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Financing a Business

Is it better to finance a business with outside investment or bootstrapping? What are the best ways to get funding to start or grow a business? Get help with these questions and more in our articles on small business finance.

Loans & Grants

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Tools & Calculators

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Understand your funding options

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Venture & Angel Investment

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Getting Investment, Key Factor: Initial Valuation

Last night we were talking about getting angel investment, and valuation, which is one of if not the most important points in the discussion. Valuation is essentially price.
Say you want to bring in $150,000 from an angel investor. The immediate question from the investor will be something like: “at what valuation?” Sometimes that’s called “pre-money [...]

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Bplans Break-even Analysis calculator

The Break-even Analysis is a simple calculation that lets you determine how much you need to sell, monthly or annually, to cover your costs of doing business – your break-even point. Below this sales level, you’re taking a loss. Above it, you have a profit.
Example
Say you’re selling boxes of candy bars at $1 for each [...]

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The Importance of Cash Flow in an Economic Downturn

You can be profitable and still be bankrupt. You must closely plan and monitor your cash flow to be successful and stay in business.
During the current 2008 financial crisis, even the largest corporations have had to face this truth, and more than a few have suffered the consequences.
Tim Berry, president and founder of Palo Alto [...]

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A Standard Business Plan Outline

What information needs to be in your business plan? What is the order of information that will make the most sense to lenders and investors? You can answer these questions with the business plan outlines provided below.
What are the standard elements of a business plan? If you do need a standard business plan to seek [...]

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Getting Investors and Protecting Your Idea

Laws protect inventions with patents, creative works with copyright, and trade names with trademarks, however protecting an idea is a different matter. I don’t think you really can protect a business idea in any practical way. If it is a good idea it will be copied. That’s in the nature of business. Your only hope [...]

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The Personal Guarantee for Credit Approval

A personal guarantee (PG) is requested by lenders in order to ensure that they get paid any debt issued to a corporation or LLC. The personal guarantee is signed by an individual typically involved in the business. In most cases it’s one of the owners, officers, or board of directors.
The National Association of Credit Managers [...]

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The Four Tiers of Small Business Financing

One of the most important tasks of a small business owner is finding capital for their business. Unfortunately, most business owners are clueless when it comes to finding money, and most self-proclaimed experts they may listen to are equally misguided.
The bottom line is you need capital for your business. Your capital needs will change over [...]

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Good Debt vs. Bad Debt

I hate debt. I don’t like the feeling of owing anyone money. Though I was repeatedly taught in my youth to avoid debt like the plague, I didn’t listen very well — I was nearly $1m in debt at age 25! Some things are learned the hard way. As much as I dislike debt now, [...]

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Behave Your Way to Obtaining Capital for Your Business

In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Stephen Covey recounts a conversation with a man who hated attending out-of-town training events. The man explained that his wife calls and hounds him on every detail of the day, whom he dines with, etc., and that he felt imprisoned by it. He also [...]

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Raising Business Capital from People You Know

Asking for business capital from people you know is very different from putting in a loan application at the bank. The good news is that you already have a personal relationship, so chances are they won’t run a credit check or ask you to put up your home as collateral, and may even give you [...]

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