I am currently in need of funding as the investment from all the business partners fails to cover the cost of the business and product development. Therefore, I waas wondering if any of you knew any good investment websites…
I am looking for $3000 to $10000 in funding in exchange for a percentage of product profit. Thanks for your help.
Cheers,
James
Worth checking out to see if you qualify
For the small amount you’re looking for, you could do a few things. Try to simply get a loan or put the expenses on a credit-card. Another option is to look to family and friends for the money. If you want to go the investor route, up the amount. The legal fees alone will kill you. Also, keep in mind that investors will want a portion of the company rather than a portion of profits. Can you determine what you’re valuation is? That’s how you’ll want to base the percentage of the company you’re willing to hand over in return for the funds. The investors will also need to be accredited (make at least $200K annually for the past 3 years or have a net worth over $1-million.) An investor can’t just be anyone off the street.
A good site that many angel investment groups use to weed out projects is www.angelsoft.net. The Angel group I received funding from (2nd round) used this site to keep track of documents, applications, etc.
Thanks for your replies.
However, the problem with Quirky is that I would not have the rights to the product or control its development as fully as if it were designed by myself. Also, the funding gathered up to this point would be wasted. Meanwhile, Kickstarter can not be used for this case- lack of development/not within the USA. I would looking for a website like Elance.com but for investors and funding. Or any way I could find a designer/engineer to fund this project…
Cheers,
James
I don’t mean this to sound as negative as it’s going to come across, but if you can’t round up $3k, you shouldn’t be trying to start a business on your own. You say you have multiple “business partners,” but apparently none of you has credit cards, home equity, parents, friends, or even an extra car or computer you can sell? What is your plan for when the first unexpected expense comes along? What are you going to do when a customer pays you late and you have to cover an extra 30 days of negative cash flow?
$3-10k is a pretty small amount of capital…you should easily be able to walk into a bank and take out a loan for that much, or find family and friends, or just take out a bunch of credit cards.
Or are you looking for multiple investors each contributing that much equity for a much higher amount?
Scott said exactly what I was going to say…and far less negative sounding than I ever would have said it.
I fully understand your point but me and my partner have already tried these methods and would not like to take out a business loan as we would like to avoid further risk. Therefore, I was wondering where I could find a investor, possibly also an electrical engineer, who was willing to fund the rest of the project with relatively little risk. Thanks.
Cheers,
James
… would not like to take out a business loan as we would like to avoid further risk.
If not business acumen, and technical ability, what is it that you bring to the table that makes this a “relatively little risk” proposition for any would-be investor/engineer person?
If you can’t demonstrate the viability of your “product” to potential investors you will not likely find any. And it doesn’t sound like you have anything to invest in at this point.
Nobody is going to invest money in something whose founders are unwilling to accept risk. If you don’t believe in it, why should anyone else? You can’t even get a business bank loan without personally guaranteeing that you will pay it back (regardless of bankruptcy, etc.). Sometimes even suppliers want personal guarantees before they will let you pay on terms.
If you consider taking out a loan too risky, you clearly have not evaluated the validity and business worth of your idea, or you have - and have realized that the chances of it being commercially successful are not high enough to consider putting your own personal assets into it.
Tough room… …
I don’t think you’re quite ready for Dragon’s Den.
I was only looking for a place to find investors/co-funders…
But it seems I am not ready to start a business. I was just hoping that you would help me in finding a investor/founder rather than evaluate and destroy my business acumen and aspirations…
“Beggars can’t be choosers” and auntie used to say. I know it might seem tough in here, but if this is too rough, how is the marketplace going to seem?
It might seem like a lot, but 3k is small sum. Your range of 3-10k is off by a multiplier of 3 though? Imagine if someone asked you for money and said it might be between $30,000 and $100,000? Just the fact that the range is that broad says you might not actually know how much you need, which is not a sign of confidence to an investor!
It might help for you to look up Don Lehman who recent;y started More/Real. He has a great story about going from being a successful designer with a design firm to starting his own business. I’m sure you can dig it up.
Sorry James, it’s a tough room, but I don’t think everyone is being negative just because they want to be a bully. It’s not like that. I think I speak for all of us where I say we really are trying to help.
Take my story for instance. About 3 years ago, I finally decided to develop my own idea while I was still working full-time. For the first year, I did as much design and development I could without spending much of my own money. I didn’t have much to spend!! Then, I managed to get a grant, which was the catalyst for getting my first round of funding. That first round of about $30K got me to a point where I could meet with angel investment groups as I needed about $500K. So, even though you’re asking for something small now doesn’t mean that you can’t dramatically increase your needs later on. Baby steps are small risks. But once everyone sees you walking, they’re more likely to fund you and trust in your venture.
PM if you’d like to know more or have questions.
Right, no one here is trying to crush your dreams - business is serious business. (Some pun intended).
If you were to go into a bank for a business loan one of the first questions they’ll usually ask you is “how much of YOUR capital (money, equity, home, etc) are you willing to put on the line?” because for some people who believe in their goal the answer is going to usually be “almost everything”.
When I helped start and e-commerce business back in 2000 the owner believed enough to quit his job, take out as many lines of credit as possible, max out every credit card to purchase inventory and shot himself probably close to $50k of instant debt to launch the business. But it paid off. 11 years later they are still in business, have sustained enough growth for a very very niche market to employ several people even through the recession.
When my brother left his very cushy executive job to start his own company, he took the same risks. He had to bankroll the entire company for months out of pocket which meant launching himself into $100k+ of debt and again, right before the global recession hit. But he had the business plan laid out, knew the investment he could get back from servicing the right clients, and it ultimately worked out.
The point being - if your investment risk is under $10k and you believe in your product, is going to be VERY tough to get anyone to invest in your idea because it does not seem like you have a clear enough business plan (Yo’s point about the factor of cash needed is also very accurate. You should be able to lay out a spreadsheet that to the dollar lays out how much money you need to pay for your expenses through the first phases of the company and when you think you’ll be able to reach the point of profitability). If your range is $7000 off for that small of an amount, it means you probably don’t have a full grasp of what work needs to be done. Most people could burn through that amount of money in a week.
Showing that you aren’t willing to invest yourself though is an instant red flag for anyone who would be interested in investing.