Marco says &quot;I’m not doing anything that other developers can’t do&quot; a few times in this post, and sadly I think it&#x27;s disingenuous.<p>I believe Marco got at least a couple million dollars from the ~$1B sale of Tumblr (dilution, not clear how much he started with, etc.).  That&#x27;s actually a <i>lot</i> of padding, and means that <i>he</i> can get by for a year or so to try out this free + patronage model.  Someone that <i>needs</i> an income, doesn&#x27;t have that luxury.