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Funding Sources for the Creative Urban Entrepreneur
By Team Afro on Tue, 07/26/2011 - 09:56
The Basics:
Anybody
who has a small business or is thinking about starting one knows that
getting funding from traditional sources is extremely difficult if not
impossible. Banks are holding onto their money; refusing to give loans
to startups without an inordinate amount of collateral and other
justification. For those who need money to get their entrepreneurial
projects off the ground creativity and ingenuity are required to work
your business and to get the necessary capital to launch it. While 90%
of the articles out there will give you the same "go to the SBA
runaround", here at AfroDaddy.com we realize that after banging your
head on that wall you might want to try a different approach. Although
the following sources may not yield results (we sincerely hope they do),
they should at least get you thinking about exploring alternate sources
to fund your business or artistic endeavor.
TheCASHFLOW
TheCASHFLOW is a funding opportunity that offers a proven eight-step
plan for urban entrepreneurs who want to start their own business or
improve their existing startup. Entrepreneur members of TheCASHFLOW
pitch their business ideas to a group of investment experts who then
ultimately recommend some of the best project for funding. Founded by
Dan Carriere, Magnus Greaves, Lucas Riggins and Ryan Stoner (founders of
100 Entrepreneurs) TheCASHFLOW provides entrepreneurs with $10,000 and business advice to help jump start their successful business venture.
KickStarter
Kickstarter (featured in CNN, NPR and The New York Times) is a unique
funding website for entrepreneurs in the area of music, film, art,
technology, design, food, publishing and other creative outlets.
Entrepreneurs who have these types of projects (ex: creating a new film)
list their project on the website and potential funders commit money to
the project.
Anybody can contribute to the project
and the owner of the project retains 100% project ownership. The only
catch with this funding mechanism is that if the funding goal set by the
owner is not reached within a specified period of time none of the
money can be accepted. This all-or-nothing concept is setup to protect
both the investors and the project owner.
Fair Warning: Although there is no
way any investor could lose their money, some potential users of
KickStarter are disgruntled because their projects were turned down for
inclusion on the website. KickStarter certainly has the right to select
the projects they want for their site so I personally would not call
this an obstacle or anything unseemly about the KickStarter process.
8/13/11 Update: Here is a recent success story about a sister who raised $44,000 for her web series.
Y Combinator
For those with a great idea for a technology startup Y Combinator might
be a great choice for you. Founded in 2005 Y Combinator does
investments twice a year (approximately $18,000) for around 60 tech
startups. The startups move to Silicon Valley for 3 months, where the Y
Combinator team works intensively with them to get the company into the
best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each cycle
culminates in Demo Day,
when the startups present to a large audience of investors. After Demo
Day Y Combinator staff and their alumni network continue to help
founders for the life of their company, and beyond.
Since 2005 Y Combinator has funded over 300 startups, including Loopt, Reddit, Clustrix, Wufoo, Scribd, Xobni, Weebly, Songkick, Disqus, Dropbox, ZumoDrive, Justin.tv, Heroku, Posterous, Airbnb, Heyzap, Cloudkick, DailyBooth, WePay, and Bump.
What you may not know:
The largest African American bank in the country is Carver Bank
with over $700 million in assets. They have been around for over 60
years and specialize in loaning money to traditionally under served
African American individuals and community businesses. This certainly
should be a source of funding to be explored. If they cannot get you a
loan they may be able to point you in the right direction.
Y Combinator has recently received funding
and backing from Facebook. If your project is really good and gets
backing from Y Combinator you could be on your way to riches.
What you need to know:
In any funding
situation take special care to insure that your rights are protected and
that you maintain ownership of your company. Giving away too much
ownership in your company for the sake of initial startup money could
spell disaster for you in the long term. Certainly loss of majority
ownership severely limits your ability to make decisions about the
future and direction of your company.
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08-22-2024
The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE)
ABBREVIATIONS:
ARPA American Rescue Plan Act
B2S Build to Scale
CDFI Community Development Financial Institution
CHIPS Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors
CI2 Council for Inclusive Innovation
CIRC Collaborative Innovation Resource Center
CTE Career and Technical Education
CTO Chief Technology Officer
DEIAB Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access and Belonging
DOC Department of Commerce
DOD Department of Defense
DOE Department of Energy
DIU Defense Innovation Unit
E-Corps Entrepreneurial Corps
E-Hub Entrepreneurial Hub
EDA Economic Development Administration
ES Entrepreneurial Sabbatical
GDP Gross Domestic Product
I-Corps Innovation Corps
IIJA
IP
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
Intellectual Property
IPCTF Intellectual Property Commercialization Task Force
IRA Inflation Reduction Act
JOBS Jumpstart Our Business Startups
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NIAN National Innovation Accelerator Network
NSF National Science Foundation
OIE Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
PI Principal Investigator
R&D Research and Development
RBF Revenue Based Financing
SBA Small Business Administration
SBIC Small Business Investment Company
SBIR Small Business Innovation Research
SSBCI State Small Business Credit Initiative
STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
STTR Small Business Technology Transfer
TIP Technology, Innovation and Partnerships
USPTO United States Patent & Trademark Office
VC Venture Capital
WTO World Trade Organization
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