If I could do it all over again...
livemint.com
livemint.com
"some kind of web based business"
Well, yeah, thanks Rich that's a great help!
This is why I love the openness of PG&co - compare their "ideas we'd like to fund" section - http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html
As someone who started with a print magazine, it's nice to hear that he now sees the future on the web, compared to many from that era who would stubbornly stick to what they had originally started with.
OP's answer overlooks the top one way to fund a new business: your first customer.
Think about it, most of us already have everything we need to go into a software business: a computer, bandwidth, a little gray matter, a little desire, and a decent chair. All that's really missing is a customer.
Find someone who is willing to pay for something, build it for them, and get paid. You've just knocked off multiple birds with one stone.
Funny how often this is overlooked.
"I felt our limited capital kept us focused on finding the next great act, and ultimately this was a real contributing factor to our success."
Our business may not be worth huge sums of money, but it pays the bills, and that makes it a prize indeed.