Even someone who learnt when (s)he was 8 had to learn somehow ;). In my opinion (no one is gonna agree but I'll tell it anyway), I'd start with a language like BASIC. You need to understand variables, loops, conditional branchs, and all the basic stuff before other concepts (object oriented programming, etc ... ). In modern languages, everything is mixed together, which is good for coding but ot that good for learning. I'd do Basic -> C -> C++ . This combo will give you all the basics you need without teaching you "bad" habits. Then up to you : java, python, ruby, haskell ...
Depends what you're doing, but the #1 cost in some startups is the paychecks (check this for example : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/345057/DIASPORA%207312011%20Profit%2...) . If you find a way to survive while coding, you don't need to raise much money (that's what me and my roomate have been doing for 1 year+)
God only knows what we would have done with 200000$ extra :)