Raising Capital - your options for funding your Startup...

by Startacus Admin

Do forgive us if you feel the language used in this article is rather basic, however, most new self starters and startups can be forgiven for not appreciating or understanding where and how they can go about raising money to fund their start up. So, look at this as being our ‘beginners guide’ to finance and raising capital - and hopefully these nine financing options will help you out along the way....

No Cash
If I took you along to your local bookshop (that is if you still have one!) and went to the business section, I can pretty much guarantee that on the business shelves will be at least one book titled something along the lines of “How to Start a Business with no cash”. A pretty popular tome no doubt! Starting a business with £0 might be pretty tough and your business may have to be rather simple, however it is still possible to do. Many part time business ventures for example, will ‘get-by’ by using the resources, skills, knowledge and facilities that they already have at their disposal.

Your Own Cash
The next step up from this, is your own cash. Perhaps, if you are employed you can use part of your monthly wages, perhaps you can save and build up a pot, perhaps you have been made redundant and can use your redundancy pay to fund your new start. It’s all worth considering, particularly if your overheads and startup costs are not massive, and your business would not suffer by keeping to a mean budget.

Your friends and family
Better (you would hope) than borrowing from the banks; however this can be seen as a scary prospect nevertheless. Borrowing from your friends and family is great, as long as you can pay them back, and as long as they remain happy with the length of time it may take for you to refund them their loan. Some say ‘never mix business and pleasure’ and that can be said for family and friends too. However, this option obviously it has its’ advantages too - and you can be unnecessarily paranoid about these things.

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Published on: 22nd October 2012