My start-ups have both been entirely self-funded so far. The first one was profitable (though not overwhelmingly so). The second one is raising a second round of capital, from wealthy friends and family, so you could still call it self-funded (or, at worst, angel funded). We don't intend to need another round of funding after that.

I don't see why self-funding should be surprising at all. It's very cheap to start an online start-up nowadays.

Thats interesting. All I hear about is VC backed startups so it is refreshing to see some self-funded ones. In my mind, it seems a startup can only be sufficiently self-funded if it has a viable business model. How has your experience been with this (given that one needs to be more creative in making money in a web setting)?

Well, both my start-ups certainly had viable business models. If you're looking to make money, that usually helps. Even VCs will be happier to fund a startup that has a viable business model.

I think the whole "make something people want" motto can be profitably expanded to "make something people want enough to pay for it".

I strongly suggest you watch DHH's talk at startup school. http://www.omnisio.com/startupschool08/david-heinemeier-hans...

Thanks for sharing the link.

TheFunded.com is a good source.

Thats an interesting resource. Thanks for sharing this.

You have to prove your not a vc to get a log-in, once you do the information really opens up. It is worth the time and energy.

Yup. I guess I need to start by creating a LinkedIn profile. Don't currently have one.

How easy is it to become a member? I am working with 2 other people to build a site during weekends. I don;t really have a bio online and it will take me a while to build up a suitable LinkedIn profile. Do you think this might be a problem?

Its definitely worth a day if it takes you that long to set up an account. They tell you who to approach, how to approach them. The pitches section is great, you can now pitch VC's directly through the site. As long as you are looking for funding it is the way to go.

My startup is self funded, and we recently have a prototype that we will use to generate an Angel Investor. We intend to use a Subscription Revenue Model to hopefully breakeven in year 1.

I'm currently working on a self funded startup with a few other people. It's not so bad, although legal fees are the majority of our costs. The thing I love so much about the web is that many ideas don't require any initial funding.

We didn't get funding for Scholar360, but we had a pretty standard business model that allowed for incoming revenue to offset further development costs, legal fees etc. Another route is to keep your day job and just work at night or on the evenings. That worked for us too.

We are starting a new company, www.nixty.com, that is more Web 2.0 and less of a tried and true business model. We can do it because we have revenue from our first company. I probably would have sought Angel funding if we didn't have some extra money to invest.