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Last night, we asked folks if they'd rather have cash or services (like marketing, development and HR services) to help their early stage startup grow.

While our readers' responses were pretty evenly split, the split between startups that seek capital first far outweigh those that seek to make equity-for-services deals. Also, the number of VC firms (well in excess of 700 in the U.S. alone) is far greater than firms offering services or a mix of cash and services.

Are we just too used to capital? Are "venture services" firms still too new? Why don't we have more services-for-equity programs?

Twitter just announced that the rumors were indeed true and that it has just closed a "significant round of funding" from a group of five investment firms. While Twitter didn't disclose the actual amount it received today, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Twitter was going to close a $100 million round which would put Twitter's valuation at around $1 billion. At that time, however, the assumption was that up to seven firms were going to be part of this deal. Chances are that today's round is slightly smaller than the rumored $100 million.