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"You have the glow of a man who just got funding," I told VentureBeat founder Matt Marshall on Friday. How could he afford to pay newly hired blogger Dean Takahashi a rumored six-figure salary? With other people's money, of course.

Marshall has raised $320,000 from ex-Googlers Georges Harik and Aydin Senkut; Mike Brown, an investor at Foundation Capital who's putting in his own money; and other angel investors. Taking angel money rather than venture capital should lessen, but won't eliminate, the conflicts Marshall will face in writing about companies his investors fund. We like this detail: Marshall felt forced to out his funding because it was detailed in a regulatory filing — exactly the way he gets many venture-capital scoops.