You typically need to pay salaries before you have money coming in the door. Some founders cover this out of personal savings, and some businesses make more than the cost of an employee before they need one, but generally you need outside capital. So you'll need to provide something of commensurate value in exchange for it, which is either debt or equity.

A business with a chance of success in the 90s might be able to get a bank loan. As an early stage tech company, the capital available to you is venture capital.