Startup businesses are tricky. Some advice is to never stop searching for capital to grow your business. Some advice is to only secure the funding necessary to get a product out, then start another round of fund raising. There is no one right answer, and the options presented to entrepreneurs for business funding can be […]
Funding
Finding the Right Angel Investor for Your New Venture
If your startup is looking for an angel investor, it makes sense to present your plan to flocks of angels, and assume that at least one will swoop down and scoop you up. Or does it? Actually numbers and locations are just the beginning. The challenge is to find the right angel for you, and […]
4 Top Tips to Economically Fund a New Small Business
Before 2008, small businesses could easily secure funding. Everything changed once the Great Recession took hold. The days of easy funding ended in a matter of weeks. Banks experienced the worst credit crunch in over 70 years, which took its toll on many aspiring companies. The economic reality for small businesses gradually improved in the […]
5 Startup Cost Realities Most Founders Underestimate
Starting a new venture still costs real money, even though the entry price has come down dramatically in last few decades. For example, I come from a software background, and back in the early PC days, it could easily cost half a million dollars for a team of professionals to produce a commercial product. Now, […]
How to Find the Right Commercial Financing for Your Business
Commercial finance is the term used to define a huge range of financial products available to businesses. It’s used for a variety of different reasons, with short-term and long-term deals available. Offered by an external lender, commercial finance can give businesses that extra bit of cash injection to help with growth, or if cash flow […]
Would You Sign a Personal Guarantee if You Have Investors?
It’s a fact of life that a banker, lender or lessor will ask for a personal guarantee from the founder or entrepreneur most every time. But what if you’ve diluted your interest from 100% to something less than 50%? Should your investors expect you to carry 100% of the risk? The short answer is “yes.” […]
Are You Willing to Bootstrap Your New Business Venture?
You have this great idea you are convinced will make for a very profitable business. You set out to convince a few angel investors to help you get started only to be told “no” by every one of them. Now you are questioning whether or not you can even secure a round of start-up business […]
Oh, Go Ahead and Ask for a $5 Million Investment in Your Startup
I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to build the business. Four reasons you should reconsider. First, few startups can use that much money today with all the virtual services available and increasingly inexpensive methods of development, prototyping and marketing. Second, almost […]
Funding Alternatives Change as Your New Venture Grows
Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. That’s like trying to sell part of something to a stranger for big money when you haven’t fully defined it yet. It won’t work, it costs time and money, and hurts your credibility when you need them […]
Alternative Funding: What Can My Business Get?
Running and maintaining a successful business is hard work. It is exciting starting and working on a new venture, however, keeping things ticking over requires constant effort and even more importantly, continuous financial backing. Cash is king and having a healthy flow of cash throughout a business is essential. Even with the best business models, […]
