[SmarterGroup]

I've uploaded a Make Your Mark casestudy to my blog (see:Encounters of an Entrepreneur: Make your Mark Case Study | Encounters of an Entrepreneur) which gives a very basic overview of my 5 month journey from a debt-laden university graduate to launching a company that required £50,000 of investment.

If anyone wants to PM me, I would be happy to detail some of the better sources of finding investment for new ventures.

[TheBigIdea]

I'd try my luck with my own savings.

[wuwi]

I have a very strong belief that many people go into business without full confidence, that on its own is a weakness!

[Airry]

i like this thread!

ok first of all, i got to say that im still a student and i havent started working. I want to do my own business now. definitely i dont have any savings. i am from a poor family, so i wont be able to get any capital from my parents. i kind of agree with the saying that "if u want to lose a friend, ask money from him/her". so borrowing money from my friends is definitely out of my thoughts. the only choice i left is seeking investment with VC or AI.

in my humble opinion, i think that it depends on which stage of ur life u r at, when u want to start ur own business. if u r very well experience and has been working for years and has a relatively good digit in ur bank acc as savings and u r willing to take the risk, its definitely good to start ur own business with ur own money.

to me, there is no business that is definitely successful. the only thing u can do is to do more research and minimise the risk to the lowest. this i suppose is call risk management.

and lastly, i wish to say to all entrepreneurs this. be generous to start ups, especially young entrepreneur. cos it is really hard to find capital and to gain trust at such a young age i m at now. however, be smartly generous and not to invest in anything blindly.

[tksays]

In my opinion, the best way to raise start-up capital is get it yourself. And you can do this by taking up a job and start saving until you have enough to start your business.
Success!

[dankiel]

hmm im not sure, but im opening a couple of businesses. gruvgroup.com

[EBITDA]

1. Some of your own money (as little as possible), plus money from friends and family.
2. Angel groups.
3. VC/PE (depending on the stage) to exit or recap.

The other opportunity is JV with an established firm.

Nick
TransCapital Pro

[Dmoore323]

1. Playing online poker is a good one, very statistical game , can be mastered if you try hard enough. I mean you can save up like 1 k and put it in a party poker account. and if your smart with it you can turn it into like 20 k in a week

3.Selling weed - you know just selling weed to people, pick up ounces and what not. alot of young kids blaze now lets face it, me being one of them

3. Stocks - investing in some 1,2 dollar stocks. say you buy 100 shares of a $2 stock and it boosts to 8 even in a short time, i call them spaceships, theres 600 profit so then u just sell it off. and those numbers flucuate like that sometimes in just 3 week spans.
I mean say you got a portfolio prolly 5-6 diverse stocks you could be taking in good cash. Even if the market is just those little runner stocks will always be around.. always opportunity just gotta know what your doing.
- I guess one statement of advice in stocks would prolly just be understand where the worlds going, cause then the money will go there hence the markets

[sagestatham]

is using a number of joint venture partners

[NTSMotivations]

Cutting your business plan down to a powerful one page deal summary is the best way to get an investor to look at you. Imagine it like a resume. Why would they want to lend to you and how will they get their money back? Those are their biggest concerns. Because investors see miriad deals, they want you to get to the point as quickly as possible. They don't have time for novels.

[janice2009]

That's challenging. IMO, it's best to stay away from loans as much as possible because if your business will fail, then it would certainly land you in deep shhh* err I mean serious dept. Taking part time jobs like lawn mowing or car washing are a good option because even though bridging on these part time jobs are like taking baby steps, you still have a sure way of saving up the money needed for your start up.

[feint]

I have started out with my own capital...I believe that once I have a working product and even users it will be easier to demo to investors.

[byrneof]

You must self fund at the start. Nobody will invest in your business if you have not put your own savings on the line. I believe getting funding is slightly different in the current economic climate than it was two years ago.

Now, your business needs to be more developed. In other words, when lots of users were enough to attract investment you now need to be making substantial sales and in most cases showing profits.

This is good for the entrepreneur because they are forced to develop their business to a point where they have more negotiating power and can come out with a better deal (in the long term) for themselves.

[Viclogic]

Funding should be tested and asked by this question - will it give you good returns?

[luckyviva]

Why not try the mighty Forex trading?