Young eventually raised more than $14 million, bit by bit, collecting $15,000 here and $30,000 there. The ethanol plant is under construction in this rural northeast Missouri town and like many others, is owned largely by farmers.

"The financial part it - I would never, ever, ever want to go through that again," Young said. "You'd be on a high one day, and the next day you're bouncing your butt off the floor."

That might have been true in 2002. But the world has changed since then. Just ask Ron Miller. As head of ethanol producer Aventine Renewable Energy Inc., he also raises money to build ethanol plants, but is courting a decidedly different crowd of investors.