Joel Spolsky points to several articles on starting a business without involving VCs.

• Peter Ireland on 10 reasons to shy away from venture capital
• Seth Godin's manifesto starting a business with no money.
• Joel's own VCs do not have goals that are aligned with the goals of the company founders

I would add on piece of unsolicited advice: never, ever use a reverse merger to raise money. Reverse mergers are the crack cocaine of the money raising arena and they set your company up for failure from the very start. The problem is that you're public long before your ready. What's more, many of your shareholders are not in it for the long haul or believers in your story. I've been meaning to write an essay on this. Maybe someday.