The First Great Way To Find Financing For A Startup

Skye Leist
June 21, 2011

The first great way to find financing for a startup involves another company, a big company, a company with money (and most big companies DO have money right now). And it is a company with a problem. More importantly, it is a problem you can solve.

Create A Partnership With BigCo

Big companies have money. Big companies have lots of money. What they often DON’T have is a solution to a vexing problem. And that is where your company comes in.

Provide a solution to a vexing problem that BigCo has, and you will have more money for starting a business than you know what to do with. And this doesn’t have to be a major scientific breakthrough. For example:

BigCo wants to hire more women, but women are reluctant to work for BigCo because there is no child care center within 20 miles. So provide it.

Several restaurants in the vicinity of BigCo have gone out of business, and there is nowhere for employees to grab a quick, tasty lunch. So provide it.

Instead of having its usual big holiday bash, BigCo wants to tone it down, maybe to a snow party for the family. So provide it, and several more corporate gathering money saving options.

Each of these ideas means that you present a well thought out proposal to BigCo. Demonstrate clearly how you grasp the problem, and how you can solve it. The money that BigCo lends you to get started is a pittance on its balance sheet, but it can mean the difference between a solid business and no business for you.

This is no handout. You are not asking for charity. You are asking for a loan, or even a loan guarantee, or maybe just working space. Be clear on just what it is that you need, and how that will ensure your success.

This is only the first of five great ways to find financing for a startup. One of those ways even entails a bank — and they are very, very tight with their money.

With every single way to find money for starting a business, the key is the same: do your homework and present your company in its best light. For example, there is no benefit to BigCo to propose that their employees get substantial discounts at your new gym a mile away when BigCo already has a gym on its premises.

There’s an awful lot of money sitting in banks right now. Get creative. Find ways to pry some of that money loose so you can get your business on its way!

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