Quote - But who has the resourses to run a full first year on a red bank account......

I do, but I can't model. And I certainly can't model a figure. And even if I could model a figure and rig it, I can't model and rig a figure that would be better than what's already out there. 

The other way to not make money in the first year would be to create a marketplace centered around the figure and offer vendors a very good deal to sell non-exclusive content, and an irresistible deal on exclusive content related to your figure (100% minus just enough to cover payment processing/merchant account fees). I don't know that it would be a good enough offer.  But it might get you some additional support.

Conversely, you could lose money in the first year by running it like a publishing house. Offer advances to trusted content creators -- for products that support your figure -- advances that will be repaid by subtracting from sales of that product on your site. You could offer bigger advances to those who had already created product for your figure; smaller ones for those who were doing it just on a contract basis. It would be risky. But success in a very tight market requires a certain willingness to take risks. 

But, yes. Something like 80% of all businesses fail in the first year because their owner/operators expect or need to make money. You're much more likely to succeed in your second if you can make it through your first, even if you're deep in the red at the end of the first year.

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PoserPro 2014, PS CS5.5 Ext, Nikon D300. Win 8, i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz, AMD Radeon 8570, 12 GB RAM.