I do contracting programming for local small businesses on their legacy systems. Has nothing to do with my startup, but is great experience anyway. Things come up that I could never envision, but I'll remember, so my software won't ever have these problems. I can dial up from home or work at their office. One client even gave me my own cubicle. I usually work at their site for several reasons: makes up for the loneliness of the other days, some projects have to be done on site (printers, phones, network, etc.), and, most of all, I want to see and hear their employees all day long. Can't get that from any book.