Raising Capital: Get the Money You Need to Grow Your Business

Chapter 4Start-Up Financing

Raising capital at any stage of a company’s growth is challenging and requires creativity and tenacity, but these hurdles are especially difficult to conquer at the earliest stages of an enterprise’s development, when the business model is still under consturction and the track record for success is minimal or nonexistent. In this chapter, we’ll take a look at where and how to raise capital at the seed level—when you’re first organizing your business, or when it is in its earliest stages of growth.

In the chapters that follow, we’ll look at funding strategies that are commonly used after a business has gotten past the start-up phase and has established a steady flow of customers and a reliable revenue stream, even ...