The Loan Gunman
After a few false starts, we finally talked to a loan officer at a bank that offers SBA loans. The meeting was very informative, but it pretty well confirmed our suspicions: our stumbling block is going to be collatoral. The idea that we should go put ourselves in enormous debt by buying a house, just so we could have something to put up for collatoral, is a little strange. That's the way of things though.
Anyway, we've got several options. Businesses like this are typically funded by venture capital, but we've heard a lot of horror stories from people who have gone that route.