Capital Feed

Shortly after launching ROC Brewery in February 2010, we needed to start raising some capital. But when we approached angel investors and banks, we quickly discovered how hard it is to raise capital in today’s shaky economy.

What’s worse, a microbrewery in the heart of downtownRochesterisn’t exactly an easy sell when it comes to securing a loan. Many microbreweries go under within the first few years so not too many investors are eager to jump on board. Then we found out about Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream.

Interesting and inspiring.  Innovative in business then use that innovation to find capital. Keep on reading at CNN Money.

The pace of startups popping up seems matched only by the emergence of new “incubators,” or “accelerators,” whichever word you chose to describe these startup boot camps that have cropped up across the country.

And Paul Graham, the man behind the grandaddy of them all, Y Combinator, barely pays attention to them. What he is convinced of, though, is that many will die, and that they’re formed for the wrong reason.

 ”People are doing it because it’s the cool thing to do,” Graham told me during a break at Y Combinator’s Demo Day at theComputerHistoryMuseumhere. “It’s just the fashion, like what kind of clothes to wear.”

 The last time Graham checked, a few months back, he came across 65 incubator programs, although he dismisses both “incubator” and “accelerator” as bogus terms.

 Do these really work?  Personal experience, yes they do but only in the short-term. Check out the rest of this article at CNet News.

Entrepreneurship is alive and well in the wake of the Great Recession, although the rate of new business creation dipped during 2011 and startup founders remained more likely to fly solo than employ others. That’s the big take away from the “Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity,” a leading indicator of new business creation in theUnited Statespublished annually and released today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

The Index shows that 0.32 percent of American adults created a business per month in 2011 – a 5.9 percent drop from 2010, but still among the highest levels of entrepreneurship over the past 16 years. The quarterly employer firm rate also remained essentially flat from 2010 to 2011 at 0.11 percent.

At least it is up over the last few years.  We need more.  To read more go to Kauffman.

Raising capital for your startup can be a lengthy and often frustrating process. Stack the odds in your favor!

Here are the five most active U.S.-based angel investing groups in 2011 based on the Halo Report: 2011 Angel Group Year in Review.

Need money for your business then follow the business money. To see who are the 5 are go to Social Media Chimps.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the JOBS Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at supporting small businesses by making it easier for them to access capital. A key feature of the bill enables crowdfunding, the process by which small companies raise growth capital from a large number of individual investors.

While many people are debating the impact of the bill on investors, what seems lost in the debate is what types of businesses are likely to benefit, and how crowdfunding can change the way we all think about early stage investing.

 Slowly we get closer to what should be. Keep on reading at TechCrunch.

NAFCU has mobilized its members in a grassroots campaign aimed at getting S. 509, the Small Business Lending Enhancement Act, attached to any proposed job creation bill in the Senate.

The House Thursday approved H.R. 3606, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, on a vote of 390-23. While approved overwhelmingly, the bill is being characterized by Republicans as a major jobs bill but described by Democrats as a minor step in efforts to strengthen the economic recovery.

Creating jobs without using taxpayer’s money – novel. Keep on reading this bill at NAFCU.

A study released today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation shows that “user entrepreneurs” have founded more than 46 percent of innovative startups that have lasted five years or more, even though this group creates only 10.7 percent of U.S. startups overall.

“Who Are User Entrepreneurs?” is the first study to quantify the prevalence and characteristics of user entrepreneurs – those who have created innovative products or services for their own use, then subsequently founded firms to commercialize them – and identify how the firms they start compare to other U.S. startups in terms of revenue growth, job creation, R&D investment and intellectual property.

 Duh! Keep on reading this article at Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

I have said it over and over again that when all is said and done – money is just money. It does not matter where it comes from as long as you (or your business) can use it as it needs to be used – to add additional value.

Money does not matter. What matters is what you can buy with that money – which is related to price, not money itself.

Thus, money is just money. Money is just another asset to a small, growing business; an asset that should be used to its greatest potential.

Having said that and the reason why has to do with, not money itself, but how you get it; how you get money and use it in your business.

Money can be expensive if you let it – meaning that you use it improperly or get it for the wrong things.

Keep on reading this article at Business Money Today.

Where and how do angel groups invest? We were interested, so in an effort to shed more light on the subject, we partnered with the Angel Resource Institute and CB Insights to develop the Halo Report.  

Banks pulling back but angels pushing forward – it is about who you know or where to look. Keep on reading at Silicon Valley Bank.

Prior to the advent of the internet and way before social media, when a business needed capital investment to grow, it (the owners) had to get out there and really hustle for that investment.

Business owners had to get out there and network. They had to get out there and build relationships. They had to get out there and learn what worked and what didn’t.

Why this matters is that many of these business owners brought those skills back into the business – they got out there and networked with customers, they got there and built relationships with customers and they got out there and learned what worked and what didn’t with their customers.

But, not today. Today, if you want something (as an individual) you can just get on your social media network and ask for it. Which works very well if you want a recommendation for a local restaurant.

But, when it comes to seeking investment in your start-up from an angel investor, it just does not work.

Where do you find business capital? To find out keep on reading this article at Business Money Today.