Good question Brian. I am always a fan of a free trials or even better, the free tier. The later you have to watch out as you could be stuck a situation where you can't convert people to the higher tiers, but all in all what you are trying to do is show people the value your product provides and ...
The idea of an MVP is 'minimum, viable' ... If you feel you need a "good amount" of funding, I would challenge if you are minimum enough. Obviously, without knowing the details of your product, your ideal customer, or what need you will solve, it is hard to help expose what is necessary in an MV...