Venture capitalist and entrepreneur Mark Suster shares insights on how startups can connect with investors. He explains the best method is to access investors through other entrepreneurs. Suster speaks to the need for a startup to find their first anchor investor, whose presence can often cause additional funding sources to come forward. 

Heidi Roizen explains the advantages of using existing profits to fund new ideas, as the resulting startup is not beholden to anyone else. She also states the importance of attracting venture capital, but only at the appropriate time in a company's development. 

To bootstrap means to use revenue or personal savings to run your operations, explains Josh Reeves, founder of unwrapped inc. Rather than seeking out venture capital, Reeves explains why bootstrapping his own venture allowed him to tinker with his company's product and vision without worrying about the reactions of outside investors. Hearsay Labs Co-Founders Clara Shih and Steve Garrity agree, saying they only sought venture capital to push their company to the next level in product development and to satisfy their customers' needs.