Is there no hope?

[dotbob]

Hi

I believe I have a sound business idea with a really strong market. I have started to research the idea and am currently preparing a business plan.

My problem is that I come from a poor background. Although I have a good secure job at the moment, I have no disposable income and no savings or house (no I'm not homeless)

My family aren't in a position to help with finance as they are in pretty much the same position as me. Actually, I am probably the only one out of the lot of them who has any serious drive or ambition.

So, my question is, is there any hope of securing finance? I do not have any sound figures as I am still at an early stage of planning but will probably require a five figure sum.

I have heard of business angels and their willing to help new startups. Does anyone know of any successful relationships between startups and angels?

How about Venture (Vulture) Capital? Should I really stay away from this method as so many people suggest?

Thanks in advance.

[peterjhale]

Hi DotBob

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly, don't give up ! Search for "no money" on this forum and there is a post about starting up with , well, no money and Joel has a finance site that he may be able to help you out solving your issues

[dotbob]

Hi Peter

Thankyou for your welcome!

I'm just about to look into the links that you gave me. As you can probably tell by my previous post, I am a little disillussioned but hopefully through some careful advice I will get there.

Once again, thankyou.

[theplanner]

keep going - there are ways if you have no money but you'll need to give more back as the others are taking the risks.

Why not contact businesslink in the first instance - and , if you have a bank account your bank manager - it's worth a try. Listen to them and don't take no for an answer - if they refuse, find out why and what you can do to make them say yes

[miko]

Originally Posted by dotbob

Hi

I believe I have a sound business idea with a really strong market. I have started to research the idea and am currently preparing a business plan.

My problem is that I come from a poor background. Although I have a good secure job at the moment, I have no disposable income and no savings or house (no I'm not homeless)

My family aren't in a position to help with finance as they are in pretty much the same position as me. Actually, I am probably the only one out of the lot of them who has any serious drive or ambition.

So, my question is, is there any hope of securing finance? I do not have any sound figures as I am still at an early stage of planning but will probably require a five figure sum.

I have heard of business angels and their willing to help new startups. Does anyone know of any successful relationships between startups and angels?

How about Venture (Vulture) Capital? Should I really stay away from this method as so many people suggest?

Thanks in advance.

I to come from a poor background but have been running a manufacturing business for the last 10 years.

I, like you have a new sound business idea, With all the cash flows and projections and so on. (but I have a track record).
Now let me tell you. ITS HARD WORK GETTING FINANCE.

My experience with business angels is that most are peacocks and show off the feathers, The rest are business advisors touting and using the network meetingS as a place to drum up new business. BUT ITS WORTH A TRY dont go without full plan and cash projections.

Your bank will certainly pay you a lot of lip service and are usually a bit of a waste, unless you go with cashflows and plans and an exact amount you want to borrow.

My advice is never give up, find yourself a good business advisor, a good accountant, from business link. Get them to give you the names and contacts of the people they have helped in the past. And contact these people and ask questions.

This wont happen overnight and many people will give reasons of why you should not do what you are planning to do, and why it will not work.

But if you think it will work, it will.

Business plan first. (if not, you havent thought it through). Cash flows and forcasts next. ( you need to know your borrowing requirements and the lender needs to know you can repay your loans). Then go to the bank, not just one but all of them and first see if you can get the money, then get the best deal.

The more money you need to start the harder it will be so look at reducing all your start up cost and consider starting a little smaller. This helps because you have a working model to go to the bank with to raise more finance later on.

You can raise finance in stages, its worth a thought.

If you dont own anything then tell the bank you are looking for a loan using the DTI scheme. And if you have business link on board they aremore likley to back the idea.

If you think your idea is worth it, Then follow it and dont give up. I wish you all the best of luck.

[BIZAL]

The key after the dot com crash is to show how you will get sales. i.e. we need to make x calls to generate y meetings which will mean z deals with an average margin of V.

Most VC / BA's are scared that it is a paper based plan. Having a big market is great , but how do you actually win it!!!


Oh look for the English equivalent of linc Scotland (www.lincscot.co.uk) or call them and ask for help!!!

[peterjhale]

yep - the internet is purely a numbers game - look at eBay - small commissions - large volume