So you have a start-up company. You have slaved over the business plan. You have assembled the core team, who have all agreed to defer pay in order to get the business off the ground. You have prepared a prototype of your product/service. You have developed your web site, reseller network, and you are doing all the customer support yourself, because you know THAT is the kind of dedication it takes to start a business.

Poppycock. If you are truly dedicated to making your start-up a success, you know what you need to do. You need to grab your CFO and scrape together as much money as possible - liquidate company assets and fire a couple founders if you need to!

Once you have gathered the money, you give it all to ridiculously rich angel investors.

Here at Outblaze we’ve certainly experienced our share of the bizarre in over a decade of operations, but we have now been introduced to something new: angel investors who charge start-ups significant sums of money before they will even consider investing in them.

You read that correctly. If your start-up needs money, you can now pay rich investors to think about the possibility of a distant chance to maybe invest in your business idea.

More information on this truly revolutionary business concept at the blog of Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo.com:

Last week, a number of the TechCrunch50 companies informed me about firms calling them to present at their “Angel forums” — only to discover that they would face fees ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 for a 10-15 minute pitch slot. After additionally investigation by the Jason Nation (the top 10% of the maniacs who follow me on Twitter), I was sent details of one epic bastard that wanted $10-$25,000, plus a couple of percentage points of the value of the deal

Read more from the source. This information is vital to all struggling start-ups everywhere.

On Saturday September 26, 2009, a fierce storm hit the Philippines. The typhoon, known locally as Ondoy and internationally as Ketsana, brought strong wind and heavy rainfall that eventually caused major damage to the country, particularly to Manila, the capital city.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of calamity for almost the entire region. Several areas were affected by heavy flooding, with surges as high as 6 metres sweeping up everything in their path. 240 deaths were reported as of September 28, 2009, and countless people are still missing. News reports for the past days have shown people clambering to the roofs of their homes in a desperate attempt to escape the floods, the clothes on their backs the only things they were able to salvage. To say that this has caused major damage to person and property would be an understatement, given the major losses the country has suffered.

While there have been rescue missions and outreach programs to help the victims, most victims of this storm are still in need of aid. Here is where you can help. Listed below is web link to World Vision that delivers badly needed aid to the victims of typhoon Ketsana. Even the smallest contribution will help to provide relief to the needy, so please consider giving.

Thank you.

World Vision – Emergency Relief
http://www.worldvision.org.hk/eng/form/donation.html