Cash is oxygen for any business. As for individuals, without oxygen (cash), a business cannot breathe or survive. A business needs cash to exist, to pay staff, to buy necessary products and services, and to grow. Without access to sufficient capital, eventually a business will have to close its doors. There are several options for accessing capital for your business, but there are there are 3 main ways that you can secure more money. However, for each of these 3 ways as well as most other options, you must get your business’s so-called “ducks in a row” so you are armed and ready to handle the full scope of the application process and satisfy all of the due diligence requirements.
1. Apply for a Loan
Traditional financing methods remain one of the easiest ways for businesses to get funding. In fact, roughly 75% of financing for newer companies comes from business loans, lines of credit, and credit cards. Small business loans with favorable terms will help businesses to build their credit as long as they have (i) been in operation for at least two years, (ii) at least $100,000 in annual revenue, and (iii) principal(s) with a credit score of 640 or higher. These requirements obviously leave startups out of the loan mix, although it is possible that SBA financing or hard money loans may be available as an option for newer companies. Additionally, for companies with outstanding invoices, invoice financing or factoring could also help in this regard.
You can also use personal funds to raise money for your business. If you own your home, you can borrow against the equity you have in your home by way of a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) or a home equity loan. A HELOC gives you a pool of cash that you can draw from when you need it. A home equity loan is a term loan that is issued as a one-time lump sum. The total amount of cash that you can access depends on the amount of equity you have in your home and the total value of your home.
2. Find an Angel Investor
Angel investors are affluent investors that are interested in investing in businesses in exchange for equity or convertible debt interest in the business, but don’t want to play a role in the day-to-day operations, which is often ideal for startups and ScaleUPs looking for funding to develop, scaleUP or exit. If you have a solid business plan and hopefully a pitch deck, two of ScaleUPCheckUP’s specialties, and you are ready to make your pitch, you can seek an angel investor and capture their interest by clearly demonstrating to them the amazing opportunity that you offer and the future potential of your company. There are also angel investor groups and websites that help companies find angel investors.
3. Secure Investments from Venture Capitalists
Venture capitalists are different from angel investors to the extent that they generally want to be directly and often quite intimately involved in your company’s day-to-day operations – an investment with strings. They typically seek to make sure they are likely to realize certain returns on their investment, so they want to work with companies that have scalable products/operations. You can find many venture capitalists and VC matchmakers that can help link your business to the money you need as long as you can justify what has changed in the industry as a means of showing that your company’s offering fills a direct need, what you offer and why they should capitalize on it, and your current financials.
If you are interested in accessing more cash for your business so you can build, scaleUP or exit, but you are not sure about how, when, or where to start, the ScaleUPCheckUP™ assessment tool and ScaleUPCheckUP™’s network of business advisors can help you determine the best path to take. Making a poor decision about how to fund your business can be an expensive and potentially disastrous mistake. Seek foundational expertise and funding guidance from our experts to access and ultimately raise the money you need to grow your business.
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