I worked for a firm that was started with Venture Capital (VC) from interested investors. It's a question of how to find them.

Start here:
http://openangelforum.com/

Wait a second...

"Entrepreneur, investor, and CEO of Mahalo, Jason Calacanis founded the Open Angel Forum late last year in order to provide investors and entrepreneurs. And angel investing was the topic of Calacanis's most recent missive to the "Jason Nation" email list.

In it, Calacanis discusses a lot of aspects of angel investing, including tips on contacting known angels directly. But here is Calacanis's suggestion on an alternative strategy, as he writes that "direct contact is super tricky, since angels get pounded when they are out in public, and they may ignore things sent directly to them by email (typically due to email overload, not malice)."

According to Calacanis, the best way to connect with an angel "is not to." Rather, he suggests, make contacts with the people angels know, respect, and do business with. "Your goal," writes Calacanis, "is to become a FOAF: a 'friend of a friend.'" Calacanis suggests the following path to FOAFing angels:

1. Build a social media presence - via a blog, Twitter, Facebook page, comments on Hacker News, Digg and so on -- that is memorable.

2. Pursue and engage angels' friends. Engage in conversation those individuals with whom an angel regularly communicates. Join in conversations on blogs and news sites, for example. According to Calacanis, "Every angel has their 50 trusted advisors, and it's your job to develop a credible relationship with them over a couple of months." Once that relationship is established, you can ask for an introduction to an angel.

3. Blog about an angel's portfolio companies rather than about the angel her or himself.

4. Challenge the angel. Although you certainly don't want to write things that make you enemies (and make you eminently unfundable), you do want to be seen as a "passionate, independent critical thinker."

There you have it. Straight from the surfboard's mouth.

@jasoncalcanis, thanks for the tip. FOAF is a good PR strategy, too. I haven't even put my business plan together yet, so if you soon get someone knocking on your door looking for VC, it ain't me.

There are several types of programs to help fund small businesses. Most require some type of repayment. One program is the SBA guaranteed loan program. The SBA is the US Small Business Administration. The SBA does not offer grants, but they do offer loans or will guarantee bank loans to get you a low interest rate. The form located http://web.sba.gov/sbtn/registration/index.cfm?CourseId=29 will direct you to the type of SBA loan program that may be right for you. The SBA programs are federal government programs.

Certain states offer grants for small businesses. Some offer incentives. The following page offers links to the various state small business incentive/grant programs http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/smallbusiness/a/stategrants.htm.

This federal government web site also lists a searchable selection of loan programs and grant programs for small businesses http://www.business.gov/financing/. This web site also talks about finding venture capital (which is a type of investor who will expect a return on his/her investment).

These are all reputable information sources. Be leery of anyone who wants you to pay them to tell you about grant programs you can find out about through these sites.