Believe it or not there are still angel investors around! What are angel investors? They are people (and businesses) willing to invest in your business!
Here is an example of one such angel investor program!
If you would like more money for your business then there is a program that you may be eligible to apply for!
What you will need to do is submit your business plan and if the sponsor(s) of this program like it then they will fund your business! It really doesn't get much more simpler than that!
In order to be eligible: Your business plan has to be for a business that will make money! Your business will also have to break even within 2 months and make a profit within 3 months! You will also have to tell the sponsor how they will receive their equity or ROI.
Priority will be given to businesses that are already established!
For more information about this funding program you can also visit the website for more information.
An Example One woman didn’t want to leave her job but in November, the firm that she worked for announced restructuring plans — and axed her position! For about six years, she had been kicking around an idea with her now-husband: a Web site that tracked parking spots for rent in urban areas. They got the idea while chatting about parking gripes over dinner one night with friends, and the next morning went online and secured the domain name for their site. “It’s a scary jump to take the risk to leave a full-time job,” she says. Although she didn’t have any knowledge about the parking business she joined forums and associations, meeting everyone she could. Financing has also been tough. She and her husband approached banks and other traditional sources but found few willing to lend — and those that would insisted on tough terms. So, the two have relied on friends and family, as well as government grants. Another problem was more personal: finding enough self-discipline. “There’s no one telling you what to do anymore. There’s no one telling you to get out of bed at a good hour.…You’ve got to spend your heart and soul into it. You’re now your own boss.” Revenue from the site hasn’t met their early expectations. But she now thinks that those hopes were unrealistic, and the site has shown strong growth in other ways, expanding its network to 30 cities. She also adds that she has no intention of giving up entrepreneurship. “I’m not going back to being a full-time employee,” she says. “I’m working full time now, for me. It may sound selfish, but I’d rather do something for me and build my company than helping someone else build theirs.” |
Entrepreneur Who Got An Investor!
One man who had long worked in the home-building and remodeling industry — a lucrative field when the housing market boomed a few years ago. But after it began collapsing in mid-2007, he could no longer make a livable income, and took a job selling cars at a dealership. While working full time, he got the idea of building a Web site where consumers could solicit bids from contractors and where general contractors could solicit bids from subcontractors. A Web site, he figured, would simplify a traditionally nettlesome process and allow subcontractors to find jobs that they wouldn’t otherwise know about. In late 2007, he started working with the local small-business help center at a local university to build his business plan and buy up domain names. A counselor at the center also connected him with a local angel investor group.
In February 2008, he pitched the group on his plan for his website and asked for $200,000 to cover start-up costs. Four hours later, one angel called him and said that six of the group’s members would collectively give him the money so then and there he quit his job the next day.
“Once they said, ‘This is such a good idea that we want to put our money in it,’ that was the day I thought, wow, I’m really onto something,” the 28-year-old entrepreneur says.
He spent the next several months working on the site, investing $50,000 of his personal savings, along with $150,000 in bank financing. But growing the business was much harder than he expected, mostly given contractors’ reluctance to use the Internet. Over the first six months, only about 50 signed up for subscriptions to the site. But things are looking brighter in recent weeks as more contractors who are hard pressed to find work realize the Internet can help them. The site currently has about 190 paying subscribers, and he just secured another $200,000 of angel financing!
What’s more, the company, which has six employees, recently sold a franchise in Minnesota and another in Wisconsin for $20,000 each, and is currently talking with other potential franchisees.
He is optimistic that the company will be churning a profit by summer, but recognizes there are still many challenges ahead. “This is a high-risk operation in a struggling industry,”
*Names and specific website addresses have been withheld until the proper permission has been received!
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