> There is also something about well-off individuals taking investment money to get a fancy office rather then bootstrapping and keeping all the equity/destiny of the company themselves that smells funny to me. I guess its "free money" but I have to wonder if the products would be better if it was sweat equity instead.

Based on the description of the company, they are working on hardware.

I'd agree with your statement if this was a pure software company, but anything involving tangible products can require initial capital orders of magnitude more than what 3 engineers are worth..