[avifreedman]

Have you checked whether any of your customers are connected to VCs? Enough of ours are that in our seed, A, and B diligence they found folks to talk about us that I didn't point them to.

Re: selling vs raising, I would say it really depends on your fire to change the vertical market you're talking about (or more).

The other thing I've seen (in both directions) is that if you get hooked up to a few CEOs, they can make introductions for you. Can you introduce customers to any CEOs that don't compete that have great investors that you'd like to talk to? Get most CEOs I know a solid $100k+ ARR customer into and they'll listen to your story and make intros if I think appropriate.

It is a disadvantage to not be in an investor-dense area, and travel costs money. I moved to SF to start Kentik, but I think the same principles would work if I had stayed in Philadelphia.

Good luck!