Financing Options For Startups
I got a bunch of great suggestions in my kickoff post on this topic last week. Based on that feedback, the series is going to look like this:
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Friends and Family
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Contests/Prizes/Accelerator Programs
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Government Grants
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Customer Financing
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Vendor Financing
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Convertible Debt
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Preferred Stock
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Venture Debt
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Capital Equipment Loans & Leases
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Bridge Loans
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Working Capital Financing
This list is roughly in chronological order of how a small company might avail itself of the various financing options, but there are always exceptions. Starting a company is more art than science.
I want to do each financing option as its own dedicated post so I’m not going to start today. I will start next week with friends and family.
If you are looking for some meaty MBA Monday reading this week, I point you to Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson’s awesome venture capital term sheet series, which is required reading for anyone seeking to raise venture capital.