should there be another option?

Of course there should. Just like there should be a way for me to teleport to wherever I want to go. It makes me immeasurably mad that I have to wait to get places.

The market wants cheaper development and some number of developers will attempt the give the market what it wants. This leads to things like $4/hr outsourcing and a huge number of poor outcomes.

But to look at it another way, an investment of $20k for a yearly return of $12k-$24k is a smoking deal. This all looks good except for the the one little fact that your $20k becomes illiquid and could be worth nothing. (Because who buys failed software projects?)

It sounds to me like your real fear isn’t in spending the money, but in the possibility that the idea won’t be worth it.

Is that the fault of the programmer?