This is a pretty interesting video regarding a couple of startups that are going the non-VC route, moderated by Guy Kawasaki. I find this subject pretty inspiring because these days, with the dropping cost of technology, pretty much anybody with a good idea and a little technical know-how can get a website going by themselves, and run a business from their bedrooms. Sounds like a cliche, but the folks on this panel are doing exactly that.

The most “wow” example is Markus Frind of PlentyofFish.com who all by himself (no employees) made 5 million bucks in a year.

James Hong’s cavialier attitude is also pretty entertaining, especially his anecdote of having his parents help moderate Hot-Or-Not and then realizing it may not be the best use of their time looking at the er, content.

I have admiration for folks starting companies with their own money, keeping costs down, and “bootstrapping” instead of taking VC money right off the bat. There’s something to be said for making sure an idea is really worthy before giving up ownership of your idea, dealing with the pressure of a VC pushing you to hit the home run, managing a burn rate, hiring scads of employees, and possibly going down in flames.

Granted, really humongous ideas like building the next cell phone probably need VC money and tons of employees. But the folks in this video suggests an alternative to taking funding as a necessity to live the Silicon Valley dream.

Guy’s quote is pretty apt here:

However, if your plan is to raise several million dollars from venture capitalists and then hire five engineers, one vp of biz dev, one CTO, two testers, and a VP of marketing to ship a product in a year, you probably shouldn’t spend your time watching it.

Disclosure: I do admit I have a slight bias as one panel member is Dave Lu of Fanpop where my pal Dave is a co-founder. Oh, and Guy Kawasaki is from Hawaii so any time I see a laid-back dude in a Hawaiian shirt with a slight pidgin accent I’m more apt to listen to what they have to say.

Disclosure: My friend Dave is a founder of FanPop. I have no financial interest in the company.

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