How can I raise start up capital for my small business?
I have been a small business owner for sometime now. Each time I receive orders to make supplies, financing has been a challenge. How can I help myself to raise capital?
Expert Answers
Sort by Date
Sort by Votes
Jan 29, 2016
Start your capital search with a good business plan that indicates investors and lenders your company's potential. Follow that up with a thorough knowledge of the resources available and a determination to make your business a reality, and you should be on your way to uncovering a source that fits your business's cash desires. https://www.merchcash.com/resources/post/four-2016-resolutions-for-small-businesses-seeking-financial-success/
Nov 3, 2015
VEDC Entreprenuer Center can help you with finding capital sources for your business idea. http://vedcentrepreneurcenter.com/
May 30, 2014
Have an accountant do an analysis on your business and books. An analysis can reveal where the business stands and will help you when pursuing opportunities. You can't pursue capital or investors unless you can tell them where you stand and where you plan to take the company. Understanding your current financial situation is one of the keys to pursuing capital investment.
May 22, 2014
4 Great Tips For Finding Funding For Your Startup:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhendricks/2013/10/31/4-great-tips-for-finding-funding-for-your-startup/
May 22, 2014
Need more information.
How much capital? Is it only for inventory/filling orders? How much can you afford to pay for the money?
With orders in hand from paying customers there are several options. Which opton is best depends on the answers to the above questions.
May 20, 2014
Charles, you have received some very good advice on raising capital for your startup. I would add checking out crowd funding as well. You should begin tho with friends, family, personal investors, or also checking into the SBA and and see what grants or other programs that they have for startups.....Hope this helps.
May 19, 2014
It depends upon the kind of business you are in..
If it is an Industrial or the Production units.. you can pick capital against the clients or committed orders.
Though money flow is the challenge for upcoming enterprises.. but I think there is a need of a Policy towards that.
May 19, 2014
Charles,
You have received a lot of good advice here and it all is viable. If you have considered Crowd Funding but feel a little nervous about that approach, maybe we can help. Contact us for our complementary product that facilitates the Crowd Funding form of funding. With our offering, the investor has a higher confidence level of your success and is therefore more prone to invest. Jerry Bryant
May 16, 2014
Hello charles - As you said you are in market for quite good time so , you have good public relations in market - if you want to make big supplies ,you want to raise capital - through your public relations with suppliers or with banks you can raise capital ,First try to arrange it with your suppliers on credit bases since they know you in market , or you can arrange bank loan according to your needs , in market big companies increases your credit limit according to your trust , its only a mater of How to manage your payment with them .
May 16, 2014
I looks that your business is under capitalised. in order to avoid situation like yours in which you find yourself without enough money even to fill a new order, you must have sufficient capital to run the business. Following are the sources for financing:
1) Advance money from your customer, if it is possible.
2) credit from your supplier of raw material, if you are a manufacturer of some sort.
3) short term borrowing from your bank against your order. This is also called local bill discounting.
4)Running Finance Facility from your bank. bank usually require a collateral.
5) Personal loan from a friend or family.
6)You can also look for a partner in business who can put in sufficient capital in the business.
7) If borrowing from bank is not possible due to some reason, then you should look towards informal channels. These are the persons who lend you money against personal guarantee & charge you some mark up.
May 15, 2014
Hire a intermediary specilized in that. I do it in Spain por tech & services start ups. Regards.
May 15, 2014
You have to build the financial model of raising turnover vis a vis finance. Everytime you service a lead, it requires finance. Equity, a little bit of debt leverage, small business loans will help. Interest costs and repayment patterns have to be noted, and inflow/outflow logged in.
May 15, 2014
you can raise equity or debt with equity you need a investor ready business plan so you can wrap a red herring on it to protect investors. Debt is possible if you have income there is programs to get 250,000 but you need at least a 600 credit score .there is also state and federal programs.there are some other programs out there but to start you need a 250 or 500 application fee and they take 6-9 months to set up.
May 15, 2014
Depends entirely on how much money you need to raise.
