One of the biggest concerns while starting your own business is funds. If you have an arrangement for the funds, you are great to go. If you don’t have, then you are actually stuck in the puddle. Not having funds is the biggest hurdle in starting a business. And if you are having this problem, you can find out great ways to get funds. There are some amazing funding options for a business, if only you know how to make use of them.
The Problem That Comes Up With Startups
Most startups start with a big band. There are lots of hopes of the founder, the investors, and people associated with it. But it has been studied that most startups cannot go through the first year only to complete their journey, and collapse within the first year. This happens due to a number of reasons. If the startup had enough capital to back up for the difficult times, then things would have been easier to manage. Many of the problems in a startup actually can be managed with enough funding if you could provide. Hence, having enough funds in hand while designing and starting the business, and keeping in mind the necessity of funds you may face within the first year, in case there are troubles, will help you in many ways to sustain the startup.
Bootstrapping Business
If you are thinking about a small to medium business, then you can arrange funds from your own saved funds. In fact, every business owner must have some saved funds which help either to start the business or later support the business in difficult times. And if you have saved funds to start the business, it can be a great power. In case you don’t have funds saved for it, you may pursue family members or friends. Friends, family members, and relatives often come to great help in terms of funding. Normally if you ask them for funding, they would not be strict on you like a professional lender. You can take advantage of this flexibility to maintain the peace of your mind, as you try to steer the business out of all initial hurdles.
The advantages of this funding method are that your application or files are not tied up in bureaucracy or rules, and you can access funds easily at minimal and flexible interest rates. For large businesses, however, bootstrapping would not be feasible as friends and family would not be able to provide huge amounts.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is a great new way of getting funds for your business. This happens online. With the help of online meeting platforms, people can talk about their projects, feasibility, potential, and problems. If you have a project, and you have points to prove its potential and feasibility, then you can meet helpful minds on crowdfunding platforms, who would be willing to help you with funding. There are two types of people in crowdfunding platforms. One who would like to invest in a project by understanding its probabilities by doing a complete SWOT analysis of the project. And then there are those who look for help in such platforms for funding. People who fund others would take a share of the business profit or would take returns in some other form.
To get help in the crowdfunding platform, you will have to make a pitch before the members of the crowdfunding. There is your idea is appreciated by most or all of the people, then they would decide to support you on it, and would donate money for you so that you can work on the project.
Find Help From Angel Investors
There are people who have funds, and they look for the right lucrative opportunity to invest. They are called angel investors who would invest upon your idea if only you can convince them about the growing potency of the business. Therefore, you have this one option too to get funding for your startup. Often angel investors form groups to scrutinize the business model prior to investing or committing. They also help by mentoring. The initial difficulties in the business are also understood and supported by angel investors, as they realize that if the business thrives through, it will yield high returns.
Find Seed Accelerator Programs
Seed accelerator programs for startups area brilliant way to get funded without having to go to any bank or lender. This needs one to take part in a competition. If you have such a competition being organized around you, then you can take part in it. Creative minds who have great startup ideas in their mind, often take part in such programs for many reasons. The first reason is to try and win by pitching the business. If you pitch it right, get the attention of the judges, and can explain everything about the business with its profit changes, growth opportunities, challenges, and advantages, etc., then you would succeed. And winners get all the support from sponsors to investors and much more in the form of mentoring, total guidance through the business setup and a lot more. Overall the level of recognition competitors get, and the great networking they get exposed to during the process is worth trying this. If you have no idea about this, you may get an idea by studying opportunities like CodeLaunch.
Contestants who win are highly benefited. But if you do not win, you still get exposed to a great network of like-minded people. You may get investors for your plan there in this platform. There may be people who listened to you, took an interest, and because not everyone can be the winner, and yet many ideas have great potential, you may really get some great attention. Without being an owner too, you may get a good network, and get some investors who might be interested in investing in your project sooner or later.
Conclusion
Finally There can be some great ways to get your startup funded. But what you do later with the fund is how it makes the difference. That is why some startups fail, and some succeed.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post about how startups can get funding without resorting to loans from banks or other lenders.
Interested in more articles about startup funding and bootstrapping?
Read Related Resources:
• Successful Startup Funding Ideas
• What Your Startup Needs To Get Started
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