How Can I Invest in Fat Cat Photography?

As we have been talking about financing blogs and their revenue streams, there are some things that I can't seem to wrap my head around.

Josh Marshall commented that when he started Talking Points Memo, he was struggling to feed himself and certainly did not have enough money to fund his site on his own. Kudos to him for creating something that was respected by so many that they would answer the call for help and give Marshall what he needed to launch. The work he has done is extremely important and has had a great impact on the future of journalism. At the end of it all, it was worth the risk.

Not that I'm putting TPM and "lolcats" on the same level of sophistication, but I don't understand what Eric Nakagawa was thinking when he invested in a site that features pictures of cats with grammatically incorrect captions and expected a response. He may not have been pinching pennies like Marshall, but I would never have thought that cats could bring in an ad worth $4,000. If it were me, I would have completely missed the opportunity to cash in on something that obviously has a great deal of appeal. Again, the investment paid off and the "I Can Has Cheezburger" has filled a large niche in cyberspace.

That said, if I were to create my own (serious) blog, the biggest obstacle, aside from getting the money, would be taking the risk and investing into something that may not be successful enough to bring any kind of return. I guess I'd try to play it safe with a job that promised a paycheck.