A few thousand to say $20K - Family/friends.
If you add a zero to that you will want to look at some fashion of bank financing or credit factoring depending on your credit, assets and how long you've been in business for banks and what your receivables look like with respect to aging when dealing with factoring organizations.
If you add another zero you will most likely be looking at angels and/or VC's. Their primary concerns are going to be how likely is it that they will get their initial investment back followed immediately by how quickly they can be assured they can cash out their position for the agreed upon gains.
May 15, 2014
Charles, it looks like you are in Ghana. I don't know what resources you have for small business finance, so I must answer this as if for an American small business.
You don't need to raise capital; you need a short-term loan to cover the gap between purchasing materials and receiving cash upon the sale of your products. In the U.S., this could be a revolving line of credit, from a bank or credit union. There are other ways to finance this:
-- In your surrounding community, is there an informal mutual credit arrangement from which you could obtain a short-term loan for this purpose? Oftentimes family, neighbors, or clans do this for each other.
-- Get customers to pre-pay in full or in part
-- Ask your supplier to give you terms, say Net 30, so that you can purchase, turn around, sell, and collect before the money is due to the supplier.
-- You may be able to borrow against your accounts receivable if your customer is of high quality, but this is expensive financing.
-- Is there a government loan-guarantee program to help small entrepreneurs get started?
You don't say how much you need. If it's a small amount, then it may be feasible to get a short-term loan from a family member, as others have suggested.
There are sources of micro-loans for small amounts. We contributed money to a fund that made small loans to entrepreneurs in Uganda, for example.
Whatever source, make sure you scrupulously repay it as soon as you get paid, so that you build up a record of borrowing and repaying on time. If you do this, people will want to loan you money.
Also make sure that your pricing--your mark up--gives you a sufficient margin not only to pay yourself but to build up a surplus of capital to fund your own internal needs, plus a fund to grow your business.
May 15, 2014
I have been in the accounts receivable finance industry for over 15 yrs...many newer, small to mid size companies needing capital for growth use our services to generate more working capital faster to feed the growth of their companies. If you have quality accounts receivables, you can convert them to immediate cash, turning your company into a type of cash and carry business where you no longer wait for money owed to you. It's much easier to qualify for than traditional bank finance, and it doesn't create more debt for your company.. I would be happy to explain more if you want more info..
May 15, 2014
If its really a going business, why do you need to raise capitol? Good financial management will find ways of reinvesting profits. Venture capitalists will require that path be taken first. Later you might consider going public.
May 15, 2014
Usually your lowest hanging fruit are friends and family who s should understand your business and it potential.However there are also some amazing connections on twitter but that requires a profile of those persons "following" you.You do that by posting ideas and teasers about what the business will do for your particular market. BDC of Canada could be of help and make sure you attend business networking functions.Some will ask you if you have skin $ in the game.
May 15, 2014
Hi there Charles.
This is a very good question and it is also a common one. The answers vary dramatically, however, based on the type of business, the past and current fiscal health of the business, the current capital structure of the business, and the risks the owners of the business are willing to take.
In the most honest sense of it, I can't imagine anyone being able to provide an answer that gives you any options until more information is known.
I'm happy to spend $0 time with you in order to get more information and then provide some better direction.
Sean
May 15, 2014
Before you create business debt from the start, PLEASE read this book: http://books.google.com/books/about/One_Hundred_Dollar_Startup.html?id=2YeBy-RlgkQC.
Great book with a ton of real life examples of success and failure.
very stereotypical answer saying factoring of invoices is so costly....we have customers who we charge discounts as low as 1.2% on 30 days from their accounts....and this with an advance of 90%....given todays economic situation and considering we are adding no debt to the client's business, I would say this financing is more than reasonable...this is an extremely competitive industry and returns over the past 15 yrs have been driven down considerably through competition...dealing with many other financing sources can be much, much more of a costly nightmare. I know Bank presidents that think out type of finance is much more effective even for their own customers...and reasonable in cost as well..thank you