Starting a new business can be very expensive. Certain types of businesses may require quite a bit of startup capital because they require physical premises, specialized equipment, raw materials for production and employees.
The average person with an idea for a business typically does not have enough money set aside in savings to cover the cost of starting a company out with their own resources. Even if they did, investing every cent of their own capital in the business could leave them in a very vulnerable position should the company face financial hardship or fail in the future. Acquiring proper funding to start a company can allow an entrepreneur to begin a business with the right resources. The following are the most popular forms of business funding available.
Traditional loans
Many financial institutions offer business loans. An individual often needs a proven track record in a particular industry or a history of running a successful business to convince a bank to finance their business operations. More importantly, a thorough business plan is often necessary when presenting a business idea to a financial institution. Business financing can create very pressing immediate repayment obligations in some cases, forcing a business to scale up as quickly as possible to repay that startup financing.
Private investments
There are a host of ways for people to secure private investments. Entrepreneurs can sometimes seek small investments from numerous people that they know personally, including coworkers and family members. Other times, they might approach local investment clubs or special investment companies. The terms for such loans can sometimes be more lenient than the terms offered by traditional financial institutions, giving entrepreneurs more time to get the business operational before they have to pay others back. The downside of private financing includes the strain that it can put on someone’s relationships or the need to give up a partial ownership interest to private investors.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding has become increasingly popular for entrepreneurs, especially those who want to launch physical products but need capital from consumers to do so. Crowdfunding can be a way to market a company while simultaneously potentially closing hundreds of sales for the first production run of a product. Crowdfunding comes with a host of challenges, not the least of which can be the marketing required to succeed and the amount of capital that the crowdfunding platform takes from the campaign.
Aspiring entrepreneurs thinking about the most effective way to finance a startup often need help evaluating their options. Planning carefully to represent a company and its offerings appropriately can increase the likelihood of success when seeking bank loans, private investment or crowdfunding capital.