Matt Seiling says:

If you own your own home, there is a lot more captial in it than you probably know. Do a free home assessment and find out what your home is now worth, chances are it’s more than what you owe on it. Then you can go to the bank and get a line of credit for the difference. It’s a great way to make your living quarters work for you, instead of cost you money.

I always like to think of it as using someone else’s money (the bank’s) to fund my business without their permission!

You’ll be surprised at the results.

NSBA Corp says:

This is a great list Sarah. I tweeted this to my followers and facebook fans . This list is very valuable to business owners.

Theresa says:

Hi Sarah,

You need money to grow your business?

Don’t ask, “Who’s going to lend me money?”… the bank? My family?

Change your question to, “What are different sources of capital?”

The possibilities are endless. Leverage from collateral. Other people’s credit. Creative debt such as capital in exchange for equity. Time or labor in lieu of cash. Collaborative opportunities. Overlooked assets.

Thanks for the article and many thanks to your Entreprenette Experts!

Theresa

Marco says:

Nice work Sarah and thank you for putting this together.

Some other ways to fund your start up that require no personal credit checks or guarantees are vendor lines of credit from suppliers. This helps your startup conserve cash flow and obtain products and services it may need like office supplies, shipping, web marketing services and so on but defer the payments for a later date with no interest. Usually a net 30, 60 or even 90 day terms.

Some other viable options include social loans from companies like prosper.com and lendingclub.com

If you plan to obtain funding from friends and family (P2P Loans) than you may want to consider structuring a formal loan by using companies like Lending Karma or Lend Friend. It makes the whole process simple so you can formalize a loan agreement, calculate payments, track and record payments, and have automatic payment reminders sent.

Hope this helps you all!

All the best,

Marco 🙂

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