Not enough capital to start big

[travellers]

Hello all-

I was wondering if anyone started extremely small as a means to bring in investors? Recently we were on track to start a good sized distillery, by that I mean using a 150gallom still, but unfortunately some funding I was counting on fell through at pretty much the last minute despite a solid business plan. I have been working with a business mentor at my local small business office and he suggested starting with something that I would consider an experimental sized still, 10 to 15 gallons. Once I have a product and I have made a few sales then shop around to investors as an operational dsp. Has anyone done this? It's a complete 180 from the business plan that I spent the last year working on so I wanted to get some industry feedback on the viability of the idea. Any info is greatly appreciated. Also I am located in virginia which as many of you know is a control state that has it's own issues in terms of production requirements.

Thanks