Choose your own adventure:<p>1) You currently have approximately $500 to $2k in revenue. That's great, because it is $500 to $2k in revenue more than the vast majority of people will ever achieve. You need to work the numbers on whether the founding team can solo-close $100k in revenue in the next twelve months.<p>If that appears achievable, you tighten your belts, perhaps run up larger balances on your credit cards than usual, and start solo-closing every business you can find locally. You'll spend approximately 95% of your effort in the short term on ad sales and 5% on everything else. After you can consistently keep the lights on, you're going to hire a bunch of folks who will do that job to your script on the telephone all day, every day. They will be the heart of your business. They will always be the heart of your business, for values of "always" which map to "as long as you primarily keep the lights on by convincing local businesses to buy advertising."<p>There is a reasonably achievable path to you having a business here which closely resembles a well-run local newspaper (except you'll potentially have nationwide reach): millions of revenue, ~20% margins, etc. Much like local newspapers, it may be a not-quite-straightforward proposition to confidently say "The people who pay us get great value for their advertising spend."<p>If your team cannot reasonably solo-close $100k in revenue by repeating your current model, which I allocate a very non-trivial percentage of the probability space to, you do not <i>actually</i> have a revenue model yet. I'd have a hard look at my bank account and say "Can we figure out a revenue model before I get thrown out of my apartment for non-payment of rent?" If not, you may consider winding down the business. There is <i>no shame in this</i> and, while you may think your current level of success is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, if you hypothetically believe that I would take the other side of that bet.<p>2) You have a very compelling pitch for getting into YC, 500 Startups, or another incubator. You have actually shipped a software product. You won't believe me when I tell you, but many, many people who you might think are better fits for incubators cannot actually ship a software product. You have also successfully demonstrated hustle, by being able to walk into a furniture store and ask them for money, which is something which is lamentably rare among people who are capable of actually shipping software products. The combination of shipping and hustle is pretty much exactly what incubators look for.<p>This is a straightforward pathway into Door #3, in case executing on Door #3 doesn't sound straightforward to you.<p>3) You have all the elements necessary for raising a small seed round. You make an AngelList profile and curate it diligently. You approach a few investors privately, show them your stats and paint a rosy picture of the future ("We've potentially got Groupon's growth trajectory ahead of us! [+]"), and secure, say, three to four commitments of $25k each. You start to trend on AngelList and fill out the rest of the round, probably for $250 to $500k. (I'm unaware of what the Going Rate is for valuations at the moment -- probably mid single digit millions but ask someone who does this professionally to fill you in there.) You bump yourself up to greater-than-subsistence salaries, hire three or four people who are young and hungry, and aim to sustain those growth rates for the next 8 to 12 months. If you do, you will sail easily to Series A, on your way to creating an rather large business which may or may not resemble the one you are presently running. If you don't, your company implodes.<p>[+] "Patrick, is that a good thing?" None of the seed stage investors in Groupon are cursing their name right now. To put it mildly.