The financing environment in the dot-com industry is changing. Entrepreneurs are gaining the benefits of this change. Competition remains strong for financing deals, but investors and researchers report that technology entrepreneurs who are looking for seed money have more options than ever before. Some investor groups and venture-capital companies have started to provide some firms that are still in the concept stage with more rapid access to modest amounts of cash than in the past. And investors are asking for less equity in return as well. Seed money is the money that is used to turn a concept into a reality. It is among the most difficult types of financing to obtain by technology-related startup companies. Banks and professional investors are often hesitant to become involved with entrepreneurs at this early stage. The few startups that obtain venture capital must typically give up large amounts of equity in exchange, and this is something that founders want to avoid. With a new approach driven by the reduced costs of launching an Internet startup, however, some venture capitalists and 'angel' investors have started to write smaller checks and are issuing them more rapidly in return for relatively small, upfront stakes. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who fund companies and then leave them alone in terms of daily management. These investors represented the largest source of funding at the seed and start-up stages in 2006.