Where to Go When the Bank Says No: Alternatives for Financing Your Business

Comprehensive, direct, resourceful. Two thumbs up for anyone looking to start or grow their business.

I have read a lot of business books and this one gave the best insite into the topic. Very easy to skim and get what you need. If I would have stated with this one I could have saved myself a lot of time.

As a "student" of venture capital and entrepreneurship, I was delighted to discover this book. It was the book's title that first caught my attention. And, I was not disappointed. The author covers the subject of alternate financing in detail; IPOs, angel investors, venture capital, overseas financing and incubators. Often, banks are unwilling and/or incapable of understanding the unique requirements of a budding entrpreneur's financial needs; for example, in the software industry, most entrepreneurs can only offer intellectual property as collateral; this does not fit well with a bank's traditional mode of collateral ("If I cannot see it or touch it, it does not exist"). In this regard, the author offers well-defined chapters on helping borrowers prepare well for the reality (chapters 7, 8 and 9 - Valuing Your Business, Presenting Financials and Preparing Business Plans, respectively). One note of discord - while it is impossible to research and include every single source of information, the author should have included some of the well-established and well-known sources, in the appendices. Glaring omissions in Appendix A include The IndUS Entrepreneurs, a leading VC Club in Silicon Valley; Appendix B should have included the well- established entrepreneurship programs at Stanford University and University of Washington. Finally, I am glad that the book's retail price is below $25 (and often available at a disount); this tremendously benefits entrepreneurs and those individuals researhcing alternate sources of funding, for their business ventures.