How did you finance your business?
How did you get the seed capital to start your business?
I see mostly VC-funded companies on Product Hunt (mostly YC).
But are there people who fund their businesses in other ways?
My experience is mostly with bootstrapped businesses (and in most cases it seems like the founders previously invested in crypto and reinvested the proceeds into the seed capital for their business).
Replies
Product Hunt is YC's playground lol. For the rest of us, "good luck"
I funded my first startup through an incubator in Spain. They invested mainly resources:
- Office space
- 20k$ in google credits for many tools
- Free Marketing mentors
- Investors intros
The rest of my projects i raised funds from hackathons (small amounts), or I just funded my startups through my 9-5 salaries !
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@cryptosymposium Definitely is as many teams funded have bigger support, not only financial but also when it comes to "head count." I would say that many European countries are without funding comparing to the US companies.
Lancepilot
This cool man! We have limited access to incubators here in Ghana but it's something I really wish I could get into.
Lancepilot
@busmark_w_nika Very right! Huge chunk of startup funding annually still remain concentrated in the USA market.
@busmark_w_nika Oh definitely. In the US, founders who live in SV/Cali , they leave their house and they meet a16z investors when they throw their trash. In Europe, we see ugly track drivers when we throw our trash away....lol haha
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@cryptosymposium Different nations :D
Booststrapping definitely seems to be the go-to for many founders, especially those who've had success in crypto or other investments. it's interesting to see that bank loans and family funding are not common.
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@ansel_bastian After 2008, I think people trust banks less.
@ansel_bastian a small sample, not representative
Lancepilot
I haven't funded my projects yet but if I should consider funding, it would definitely be accelerator/incubator and then vc
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@rhexai I had the same experience 6+ years ago. Was a part of incubator, got funding and I used it for buying technology that I use even now :)
VC funding is a good method. Doing other projects on the side is a good idea. I worked on a Mandarin Language Learning Project from Harvard University's Amber Nigam as a way to make some money before using that money to fund some of my own projects. I ended up submitting a top 5% of Ycombinator application which was super awesome overall to see happen. I help companies and people with developing their websites, business strategies, and do gigs to get them going. People often pay really well because they want specialists to get things done faster and sooner. I am making something called the productive panda shop now. It is on the website at https://www.theproductivepanda.shop
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@johnhuatech Are you about to ask for funding for your current project?
@busmark_w_nika This particular one does not really have a venture capital enough business model yet. I may submit some of my other ideas for funding though this one is more of a standalone idea. I am interested in the culture and have spent some time learning more about the startup community and fundraising method that people use to launch startup careers. Thanks for the question. Are you working at a venture capital backed business yourself? I do make websites and help people edit and maintain websites at the moment. I just reach out to people who might be interested and have that need for their business and keep going with it. The freelance and gig economy seems to be booming more than company hires in some cases.
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@johnhuatech Thank you for the question. ATM, I am not building a website or VC-funded model. And like you, I would like to have access to more knowledge rather than money.
@busmark_w_nika I see. I definitely would need enough money to work on interesting idea and projects. Otherwise, that is just a lot of time and work for limited returns. I am generating revenue on The Productive Panda Shop to pay for other things later. (https://www.theproductivepanda.shop)