Tuesdays are startup news days here.

This week the attention is on the DEMO event, which is being streamed live. Our own Startup Rockstars alumni Diditz is there, along with dozens of other startups. (see articles at the bottom of the post)

And in other news, the economy (at least in the US) continues to show signs of improvement.

Recent articles & blog posts:

4 solid ways to engage a venture capitalist – Smart Planet
(the above found via: Social Networking May Help Entrepreneurs Connect With Venture Capitalists – Gaebler)

What Have VCs Really Done for Innovation? – TechCrunch

Venture Capitalist At Your Service – VentureBlog

They’re drinking it up in New York – LA Times (about success selling bottled NY tap water)

Videos:

Entrepreneur advice: break down brick walls - Vator.TV – Bambi Francisco interviews Lorenzo Carver (Sept. 2009)

Tapping In To Creative Potential – George Kembel in the clip below explores the question: Is creativity available to all of us, of just the gifted?  This video about the d.school explores the idea of latent creativity:

More articles related to DEMO

• DEMO: Fuze Box promises a richer web meeting experience (demo.venturebeat.com)
• DEMO: Whodoyouknowat backs professional social networking (venturebeat.com)
• DEMO: Diditz turns Facebook albums into pages that can be indexed on the web

• VentureBeat acquires Tradevibes (inquisitr.com)

As a follow-up to last week’s post DC Investors Venture Capital (VC) List, here are some resources to reach out beyond your local geographic area, wherever you are.

Some of these sites attempt to use the best aspects of online social communities to enable entrepreneurs to help each other, in areas of financing their ventures, and in other areas such as networking and business planning.

Before we get to the list, you may want to take an online quiz or take this online survey to see if you’re ready for funding. Or, perhaps read up on why some plans don’t get funded.

Online Funding Communities For Entrepreneurs

 
Angelsoft

A community designed “to bring the power of collaboration technologies to the early-stage investment industry”, from both the entrepreneur side and the investor side.

eFactor

“Entrepreneur Factor” – A community and virtual marketplace portal that includes a venture Financing section, along with a jobs directory, coaching, videos, events, networking and other tools.

FundingPost

An online listing service for entrepreneurs & investors.   They also have in-person community events and conferences, and have videos of past events online.

Go4Funding

Online portal “platform to bring entrepreneurs, business owners and investors (angel investors and venture capitalists) closer”, including a section for posting & viewing ideas.

GoBigNetwork

Provides a “virtual rolodex” portal for funding requests, along with business plan help from advisors and experts in the community.

Mid-Atlantic Investor Network

A regionally-focused, web-based matching service, which also connects entrepreneurs to investors in “30 of our other investment network sites located around the world”.

Prosper

Focuses on small loans, including entrepreneurial start-up funding.

RaiseCapital

A portal who’s mission is “to connect entrepreneurs and investors”, and also showcases submitted videos on RaiseCapitalTV.

TheFunded

A portal which is an “online community of entrepreneurs to research, rate, and review funding sources worldwide”.

Vencorps

A “community powered capital” website that allows funding of ideas using crowd-powered techniques.  Members can submit ideas, and also vote on ones they like with a points-based system.  Winners get real financing.

Other Resources

These additional sites below offer similar resources to those listed above by operating as more of a listing or evaluation service without as much community-based interaction:

• CapitalVector – offers a paid downloadable list
• FundingUniverse - makes recommendations based on each funding needs situation
• VCAonline – A listing service along with related tools sold to help in the pitching and funding aspects.
• vFinance – A site that has both a VC search and an angel search.

The video for this post is a bit tongue-in-cheek connection to the subject discussed – Dire Straits‘ “Money For Nothing” song, performed live in October 1985 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

The video is almost 7 minutes long. If you want to hear a version with Sting singing the “I want my MTV” part you can try here for a 1997 live version including Eric Clapton & Phil Collins (Music for Montserrat concert).