I understand that @Heatman , it must be because of the exchange rate in your local currency or maybe it is the dollar in your country. In my location with an amount of $1,000 it is already viable to set up different types of businesses, since at the exchange rate in my local currency it is quite a lot. Imagine what you can do with $5,000, of course talking about small and medium businesses.Personally, I don't know about any other person's standard, but when it comes to starting up a new business, there is no way I'm venturing into any business with less than $5,000. This is the minimum I can ever manage.