Re: Venture capital.
^ I am not even sure where did i "advertise" on GS? Please clarify your claim..
Re: Venture capital.
Hanoud, what sort of business do you have? I am trying to raise VC money as well for my startup so any tips would be helpful :)
Ansoon, I am the lead Flash application developer with EZ Show Inc (www.ezshowstudio.com), a startup tech company based out of Seattle, Washington. I helped this company broker the deal with Canaccord Capital, which in turn has helped us raise funds through their network of angel investors. Currently, we are working to break even and have recently signed a contract worth $1.2 million/yr in potential revenues.
Although, we did make our share of mistakes and have to negotiate through some extremely challenging strategic situations, but we managed to see another day :-)..
My take in any startup is that tread the shortest route starting from idea to prototyping to revenue generation. It doesn't need to be pretty, but it gotta be rock solid, and any person should be able to see value in it - most of the time, your investors won't be tech savvy. If you can get your idea across in the first minute and can catch some broker's attention where you get to make him say..'yes, this makes sense..', you have won half the battle. Take whatever resources needed to get your idea into production to a point where it can sustain itself to some capacity. If you need to burn 200 k / month then so be it, but it MUST deliver...after that the doors will be wide open for further investment..
Re: Venture capital.
If you can do without venture by any means, that should be your first choice.
Once the venture in the blood of your org, you no longer own anything!! Having said that I can introduce you to some angels and vc's if you are in Boston area. If you are in SV or SEA, I have a connection there as well.
Good Luck,
Re: Venture capital.
Boston: that has been my impression as well and I have been boot-strapping for a while but we now need investment to take the business to next level. Thanks for your advice though, it is really appreciated.