First off to the admins, I'm sorry if this is not in the right thread but honestly I did not know where else to put this. If its an issue please place this where it needs to go Okay here we go.... Hello everyone tonight I come to this thread with a question. It is one of an economic nature I guess. I am a 20 year old college student who has an idea for an online based company. My problem is that I can't get a bank loan for the amount of money I need to start my company (they literally laugh me out the door when I try)... I can't find any investors who are willing to work with me, and the ones who I do find want to retain 51% of MY company for their investment.. I need around 15 grand for the website to be created and licensing and what not. What do I do? I am asking here because if your into politics your most likely educated in some form or another and likely have started a company or work for a company. Please help me any input is needed and very much appreciated Thanks Jerseygiant
Write up a business plan, make up some projections, and keep begging for small business loans. There are a lot of different banks. Or network and find an investor. Look for conventions or seminars or whatever. It's gonna be hard if you have no capital or experience of your own.
You are right that for a normal website it's mad cheap to creat.. But having talked to website designers and what not the cheapest I could find to get it done was 14 for the site itself and than around another 7 to 8 hundred for the licensing... It's bullshit I have the business plan and I have the projections (might smoke every night but I'm smart as hell lol) but people just walk by me....mix have now gone to 4 conventions in my area and everyone seems to be looking to invest in tech or metals and other random shit that is really expensive to start up... I have limited capital like a grand but obviously it's it enough and your absolutely right that not having any experience kills me but how else do I get experience if I can't start up something for myself lol It's bullshit that they look at my age and not my business plan or my fancy charts..... It really makes me wonder how others are able to do it.... There's a website that wants 75 bucks to out me in contact with thousands of investors but I'm pretty sure it's a scam cause when I type in the investors names and companies nothing comes up on google or yahoo
Haha 5 years from now someone will either have done it or there won't really be a need for it anymore.... I don't really want to wait, too many things can happen between now and the time I can afford to do it lol, I could die for all I know
I would recommend talking to a loan agent of a smaller bank\firm tell them your looking for private investments and you will kick them down with a finders fee. When dealing with private investors you will have to pay a much steeper return %. You will probably get shot down a lot, but just keep looking. If your idea is good, someone will want to invest. I have some very tech savy friends with lots of $$$. If you want to PM me a basic run down of your idea, not to many details so you don't have to worry about me stealing it. And I can run it by my buddy and see if it is something he thinks can work, or is worth investing in.
Not to seem overly harsh but this is probably what a bank sees when you come to them.... So you have an idea with no guarantee of success, a business plan, but no capital of your own, you're young and unproven, and you can't offer protection for their investment. You mentioned not being willing to give away 51% of your company (not unreasonable) ...did you ever counter that offer with a lower % to see if they were giving you the offer of 51% as blow off or if they were interested and just haggling? Anyway, my suggestion is to first cut the costs, 15 grand for a web site set up is way too much. If you were getting something physical that you could later sell (ex. restaurant equipment) that wouldn't be a big number but for a web site it's really high. One way to cut costs would be to start looking at computer science majors and see if you can't bring one in to do the work for free as a business partner. You bring the ideas, they bring the tech for a cut of the profits. Also for cash if you save up half the cash then go to people you know (like parents and friends) and ask for their support but offer a % of profits to them based on how much they contribute to the effort. That way you show that you are not just asking people to give you their hard earned money to flush down the toilet with your crazy fucking idea. I don't know if your idea is crazy or not I was just trying to illustrate what others might be thinking when you approach them.
if there will be no need for your service in 5 years, then it doesn't sound like a very good business venture.
Okay first off mr west saying was it might not work in 5 years was wrong of me... Obviously I'm trying to start a company with growth and expansion in mind, I was more trying to press the issue that I want to start ASAP yano I understand that I could just bare bones the website and just what done what is absolutely necessary to run day to day operation and what not but in doing that I lose the appeal of the company.... Not to get to into it but some of the things that the website will have are going to separate it from every other site in the world... The market is played out,expensive and overpriced but my business plan essentially give an entire market an overhaul There are many sites that touch the tip of what my website is going to be without ever fully diving into where I'm going..... I have a group of 5 trusted people who I asked to listen and read my. Business plan and they loved it, unfortunately none of them aere in position to give me money lol, kids in college and private schools As far as going to lenders it is something that I am actively doing and have been, most want like 16% interest which I'm not really worried about but if I could I would rather get and investor and take them on as a minority partner with a buy back clause after like say 6 years for above market value, (I have hopes of going public five years after opening) its one of those things that if one person sees it they'll tell theirs friends and so on so forth