Part 3

Assemble your financing package

In an ideal world, you would have one funding source. But reality for most businesses is that multiple funding sources are necessary. Consider the following example for financing a craft brewery.

You have $50,000 in stock and personal savings. Fifty thousand dollars is a nice start, but it’s not enough to launch a brewery. Your brewery will provide 10–15 full-time jobs averaging $15 to $25 per hour that will qualify you for a $50,000 job creation grant from your regional economic development authority. You found an empty warehouse downtown perfectly suited to your brewery — but it needs renovation. You apply for a $50,000 grant from the downtown development corporation to restore a historic building.

Through your professional networking, you’ve found a local business owner (an angel investor) who will contribute $25,000 in exchange for an equity stake and active participation in decision making. Now with $175,000 in hand, you can approach a bank for a $200,000 capital equipment loan.

PUBLIC RESOURCES

Starting a business is hard work — but it’s worth it. And because small business is such an important part of the U.S. economy, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provides a variety of services to small business owners at no cost. The SBA fulfills its mission by partnering with numerous public and private organizations. Here we’ll take a look at two SBA partners that operate in your community.

SCORE SCORE provides a variety of startup financing resources on its website and has more than 320 local chapters across the country. Go here (score.org/chapters-maps) to find a chapter close to you.

SBDC Your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC) typically partners with universities in your state, provides training and has professional staff available to help you conduct market research, write a business plan and find financing sources that may not be advertised. Go here (americassbdc.org) to locate your local SBDC office.