This week for the start-up funding series I’d like to take a brief detour and share an article I found recently by Jim Nuesom at CitylightsSoftware.com.  Below Jim shares some specific tips on how to raise money for your start-up.  Enjoy!

Many of us in the Black online community are hearing all the news about the surge in the stock market and improving economy. The Bush administration is telling us that times are better now, but we are looking around wondering what’s he talking about.

The truth is that the tech economy is rebounding and there are a treasure trove of opportunities available for small business. For those that are interested in creating and/or funding a small technology based business, here are some online resources.

I suggest you start with an 3 part article I wrote in 2000 – So You Want To Be A Dot.Com Millionaire.  It contains links to Angel and VC firms that could fund your company. I tried to give a brief overview of the whole process; from Start-up to IPO.

Lee Green of the National Black Business Trade Association (http://www.nbbta.org) has all the resources needed for small business located on his website. The NBBTA has template forms, contracts and Business Plans that can save you thousands of dollars in legal and consulting costs.

Speaking of Business Plans, this is another great way to get your company funded. If you don’t have a plan… you plan to fail. Business Plans are essential to starting any company. The SBA has a great site on this subject called, It Simple.biz (www.itssimple.biz).

Once you have your Business Plan together you can submit it to a number of Business Plan Competitions.  If you don’t have a rich uncle or Angel financier, you can enter these competitions and not only get great advice on improving your plan but Hard Cash Grants as well. On average these competitions give away any where from $5,000 to $50,000 dollars in prize money. Let me repeat; Free Money (not loans). For a list of over 50 such competitions check out Small Business Notes.

Lastly you can approach a Venture Capital(VC) company.  These companies are setup to invest in new start-up’s. Be warned they will take the lions share of your profits for the first couple of years but they will fund you. You can do a general search on Google or Yahoo to get a list of them. One of the best in the business (and more importantly, well funded) is New Enterprise Associates (NEA). They are national and specialize in new technology start-up’s.  The cool thing about NEA is that you can apply online
at their website (www.nea.com) .

Don’t forget to check with local resources such as Community Development Centers (CDC) or business incubators. They can tie you into State and Federal Tax Credits that can be used just like “Collateral.”  One of the best incubators I know of is The Cincinnati Business Incubator (www.cbincubator.org).

I hope this information is helpfully. Just remember; Everything Begins On Paper. Do your homework and triple check your business plan. Good Luck!

The thoughts, opinions, views, and experiences in this article are those of Jim Nuesom and not of Black Web 2.0.