When it comes to raising funds for their companies, businessmen resemble lepers. Nobody wants to touch them. The bankers don’t want to lend to them. Angel investors rarely give them an opportunity. How about venture capitalists? You have to know someone who knows someone who knows someone else … And then you have to find a suitable date to meet with your partner … sometimes it feels like an eternity.
Fear of not receiving funding is a certain way to defeat yourself. There are so many reasons not to start your own business: burden of such a heavy duty, difficulty of leaving a comfortable job, fear of long hours of work and failure; And losing support from potential sponsors may be the last straw.
Just imagine all those great ideas that had gone this way and become victims of self-destruction. But, before you begin your own business venture, take a second to ensure you have considered everything! Maybe you don’t really need banks, venture capitalists, business angels, a wealthy relative or trust funding to start your own business? There is a number of entrepreneurs who have started their businesses without any financial help from others.
You probably know the story of the co-founder of WhatsApp, an immigrant from Ukraine, Jan Koum, who arrived to the Silicon Valley together with his mother when he was 16 years old. Their life in Kiev was not great, and the first few years in Mountainview were not much better. They lived on Jan’s earnings from floor sweeping in the supermarket and his mother’s disability allowance. Later, when he and Brian Acton left Yahoo to create WhatsApp, he could afford to rent a tiny office in the warehouse and send verification codes to application users. They somehow succeeded, and eventually attracted the attention of Facebook.
Everyone has heard about Spanx – the corrective underwear that enables any woman to look like a model. Spanx founder Sara Blakely began with a $5,000 savings from selling Danka fax machines. Over the next two years, she studied patents and created her own app with instructions, contacted a number of fabrics stores, and, together with the graphic artist, developed her own packaging design and then received one refusal after another from knit-wear manufacturers. Finally, a modern chain of stores Neiman Marcust turned out to be her great opportunity. Five years ago, the value of her company was estimated at a billion dollars.
You may say – these are nice stories about legendary billionaires, but … it’s not about me. I have a really good idea, but it cannot change the course of world history. Moreover, nobody wants to give me money …
Okay, here is a couple of more prosaic stories! Zain Jaffer, an ethnic Indian who grew up in London, launched a number of new businesses until he stopped at the idea of Vungle – to post short, entertaining video ads to mobile apps and games. When studying at the University of London college and living off Tesco sale products, he found a competition that awarded him $ 120,000 by the San Francisco Incubator AngelPad (founder Thomas Korte) for the best new business idea. Jaffer, along with a co-founder, created a video in which they spoke about Vungle, and named it – Do you know Thomas Korte? He spent his last money on buying links from ad networks. This video spread like a virus and attracted the attention of Korte. They won the competition and got the seed capital.
IF YOU WANT TO START YOUR OWN BUSINESS LIVE MODESTLY AND SELL EVERYTHING YOU DO NOT REALLY NEED. EMPTY YOUR CREDIT CARD, LET YOUR CAR.
Even more striking is the story of Taro Fukuyama. Born in Japan the co-founder of AnyPerk (a company that offers employee bonus programs for companies, now it’s called Fond) decided that he should go to the Silicon Valley. He and his two companions spent two nights in the minivan at the Taco Bell car park, but when they were axed from it, all three of them slept in one bed at a cheap motel in San Francisco. Fukuyama did not have 300 dollars to pay the admission fee in TechCrunch Disrupt, so he said that he was an interpreter and got in. There he met the legendary founder of Y Combinator – Paul Graham who he asked to he take a look at his company. So Fukuyama got a position in a program for start-up companies for six months and afterwards received a proposal from popular venture capital investors.
You do not need to go on a pilgrimage to California to start your way up. In order to launch your own business, live modestly and sell everything you don’t really need. Empty your credit card, let your car. In stead of paying wages, offer some of your stock to your main employees. Barters are absolutely necessary (for example, offer coding services in exchange for graphic design development). Purchase used equipment. Find opportunities to earn money – babysitting, walking dogs … Ask your friends and family for a small loan. And in the worst case, move back in with the parents.
It’s a way you can live for some time. Isn’t it worth it to achieve your dream? At the very least, you will not be a coach potato or move to England or Ireland.