I think you're wrong. Once you go down the path to doing consulting, you lose the hunger to build the product business because the money keeps coming in.<p>pg says[1] that most product startups die when they become consulting businesses, and I think he's right. Do you have counter-examples of how a product startup became a consulting company and then went back to being a product startup? Not saying it isn't do-able, just that it's much harder. I'm in the spot now, and having an interesting time dealing with the challenges.<p>EDIT: By wrong, I mean, I think you're right that you shouldn't let the consulting business interfere but in practice that is almost impossible to do.<p>1. <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html#f2n" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html#f2n</a>