The Wall Street Journal's Startup Journal has a recent article on how many new Internet technology companies are saying "No" to venture capital funding and are doing it on their own. It mentions companies like Flickr (started by a Canadian couple and recently sold to Yahoo!), Smugmug and Box.net as examples. Here's a snippet:

... a two-tiered start-up market is now developing, with some Web companies focused on long-term expansion with venture money and others looking to a quick sale -- for perhaps $20 million to $50 million -- to big Internet brands like Yahoo, Google, AOL, or Microsoft Corp.'s MSN service. Indeed, many of the modest Web start-ups operating today offer products and services that seem more like Web-site features than standalone businesses.