First, before I suggest anything else, I feel obligated to tell you what my real advice is -- sell every piece of sports and computer ware you are not going to

First, before I suggest anything else, I feel obligated to tell you what my real advice is -- sell every piece of sports and computer ware you are not going to use in the next three months, and if that is still not enough, get a part time job of some sort. The sooner you get a job the less you will have to compromise your startup efforts; try tutoring if your ability allows it, or seek some other position with flexible hours. Apply at Starbucks if necessary, and view it in as positive a light as possible -- if Thomas Edison could sell newspapers on a train and Lincoln split logs then you can pour coffee or whatever. That said, have you considered prosper.com ? If you were to post your loan request there, and then post here refering to it, perhaps you could get a number of HN folks to put up small amounts. It might be easier to convince 100 people to put up $50 each than to get one person for $5,000. At one time I was quite interested in that model of lending, and I lent a small amount of money out over the site. I got all of it back with the interest. I only invested in businesses that sounded interesting, and only when the owner would message with me and tell me about it . . . I thought it might be a way to meet potential customers or clients, but mostly it was just enjoying hearing about other people's attempts to make money, not all that different from reading HN. Nevermind, I was just reminded by someone that Prosper is not accepting new loans right now. So I guess I advise getting the job.