serial data type

CREATE TABLE tablename (colname SERIAL);

okay, but how do I set the beginning number. So far the only thing I 
have been able to do is directly after creating the serial column, I do:

select setval('tablename_colname_seq', 15753);

Is this the only way to set the beginning number of a sequence? 

Thanks for all your help guys,

Ted Petrosky
tedpet@symcom.com