Seth Levine puts gyan on the steps to become a VC : Step one: Assume you will not be able to land a job as a venture capitalist. Step two: Understand the math. Step three: Get close to VC’s.  Step four. Be smart about networking. Step five: Don’t get discouraged.

Here’s a firm to watch out , solving the business need of reduced traffic jam hours : “Redmond-based-Inrix has raised its initial round of capital to help sell prediction software alerting drivers to potential traffic gridlock up to days in advance. The company received $6.1 million in the first round, the largest amount a Washington software company has obtained at that stage in almost two years. But Inrix has another first, as well.

Mat Blumberg has a nice post on how to negotiate a term sheet with a VC. ** Here’s the summary: 1. Get a good lawyer.** 2. Focus on terms that matter, otherwise known as Pick your battles. A typical VC term sheet will have at least 20 terms spelled out in it. There are only a few that really matter in the end, although you should at least make sure your lawyer is comfortable that the others are reasonable and somewhat standard.

Google fires its first salvo at MyYahoo, MSN with an integrated portal of its services Link: CustomizeGoogle.com

Some facts and Quotes about Raising Seed Capital - Via Paul Allen Angels fund 30-40 times more companies than VCs, but they do much smaller deals. VCs fund 1-3% of the deals they look at Angels fund 22% of the deals they seriously consider Angels fund 84% of rounds under $250,000 #1 source of initial funding for startups is entrepreneur’s own savings (74%)