Fundraising is possibly the most pressing issue facing new business owners looking to get a startup off the ground. In this part of our MBA series, we take a look at some of the alternatives to the common, yet flawed, models associated with venture capital and angel investment.
Both routes can be powerful tools for bringing in large amounts of money. But the less-talked-about risks and standard demands related to the sources of these funds can often spell big problems for the future of businesses grounded in a commitment to impact. In this episode, Kevin and Ryan discuss bootstrapping, non-diluted financing, the work that goes into fundraising, the main issues with venture capital, and the pros and cons of each of the available avenues.
We also get to list the five steps to better explore your fundraising options and share some examples of what is possible. So if you want to gain an introduction to important concepts such as leveraging debt, revenue-based financing, impact investors, investment crowdfunding, structured exits, and more, make sure to tune in to this part of the ongoing MBA series.
Key Points From “Funding the Next Economy”:
- Unpacking the venture capital and the ‘business as usual’ approaches to fundraising.
- Why venture capital and impact organizations often do not fit together.
- Better options for investment for impact-focused businesses.
- Expanding our understanding of potential capital for investment.
- Philanthropic capital and lending options to consider.
- Investment crowdfunding and looking to the community as a source of smaller amounts of capital.
- Finding the right kind of impact investors for your project.
- The benefits of structured exits and the terms that can allow owners to access these.
Tweetables from “Funding the Next Economy”:
“If they don’t see that it has a multi-billion dollar opportunity, and they don’t see the likelihood that there is an acquisition or an IPO in the future, then it’s bad for their business model.”
“Almost categorically, venture capital is, because of its business model, not a good fit for impact organizations.”
“In terms of the potential investment capital that is out there, professional venture capital and angel investors is a tiny sliver of the capital that actually exists in the world.”
“Doing a financial projection and knowing in as much detail as possible, how much resource you need to thrive is actually one of the preliminary steps.”
“What is the leanest way I can actually test the hypothesis of what I want to deliver?”
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