[noodle]

This depends a lot on the product. Some products, companies, markets, etc simply NEED capital to get off the ground. Hardware for example is fairly pricey on average. Tech's evolution has made starting software companies and products really cheap where it used to be fairly expensive. Perhaps the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction a bit. Perhaps its SO easy that in some spaces, you need the money to differentiate your offering from the hundreds of others trying to do the exact same thing in order to find that success.

But speaking as someone even lately who has produced new products in the last few years, the products don't need to be perfect. The PG (I think?) anecdote about PMF where your product should feel like selling water to someone who is lost in the desert and dying of thirst. You can DEFINITELY achieve that with a sub-optimal, still a little unpolished/buggy product. I have, myself, just in the last few months. You just need the right product and the right market.