VOUCHON FOUNDERS: VENTURE CAPITAL IS OVERRATED — Entrepreneurs shun status-quo and swing for the fences with release of new online community.

Online entrepreneurs Ryan Stewart and Noel Ruiz are pleased to dismiss convention, as they announce the inception of VouchOn. With a feverish disdain for overhead, these enterprising entrepreneurs decided to make their mark the old-fashioned way… through bootstrapping. Equally as exciting as Stewart and Ruiz's passion for creating success are the origins of VouchOn.com itself, an idea fueled by a thirst for knowledge and discovery.

"My full-time job sends me on the road frequently," says Stewart. "So I have a lot of time to think." On a recent business trip, he found himself in Bangor, ME and wondering where to have dinner. "Bangor is a beautiful city in a beautiful state. I knew there had to be great food there; I just didn't know how to find it." It's a problem that wouldn't leave Stewart alone, so he decided to build a website where people could ask for and provide recommendations, not just on food, but on anything.

"I was looking for an enthusiastic recommendation. I wanted someone to say, 'I've been there, experienced it, and it was great. You should experience it too.'"

While VouchOn is not yet officially open to the public, it is taking signups for beta testing. And if you can't wait to be accepted, find someone who already has an account, because they can send you an instant invitation.

Ryan Stewart, 30, sun-lights as a development officer for his alma mater, Maryville College, and moonlights as a web consultant with his company, Eleven21 Design & Consulting (www.eleven21.com). When he's not online, Ryan enjoys time with his wife, Jeanna, and their Chihuahua, Pedro.

Noel Ruiz, 27, is a technology consultant specializing in dynamic web applications. After graduating from UCLA with an MS in Computer Science he went on to create a Los Angeles, CA based IT Consulting firm, Spark Technologies (www.sparktechno.com), with two close friends and colleagues. When he's not at his day job, Noel likes to discover new technologies and work on exciting projects like VouchOn.