Tips for Alternative Funding (by Sean Murphy)

Bottomline is that entrepreneurs must bootstrap their companies through the R&D phase by forgoing salaries. By recruiting a small number of like-mind co-Founders to fill out the initial team, and convincing each to not take salaries, you are essentially making your own "pre-tax" investment, leveraging many-to-one. Since you don't need to put money in anyone's pocket (including your own), you don't need to raise lots of VC money. You might need a few tens of thousands of dollars. But no one needs a few millions or tens of millions to build a company anymore. My own experience is that if you can bootstrap your company to the point where your are generating sustainable profits, then you are in a seller's market. VC's will be kicking down your doors wanting to buy shares from the founding team, taking money off the table but yet allowing the company to continue to grow.