I don't know of 25 possible investors. My family and friends have already been asked, and none of them are in a position to do such a thing... and I'm not in a line of work that is conducive to finding investors either. I did recently join an organization that tries to line up angels with entrepeneurs, so we'll see if that pans out: I've already contacted several people there and am waiting for responses. So far I have one person (out of 40 contacted) who has responded back to me and is interested in seeing a full presentation, so I guess we'll see where that goes.

As for high paying jobs, I'm afraid I don't qualify for much more above what I'm already making: please keep in mind that I am 25 and have a degree in cultural anthropology as opposed to, say, IT or other higher-pay-for-less-experience professions. That's not to say that I can't live on what I currently make, I certainly can... there's just no possible way for me to save enough in the next 5 years at my current salary to get the starting collateral I need to secure a loan through SBA unless I start living out of my car. And no, I don't own a house so I can't leverage collateral out of that either.

I would be more than happy to go "balls to the wall" if I had a better idea of where the heck the wall is. We all have to start at the beginning, and that's why I am looking for advice on where to potentially go next.