"If you've been following OnStartups.com for any period of time, you likely know that I'm not a big advocate of startup founders going out and trying to raise venture funding in the early stages.

My argument boils down to two things:

1) Most folks don't need venture funding in the early stages

2) the odds of first-time entrepreneurs actually raising VC is pretty low.

Oh, and 3) it's one of the least fun activities an entrepreneur can take. Raising funding is often harder than building a product/business -- and much less fun!

So, back to the question. Why would a seemingly reasonable and modestly successful bootstrap entrepreneur raise venture funding of this magnitude?"

Insanity? Maybe...