I definitely want my company to issue stock, but I only have a basic understanding of how it actually works. Par value is the face value of the stock set by the company. Typically speaking, a state has a per share cost to file a company's shares. I would imagine that Nevada's application provides this information in the instructions. The dollar amount to be entered into the application is equal to the number of authorized shares times this per share cost.
Private corporations have a smaller number of private individuals who have shares in the company.
When a start-up company raises money through equity financing, it is in essence selling shares in the company to its investors. A publicly held corporation is a company with shares outstanding held by public investors. The stock market has been established as a mechanism to transfer ownership in public corporations. All of the local execs who would be good advisors are so busy, that it is hard to get meetings with them. I grew up in Upstate NY and I can empathize with the difficulties you are facing in building your company.