The second time around we had our core team assembled within weeks of our Series A financing.

FORBES: How To Raise Money Off Of A PowerPoint Presentation

The weekend began with a front page article in the New York Times announcing our Series A financing.

FORBES: Blippy Apologizes For Google-Searchable Credit Cards, Announces New Security Plan

We took this very seriously and shipped our first product, got serious traction and closed our Series A financing round 6 months later.

FORBES: Build A Better Company By Risking Public Humiliation

Fourgeaud, 32 and Kallio, 33, are also on the hunt for Series A financing, but potential investors will note that neither come from the world of car making, with Fourgeaud steeped in mobile and social media, and Kallio primarily a brand designer.

FORBES: Another Angry Birds Manager Flies The Nest

They expect a Series A round of venture financing in September.

FORBES: Internet

For us at CircleUp, and for many entrepreneurs and industry observers, this depressing data begs the question: will equity crowdfunding fill the Series A gap specifically, and the venture financing gap more broadly?

FORBES: Crowdfunding Won't Solve The Venture Capital Series A Crunch

John Hechinger and Janet Lorin of Bloomberg News won the national reporting award for a yearlong series that looked at abuses in the system for financing higher education, while the local reporting award went to Gina Barton of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for reporting on a Milwaukee man who died in police custody after repeatedly telling officers he couldn't breathe.

WSJ: Mother Jones reporter wins Polk for Romney story

And as I said, I hope that on a series of future steps that we take to help small businesses get financing, to help improve our infrastructure around the country, to put people back to work, that we're going to see more progress on that front.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama and Taoiseach Cowen