One of the most common questions that would-be entrepreneurs ask is how to fund their startups. But the truth is that there’s no magic bullet here, and contrary to popular belief, no one is always waiting to throw their money on a business idea just because it sounds interesting. But even with all the odds that exist in finding business startup funds, there are still many creative options available at your disposal.
- You can trade equity or even services for startup help
It’s often referred to as bartering your skills, or trading an item you have in exchange for the other. For instance, you can negotiate your way to getting a free offices space in exchange of servicing computer systems for all the other office tenants. You could also exchange equity for accounting or legal support.
- Try negotiating an advance from a customer or a strategic partner
It is always possible to locate a complementary business or a customer who sees value in your idea. If they are going to benefit from your idea in one way or the other, they will certainly issue an advance on royalty payments so you can complete your project. Variations of this tactic include licensing or white-labeling (where they produce a product and you re-brand it to appear as if you were the original manufacturer).
- Participate in a business startup funds incubator or accelerator
Today, many organizations are coming up with the aim of helping early-stage startups gain foot in the market. An organization like Y Combinator (involved in creating models in which early stage startups can benefit from) is now associated with major community organizations, Universities, and even companies. The benefit of joining any of these business startup services is that you will enjoy resources for free. These may come in the form of seed funding, free consultation and office space among other things.
- Look for venture capital investors
Venture capital investors are people who are always looking to invest institution capital on a proven business model that will scale in the short or long term period. These investors are after big business opportunities that are looking for some couple of dollars to gain foot in the business world. Such investors are often keen on a proven team who has a proven business idea. However, to succeed with this, you have to create a warm introduction when approaching them.
- Take advantage of your local angel investor groups
Every metropolitan city must have a group of high net-worth investors who are always looking to fund startups with good business ideas. They will give out business startup funds if you can convince them that you have the right idea that will return money on investment. You can take advantage of an online platform like Gust to locate those who are interested in your industry and passion. Otherwise, you can also do some local networking to find them.
- Run a crowd funding campaign on the web
This is considered the newest source of business startup funds. People who participate in crowd funding campaigns on the web do so as per the JOBS act (Jump-start our Business Start-up Act). This law was created with the intention of encouraging new startups to thrive by going easy on some security regulations. RR Accountants in Birmingham is one site that offers opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to run crowd funding campaigns online. In this arrangement, investors will make pledges to your business opportunity. By doing so, they will pre-purchase the product so it can be delivered at a later date. They will also give donations which can quickly add up to the capital that is required to get things going.
- How about getting a small business grant?
The government has always allocated funds to support startups that pursue issues related to technology, especially in the fields of medicine, education and social needs. Go to RRAccountants.co.uk to give you an idea of what were talking about. The portal also lets entrepreneurs search for thousands of federal grant programs that can prove to be useful. Try a combination of all the ideas mentioned above to find out what will work for you. Some of them will reject your idea, but others will support it. Once again, if you don’t try, you will never get business startup funds anyway.