{"id":4410,"date":"2012-08-18T08:28:49","date_gmt":"2012-08-18T12:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/?p=4410"},"modified":"2020-01-21T18:53:38","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T22:53:38","slug":"almost-all-startups-need-funding-almost-all-startups-cant-get-it-new-options-to-exit-the-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/2012\/08\/18\/almost-all-startups-need-funding-almost-all-startups-cant-get-it-new-options-to-exit-the-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost all startups need funding. Almost all startups can\u2019t get it. New options to exit the conundrum."},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent New York Times article (see link below) discusses some new creative ways to raise capital — asset-based lending, lease back, cash advances, and peer-to-peer loans. Most of these options require that you have some kind of asset which is often the very reason startups can\u2019t get loans from banks to begin with.\u00a0 However, the different options are worth reading about. I think the peer-to-peer loans might interest many of you\u2026it reads almost like a loan version of crowdsourcing. The author describes the type of funding, how it works, what it will cost you and resources who do it.<\/p>\n

\"shutterstock_73894033\"<\/a>
Image provided by Shutterstock http:\/\/www.shutterstock.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s also the option of finding a venture capitalist (VC) or angel through your existing connections.\u00a0 Before contacting them, remember this contact is being given to you as a personal favor and the contact themselves will be seeing \/ talking to you as a personal favor.\u00a0 Act appropriately appreciative. The \u201cask\u201d should include two key points.\u00a0 First key point:\u00a0 Let them know that you understand you are not fundable by them and that you are not approaching them for money.\u00a0 Second key point:\u00a0 Ask them to review your executive summary or whole business plan and offer advice.\u00a0 What you are looking for from them are two things:\u00a0 First, they will immediately hone in on any weaknesses in the plan or business model. Listen carefully.\u00a0 You might be able to fix the weakness. You might not. But if you can\u2019t fix it, at least you will know it exists and can either address it in advance in future presentations or be prepared with an answer when it\u2019s brought up.\u00a0 My last company did this with a very well respected VC who gave us enormous feedback.\u00a0 In the first 30 seconds of the discussion (after the introductions and polite conversation) he zeroed in on a single (big) problem our company had and couldn\u2019t identify (hey we drank our own Kool Aid, and had no perspective \u2013 a common situation in startups).\u00a0 It was an extraordinarily valuable 10 minute phone call.\u00a0 Second, they might be able to refer you to a source that can fund you.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/08\/02\/business\/smallbusiness\/for-small-businesses-bank-loan-alternatives.html?_r=1&ref=smallbusinessemail&nl=business&emc=edit_sb_20120801<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong>
\nShe is the author of Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent New York Times article (see link below) discusses some new creative ways to raise capital — asset-based lending, lease back, cash advances, and peer-to-peer loans. Most of these options require that you have some kind of asset which is often the very reason […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"post-templates\/post-middle-column.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8577],"tags":[8576,38568],"class_list":["post-4410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-small-business","tag-entrepreneurs","tag-small-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1v7EM-198","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/266"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/hottopicsinsider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}