Not when you have to actually make money haha. Can't really execute without money, that's the entire point of startups, starve out the little guy with your free offerings until you can sell the team and hype.
Well, as somebody who tried building a bootstrapped and self funded Node.js PaaS competing against Heroku, Dotcloud, and Marak back in 2010[1][2] (the good ole'days) I am certainly sympathetic to the struggle competing against well funded companies. Ultimately though, I prefer lifestyle businesses these days. Funded companies tend to slow down, carry ridiculous baggage, politics, and usually result in less money in the founders pockets. Being self-funded and thus moving fast and agile is an advantage.
Im sympathetic to your money-disadvantaged position in this pursuit, but its just what it is. You got out-monied in this and have to continue looking for a feature that wont be copied down easily. It's not a defensible position if a competitor can copy it immediately.
