Enter The Entrepreneur’s Playbook: Creative Ways to Find Funding that works.

"Ideas are cheap and Execution is Expensive" - Shane Perrish.

One evening, I was at a gathering of friends in a bar, catching up on life. As we drank beer, a friend asked me what I had been doing lately. I told him that I was doing some side hustles here and there. Since he knew I had a business education, he asked me about his current business idea. He had been thinking about it for quite some time but was stuck, thinking that he would never have the funds to move it forward.

He kept on saying, "What's the use of creating a business plan when you don't have funds?" I told him, "That's one of the least things to worry about, mate." However, I do have to acknowledge the fact that most of those who indeed wanted to set up their own enterprise in the future got stopped in their tracks, thinking about where to get the necessary funding.

In business, the cheapest thing is the idea. We think all the time, and out of those moments comes a eureka moment where an imaginary lightbulb gets lit, and a moment of enlightenment ensues momentarily.

As time goes by, a perception of reality begins to manifest, showing that it can't be done simply by dreading the 'I don't have money' mentality. And then, one loses hope and the lightbulb fades away. And that is how most ideas fade.

Well fear not, there are many ways to get funding for your projects and it should not hinder you from moving your imagery into reality.

The first of which is the most common for many who have some cash available at their disposal is to use your own savings.

This is called Bootstrapping.??

It is a traditional form of funding however, I may have to put my opinion in the line as not everyone has the funding as I have stated earlier on. But this is worth putting into the list as this is the most common method.

Many business founders are previous employees working themselves on a 9-5 job. After years of working through their savings from their hard-earned money and grit, they are now ready to start their business.

To inspire you, dear readers, I have placed some examples of founders who have become successful simply by bootstrapping their cash on their very shoes to propel their business to stardom.

Ben Chestnut owned a design agency and teamed up with his business partner Dan Kurzius in 2001 to create an online business. They have used the profits from their agency to start a website which we now know as MailChimp.

They have used their funds on their own and the company ran successfully for 20 years and they have sold it to Intuit for a whopping 12-billion dollars!.

In 2020, there was a door-to-door saleswoman whose job was to sell fax machines and she got tired of working in a 9-5 job knocking at every door around the neighborhood selling another person's dream.

She was able to save about 5000 dollars and with the small funding, she was able to found her apparel company. It was not easy in the start but became ultimately successful. At this moment Sarah Blakey is one of the most successful self-made billionaires in America.

At present Spanx is now worth 1.2 billion US dollars.??

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work' - Thomas Edison

The next example will simply blow your mind away.

Yvon has been a mountain climber and a climate activist for years and in the 1950's he tried making his own gear and even tried to learn the art of the blacksmith. He invested only $45 to start his own company by selling used goods. In 1970 he founded Chouinard Equipment and years later he officially named his apparel company Patagonia which in 2024 is worth about 3 billion dollars.??

What if you don't have enough money to set up your own business? Well, there is another way. This is an acronym -OPM which is Other-People's-Money.

Using other people's money provides you the leverage to pool funds from the people you know and trust you. You need to ask for a meeting and discuss with them about your ventures by providing the usual pitch decks, a well-prepared business plan, and realistic time goals with cash flow.

Nick is a surfer and usually goes on surfing trips in Australia and Indonesia. He wanted to capture moments of him surfing the waves and capturing the thrill and excitement. The plan was to put a special camera to be mounted on surfboards. Initially, he spent $10000 from his previous ventures, and later on a significant portion of the funding came from his family. His mom provided him $20000 and another $100000 from his dad. He developed the prototype in 2004 and founded GoPro.

It is now worth 200 million dollars in 2024.

What if I can't find source funds from friends and family? What should I do?

Don't lose hope, there are still a lot of means to start it up. I told you funding is one of the easiest to overcome to start your business.

In today's world, there are a lot of high-net-worth individuals and many of them are constantly looking for novel and innovative business models and are willing to fund them. In return, they would take about 10-15% of the company stake in return.

These are called angel investors. They are called Angels are if they are sent from the heavens to jump-start your business ideas.

