Nowadays you need money to make money, and getting your small business off the ground isn’t cheap. Help is at hand – here’s how to get funding for a startup.
You have a great idea for a startup.
In fact, it may well be the greatest idea EVER.
It’s so awesome that you’ve laid out the plans, come up with the perfect name, researched the big data, and even started working on branding and your website. Your friends love it.
The only thing you haven’t quite figured out is how to get funding for a startup. And without this crucial step, your idea will never come to fruition.
But don’t worry. There are many ways you can secure funding without draining your savings account.
We’ll go over four of them here:
This is a great way to see if your idea is appealing to more than just your friends.
You can start by sharing your idea on social media. If you have an actual product, create a prototype, take some cool pictures and then ask if anyone would want to buy it once you build it.
You might be surprised by how many consumers want to help out innovators. And if you can get them to respond to a pre-order plea you’ve posted on your social media accounts, you could just be in business.
One caveat here though – be sure you have an absolute minimum of five people who are interested. Otherwise, it probably isn’t worth it.
Everyone has heard at least one crowdfunding success story. And it’s one of the most popular ways to finance a startup without giving away a piece of your business.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
It’s definitely an amazing way build a customer base and get the funds you need for your startup.
The majority of people who’ve been successful with crowdfunding did the research though. It will take some time to learn all about how to maximize different crowdfunding algorithms.
Grants are great if you’re working in a special niche.
But if you’re not as specialized, it might pay off to look into what kind of small business loans are available to you.
Check with the Small Business Administration or your local Chamber of Commerce to determine the loans for which you qualify.
You can also check different websites to compare quotes for small business loans. Just click here to see how easy it is.
Sometimes the best way to get a little cash is to ask for a loan from a friend or family member.
This is assuming that you have a good relationship with that family member, of course.
But even if your family isn’t a reliable fallback, remember the friends we mentioned above who are loving your idea?
Well, you might want to consider asking them. If they’re really on board with your idea, they could be really excited about this opportunity.
Just be sure you have a really solid relationship with this person. Your startup idea is probably not worth destroying a friendship.
Now that you know how to get funding for a startup, we hope you’re geeked to get going.
And keep checking back with our small business blog to get the latest and greatest on what’s happening in the big world of small business!
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