And second, many sharing services operate on the theory that people would rather not pay for assets when they're not using them. says the company has already raised about $800,000 in seed money from investors, including ex-PayPal CEO Peter Thiel and former Google and Facebook exec Benjamin Ling, and recently opened offices in San Francisco. MORE >>

Eric Lefkofsky provided $1 million in seed money to Andrew Mason to develop the idea for the coupon buying site. Still, it’s not just about the money, says Vechey. Sharples sold off about 200,000 shares in the Austin-based online operator of vacation rentals at $25 each, bringing home over $5 million. With 45.9 MORE >>

But at the initial seed financing stage of your start-up, VCs are not always the better option In fact, angel investors often have more to offer. To date these folks have provided connections and guidance that comes from their own operational backgrounds. Flagship Ventures provided the seed money when I co-founded TripAdvisor. MORE >>

There is a growing fellowship of special-case start-up programs operated by closely-knit, permanent groups of angel-mentors. What’s special about these operations? The strong get money and live to fight another day. Relationships , I said back then. And I stand by that assertion. This process is not for the faint of heart. MORE >>

million in its series A financing and kept the burn rate at less than $100k per month to make he money last. Dennis wrote a great post at the time of the financing that showed just how product obsessed he was, even after taking the seed money. Raising money, scaling the team. Modest burn :  the company only raised $1.35 MORE >>