So how do you look for them? Yeah, that could be a valid issue for some.

There are several ways to find an angel investor, such as networking at investor meetings. You can visit the stock market website, select a company, and find information about upcoming investor meetings. By attending these meetings and speaking with other attendees, you may come across a high-net-worth individual who could potentially be interested in your business plans.

If you can build trust and effectively communicate your ideas, they may be willing to invest in your venture.

Brian Chesky was a student in San Francisco. He and his roommates were experiencing financial difficulties in paying the expensive apartment rent. They came up with the idea of renting out a small bed to travelers in the area to help cover the costs. The idea turned out to be successful, and they realized it could be a new business model for other homeowners. With this in mind, they approached Paul Graham, who was with Y-Combinator and managed to convince him to provide the necessary funding to set up their company, which is now called Airbnb and is worth more than 72 billion dollars.

Another way to find potential investors is by attending charity events. These events are usually attended by wealthy individuals who are looking to give back to society through charity. It's a great opportunity to attend these events as there's a high likelihood of meeting one of these potential investors.

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What if you can't find an angel investor and you are a bit shy to attend social events for networking? There are still good options available. Another way to secure funding is by reaching out to the public through the Internet. This method is called crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding is a way to raise funds for a project, venture, or cause by asking for small contributions from a large number of people, usually through the Internet. It enables individuals, businesses, and organizations to gather resources from a wide audience, rather than depending solely on traditional methods.

Examples of crowdfunding websites are Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Give the websites a visit to find out more about them.

They provide crowdfunding to potentially fund you projects and creative works.

Usually, in return you will have to provide the crowfunders discount of your minimum viable product.

There are four main types of crowdfunding. The first is reward-based, where you offer incentives to those who support you. The second is equity-based, where you provide shares to your backers in return for their support. The third is donation-based, like GoFundMe, where people contribute without expecting anything in return. Lastly, there is debt-based crowdfunding, where backers lend you money with the expectation of being repaid with interest.

An advantage of crowdfunding is that it's relatively easy to set up. However, it can also be challenging due to heavy competition. Additionally, crowdfunding platforms usually charge fees, which can add up over time.

"Dare to dream big and do something about it" - Rebecca Yates

If you have been unsuccessful in obtaining funding from the examples set above and you have a successful business that you want to take to the next level, or if you have a great idea and a prototype that could make the world a better place, it's time to bring in the big guns.

Welcome now to the world of Venture Capital.

A VC or venture capital is a private form of equity investing provided by venture capital firms. These firms are constantly looking for the next big thing. These are companies that have their funds from other companies and very high net-worth investors. Venture capitalists now use this huge amount of pooled funds to look and invest for potential unicorns.

When I say unicorns, these are new businesses that potentially or are valued at least a billion dollars.

In the video game world, these are the 'Final Boss' to challenge.

They provide funding and they will provide you with their own board of directors to be installed in your company so that they can steer you in the favorable direction in terms of profits.

Only a very few are selected to be funded by the Venture capitalists as they have very stringent requirements because they have to make sure that the company being funded will succeed as they work on very risky businesses with high rates of failure but if they are lucky enough, it takes 1 company to set make up for all the failed companies they have ventured into.

One of the very popular venture capital firms is Sequoia Capital which has funded numerous unicorns.

Tech giants such as Google, Apple, Air-Bnb, Oracle, WhatsApp, Zoom, and more.??

Another is the Andreesen Horowitz venture, aka a16z, a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreensen and Ben Horowitz.

They have funded Coinbase, Facebook, Instagram, Lyft, Skype, Pinterest, and Oktacart just to name a few.

If you want to learn more about venture capital, there is a book published this year in May 2024 by Professor Ilya Strebulaev from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, co-authored by Alex Dang. The book is called "The Venture Mindset."

In summary, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to secure funding for your startup. Maybe you are overthinking and assuming that your business idea requires a massive amount of funding. Starting small is okay – for example, Patagonia started with just $45, as we discussed earlier.

So, if you are ready to launch your dream, there's no better time to start than now. Good luck with all your endeavors and enjoy the process of searching for investors!