It was more of an open-ended question for discussion, and I was wondering how other people had bootstrapped themselves when they needed to buy product in order to kickstart something.

It doesn't sound like this to me.

It seems you were begging for money for a brand-new project of yours. I actually remember it from last year. If you were dishonest about money then, why should we trust you now?

Online begging seems increasingly common, and surprisingly effective. This is not the first case I've encountered.