Dave, I’m involved with a software startup that’s ready to raise some money so they can grow more quickly. I don’t know anything about venture capital, so I thought I’d ask you. How do we find a relatively small amount of VC money ($250K)? The company in question makes software for investors. Can you give me advice on how to proceed?

Before we go any further, please realize that any investment of less than a million or two pushes you out of the Venture Capital zone and into angel investors. While most angel investors fly solo, a lot of them are part of angel investor groups like the Silicon Valley-based Band of Angels. They’re the best of the angel investors, in my experience, because they can offer something a lot more valuable than a check: expertise and connections in the industry. Trust me, you want access to their address book much more than you want money in the bank.

For angel networks, you can…