5 Smart Ways To Raise Capital For Your Startup

If you think that money is the main condition necessary for the development of a startup, then we have news for you. As usual, there is good and bad news. The good news is that a successful idea, which implies the possibility of rapid growth, is already 90% success. And the bad news is that you still need money, but if the first condition is met, first of all, it will be much easier for you to get it, and secondly, you will not need a huge amount. In this article, we will show you how to grow capital for your startup using all possible methods.

#1 Start With Yourself

It would seem that this is the most obvious option – to invest in yourself. But in practice, not many entrepreneurs use this approach. In part, the benefits of attracting investment from the outside are obvious – you can feel more confident using the investor’s money. However, since a startup is your idea and your brainchild, you should give it a chance to develop, and only then ask for help from the outside. And if you are really confident in success and passionate about your idea, it will be psychologically easy to risk your own money.

#2 Ask & It Shall Be Given To You

The second, also relatively obvious, way is to tell all your friends, relatives and colleagues about your startup and ask for help within the amount comfortable for them. For some reason, most entrepreneurs immediately run to Kickstarter, and this is also an effective method, which we will discuss in the next section.

But it’s obvious that you always have the opportunity to start with people who are not indifferent to you, and who most likely will not refuse to help you. Even if 100 people give you $20 each, it will already be a pretty solid investment

#3 Make Yourself Known On Crowdfunding Platforms

This is the first and most important place where startup creators go in the hope of getting their first investment. And a lot of really cool projects started there, for example, LeadsMarket or the BauBax jacket and gained worldwide recognition. So this is a worthwhile method anyway.

We recommend that you use the video in your project presentation on Kickstarter or similar platforms. This is a very powerful tool that allows you to convey the essence of the idea and its potential capabilities visually and in a few seconds. It will also be a profitable solution if you create a video in several languages, or at least add the ability to enable subtitles.

#4 Create A Multilingual White Paper

The white paper is the main document with the help of which you can both present your project as attractive for investment, as well as ruin the whole idea without the right to restoration. The white paper is the first thing investors read when they want to know more about the project because it contains a description of the idea itself, the team, and also describes the plans, prospects, and opportunities of the project.

If your white paper is written only in English, that’s good. 99% of investors will be able to read it and understand the essence. But if you translate this document into several languages, and at the same time show prospects for the subsequent localization of the product, your coverage, and therefore the chances of being noticed immediately increase several times.

#5 Get Venture Capital Or Turn To Business Angels Depending On The Size Of Your Startup

The key to this recommendation is “or.” We recommend creating two business plans, one of which will be more modest (for potential business angels), and the second should be more promising (for venture investors).

Why do you think many investors sometimes ask how much money do you plan to raise? After all, this is almost impossible to plan – the market situation is constantly changing. They are simply trying to determine whether they can finance you.

Therefore, if you have a plan for any occasion, then you can answer the question of investors by simply offering them several options for the development of events and your expected reaction to them. But often the opposite problem arises – to present to the investor only the plan that is suitable specifically for his level. For this reason, it is wise to have two business plans.

Conclusion

As we said, for a startup, an idea is more important than money. And if your idea is truly worthy, innovative and it can solve a certain problem, be sure that you can find people who want to invest in you.

 

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