Dot-Com Veterans Mix Coffee, Wireless Access; Self-Funded Company; Founders take it slowly this time, making sure the demand is out there.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: KATHARINE STALTER

Latte. Scone. Wireless connection.

You might find yourself ordering all three next time you visit your favorite Los Angeles coffee shop.

L.A.-based start-up Cafe.com wants cafe patrons to get wired from their cappuccino, not from their Internet connection. Toward that end, the firm has outfitted a handful of area cafes for the wireless Web.

Co-founder Ronan Higgins, 32, who previously toiled in Web development at dot-com firms, has teamed up with another dot-com vet, Chris Van Vleit, also 32, to form Cafe.com.

In the post-bubble era, the two decided the best way to launch was through self-funding. Unlike earlier start-ups that grew big before developing a revenue stream, Cafe.com began slowly.

"We got off the ground with our own money, proved there was a market and gathered enough data to give us a sense of confidence," said Higgins. He said the partners also raised $150,000 of angel funding in his native country, Ireland. "That was just enough to get us going. We are very much a bootstrapped company," he said.