Funding, Oh The Fun of Funding

Possibly one of the most difficult, time consuming, and exhausting parts of business ownership is finding viable funding for your venture. You have Venture Capital, Angel Investors, SBA-backed small business loans, Small Business Loans (bank originated), grants (don't be fooled by good ol' Matthew Lesko and his stupid 'grant book'!), and a heap of other red-tape-restricted funding sources. Well, some entrepreneurs have taken it upon themselves to create some 'out of the box' funding sources.

I'll detail a few of the newer funding sources that have been developed recently, and I'll let you take the pick of where you think your time and energy would be best spent. Let's get started...

Kickstarter | www.kickstarter.com
This funding source is for anyone not starting a business. Crazy, huh?! Well, their premise is to help inventors, musicians, artists, and other 'crunchy' sort of enthusiasts garner money for their cause. As you can see from their site, they have some great projects. The disheartening aspect for me... You can't post a project if it's related to developing your business. Womp womp.

Go Big Network | www.gobignetwork.com
Caution when you visit this site... I haven't really made up my mind on this one. One thing I do know, is they charge an arm, leg, and your first born, for a possibility of connecting with an investor. My thought? Sign up for a free account, get your updates of who is in your industry, their name, location, and then google them! Find out who they are, where they invest, their sector, and all the information possible - and contact them outside of the GoBigNetwork!

Preneuraholics Unite | www.preneuraholics.com
I originally found out about this nifty little site from a forum that I frequent. The business owner is a great gal and she knows her stuff when it comes to financing small businesses. She has a great idea, a great concept, but it's having a little trouble taking off. As you may see on the site, my S2S business is on there. I was curious as to how it may fare, so I was able to cut a deal and get my business represented. The traffic for the site is low at the moment, so I'm not expecting miracles, but we'll see where it's headed in the future.


As you can see from the examples I've given, it looks like we're coming into an age where 'community investing' is coming to light. Rather than asking a single investor for funds - there seems to be a community aspect of getting multiple small investors (or "gifters") at a lower individual investment price. Interesting, but again, not really proven just yet.

I'm usually pretty skeptical when it comes to funding for small businesses. I feel that if you have a rock-solid idea, a great business plan, a strong management team, and all the right pieces in place, you have a shot at landing the VC/AI that you really need to propel yourself forward.

I'll leave you with this: I've been developing Site2Street for over two years now. My team and I have revamped our core business model, additional marketing techniques, product lines, services, and all other aspects of the business. We've been through many revisions, and only now am I completely confident that we have the right team in place, along with the other factors, to really land the funding needed. My point is... just because you think you have a great idea, doesnt mean an investor is going to bite. It takes time.

Next up... business networking and relationships! One of my favorite aspects of business!