[brk]

I wouldn't get distracted by funding, especially angel funding, which is what you'll typically find at the very early stages.

Beef-headed MBA's went to school with other beef-heads, and might know a few people who know a few people. Scraping up $1M is not terribly difficult when you know a few people. Put another way, one of my favorite quotes is "A fool and his money are soon venture capital".