Financing Your Small Business: From Venture Capital and Credit Cards to Common Stock and Partnership Interests

If you are planning to start a new business, you will likely need to obtain financing. Where will you obtain it? The sources of financing available to you will depend partly on how you set up your business. A lawyer can help you set up your business in the most advantageous way possible. Your first meeting with your lawyer will be more productive if you already have a basic awareness and understanding of the choices you can make. That is where this book can help. After reading it, you should feel more confident in meeting with your lawyer, you should have a better idea of what questions to ask, and you should be better able to understand your lawyer's suggestions. Apart from the example documents provided in the appendixes, this book does not delve into a lot of complex details. This is not a do-it-yourself book. Instead, this book keeps things nice and simple, offering an easy-to-read introduction to the basics of setting up and financing your business. By helping you communicate more effectively with your lawyer, this book should help you achieve better results. And if it expedites your legal consultations, it could save you the cost of the book many times over. Paul Francis Musgrave, author of Indispensable Marketing Strategies - How to Outwit Your Competition, Attract and Retain Customers, and Multiply Your Profits - Marketing Strategy Secrets for Profitable Small Business Management

If you know nothing about financing a small business, this book is a good place to start to understand the basics of business finance. It's broken down into several basic sections: 1. Choosing the Form of Your Business 2. Business Plans 3. Equity Financing 4. Debt Financing 5. Securities Law 6. Licensing and Franchising 7. Friends, Angels, and Venture Capital Sources 8. Presentations 9. Corporate Governance 10. How to Choose Professionals If you've been to business school or even started a business before, you're probably not going to learn anything new here. Financing a startup pretty much mean using your own money (borrowing or savings) or getting somebody that knows you personally to lend you the money or buy into the business as a partner in some way. Of course the business plan is important and you might be able to raise money from venture capitalists or angels, but this book doesn't go into many specifics on that or any of the other topics in the outline. Still, if you don't know anything about these basics, the book is a good read. If you do, you might want to look elsewhere for more specific information.

This is a good introductory book valuable for people who need financing when starting or running a small business. It covers important topics for obtaining financing in a very readable manner. It provides good advice, such as, "Keep your options open until the deal is done and do not forget to plan an exit strategy...." and then lists several exit strategies. The authors give advice on when to have a limited liability company run by its members or run by a board of managers, what one of the purposes of writing a business plan is (hint: it's not just for running the business), and also provides a business start-up checklist. There is a sample business plan and sample formation documents for a corporation and for a limited liability company. The authors discuss how to offset any lack of depth on the management team. The chapter on Equity Financing tells the business owner what the potential investor will be looking for in deciding whether to invest. Advice is given on debt financing, and includes website addresses of various government sources. The Securities Law chapter covers a complicated area broadly without getting too deep for the reader. The book concisely explains the difference between licensing a product and franchising a business. The authors describe eight different types of angel investors, how to target them for the current needs of the business, and lists what factors angel investors and venture capital firms may use in evaluating a business. The book is not a substitute for having the advice of an attorney during start-up and during financing, but it contains very useful information that will make the reader more knowledgeable in growing the company. This book would also be a very good gift for someone who is considering whether to start a business.

This book is a must for every Entrepreneur...It explains how to finance your dream business from debt to equity, corporate governance, capital structure....It is well researched and well presented...Buy it and get on with your new business !! Tarby Bryant, The Gathering of Angels-505-982-3050

This is the most complete and comprehensive book I've ever read on the subject of financing a small business. Not only does it cover some real funding alternatives (with pros and cons) but it tells you how to do it as well. It's a must read for every small business person I especially like the way the book is organized so I can find what I need and refer back to it easily. It should be part of every entrepreneur's reference library.