Another way to look the whole situation apart from bootstrapping gung-ho which I suggested earlier will be to ask yourself the following 1. Do you already have customers who have shown intent on using the product? - if Yes then it indicates that people are waiting for your product so there is a reason for you to release soon. If No then find these potential customers

2. If you already have a set of potential customers then reach out to them and validate whether they need all the features which you are planning to include in the first release? - If the features (the basic set) is less than what you had understood then you need to check how much money you need to get it out to the users. Again you are just validating your understanding and not asking the users for what features they'll want.

3. Do you have a kick ass team which anyone who you go for funding will ask you for? - This as mentioned above matters to anyone whose going to give you money

4. Is there competition to your product? If yes then how do you stand up against them?

Answers to these questions will indicate something and then on top of that you should add you gut feel whether you are comfortable or not with taking outside money.

Best of luck.

1. Yes. There is overlap with our consulting customers as well as a 'release notification' email list of ~2k.

2. Initial release is feature complete.

3. Our team is awesome, but young/inexperience.

4. Yes. I believe we stand up VERY well. Our only downside is that we're new/unproven.

Only you can make that call. The formula is easy, but there are a few unknown variables.

Think about what you'd do with the money, and put together a realistic estimate of what you'd achieve that way. Compare that to a realistic estimate of what you'd achieve through bootstrapping. Then, figure the equity you'd have to give up, and do the math.