[pstack]

What an important point to note!

Money is good, but you can work around financial needs much of the time. It is almost impossible to place a real value on advice and connections, though and it's difficult to know what you don't know (if you did, you could figure it out for yourself). Even if you stumble upon the right questions to ask, it's sometimes impossible to find someone who can truly answer it.

Personally, if presented with the option of cash injection or access to an adviser, I'd choose an adviser, every time. Hell, apply this to all aspects of life. The older I get, the more I realize knowledge and experience are the real commodities.

[Osiris]

I completely agree. I'm in the planning stages of a startup right now and we think we can get investment from family that will match or exceed what Y Combinator offers. To me what I really want isn't so much money as access to people, smart, well-connected, people that can help get things off the ground.

Of course I understand that typically those people want a piece of the pie in exchange for their advice.

In my case, I really need programming (read: technical co-founder) help to get the project started, that's my primary obstacle right now more than money.