jm3

I'll see your geometry games, and I'll raise you http://moourl.com/ColorIQ

From someone who's done time in an agency: these are my favorite and most talented digital design shops: http://delicious.com/jm3/agencies

(sharing these to amswer your question and because it's inspiring to check out all the great work; most of these shops will be well out of the price range of any reasonably frugal startup.)

check out VideoEgg.com

Zivity has had a "scalability guru" since day 1: http://zivity.com/about

prototype is fairly annoying. i use it daily but prefer moo and jquery.

I use both. When I'm speaking for "the community" or "the developers", i use We.

When I'm referring to a decision that I made as far as the direction of the site, i use I. (taking ownership and standing behind your beliefs)

it's a good question, though. I don't think there's a right answer, it's a question of what impression would you like to create.