Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites For Fundraising - Forbes

Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites For Fundraising - Forbes:

So you wanna get funding?

The first and fastest way, always, is to go to friends and family. They know you after all, and in spite of that, they may -- just may -- be willing and able to invest.

The next best way is to look around the channels of distribution for your product. They are the companies that will understand and appreciate your product/service fastest. Plus they might be able to profit from your addition/expansion in the market. Of course, they may also be in a position to cut you out of the idea entirely... This one of the many reasons for having strong IP (patent) protection.

Loans from your friendly neighborhood bank might be possible, but usually they require a personal guarantee (of the house and kids), sooooo if you could get a second loan (HLOC) on the house, that would typically be the direct way to fund.

Credit cards! Not so good an idea, maybe for some working capital.

If all these fail, you might move on to crowd funding... Or even is some of the other funding approaches works... Crowd funding usually brings with it a degree of advertising and promotion of your concept. That's good and bad. Now people know about your idea so they can consider investing. But now people know about your idea, so they can steal your idea, maybe. This one of the many reasons for having strong IP (patent) protection. But, I repeat myself, repeatedly.

Either way, when you go to the crowds, you will definitely get feedback on your idea and how investable it may be.

So, check out this cool article from Forbes and see what you think about going to the crowds (in the clouds) for (some) funding!?

Here is a quick summary of the various ways to fund a business and funding methods/types.

'via Blog this'

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