All of us at one time or another have dreamed of starting our own business or finishing a project that’s been stuck in our head for a long time and the one thing always in the way is funding. But the funding is there, and some folks are getting it from complete strangers.
As a vegan food truck set up in an urban community, Green Seed Vegan became an unlikely quick success in the Third Ward community when Maddi Merrell opened it in 2011. But when she dreamed of expanding to a traditional restaurant a year later, she faced the financial challenge nearly all first-time entrepreneurs face — no money.
Merrell turned to strangers online who gave between $1,000 and $10,000 each.
“We raised 13,313 in 30 days,” Merrell said.
One of the hottest trends in funding is called crowd funding. Websites likeKickstarter, Fansnextdoor, Indiegogo and MicroVentures link investors with entrepreneurs and are estimated to have raised $3 billion last year. The investors get no equity, just token “thank you” gifts.
“We gave them T-shirts, we gave them stickers. We gave them a week’s worth of lunch. We also did little raw treats and we also gave some people the option of having menu items in their honor,” Merrell said.
So how can you get money to fund your business idea?
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