

The PayPal team lived on personal savings for several months and received the first investment when much of the project was already done.

Two founders and four employee fans ready to work for free. The team is clearly more than three people. Money was like a little.

From egold history

The e-gold company was founded in 1996 by doctor Douglas Jackson and Barry K. Downey.
FOR E-GOLD COST worth a high, tightly built 49-year-old Doug Jackson, a former oncologist, adherent to the gold standard system. More than ten years ago, Jackson became a pioneer in the field of digital cash, creating, as he calls it, a private monetary system in which money is tied to gold.

GOLD, he decided - that is the key to all problems. The United States abandoned the dollar peg to gold in 1971. But Jackson and his friend, lawyer Barry Downey, set about creating their gold-bound currency. To collect the initial $ 900 thousand, Jackson cashed out his retirement accounts and sold medical practice. One of his former colleague noticed that Jackson worked around the clock on a computer code, standing at the desk. He often forgot to eat, lost weight, stopped going to church.

900,000 dollars in 1996. This is not enough.

I have reviewed several cases. These cases relate to financial startups that began in the last century. What is important in the last century is now easier to start (from a technical point of chuck).

What do you think: is it really possible NOW to create some kind of payment system (having strong know-how, naturally, and not a stupid clone) having a team of three people and money for several months of life, as the Getting Real approach says?