I started my company as a senior at the University of Minnesota in 2010. I'm very familiar with the SBA options as well as any other funding mechanisms available to veterans and entrepreneurs ranging from crowd-sourced funding to venture capital firms.
What it comes down to is dollar for dollar collateral and without a significant amount of collateral, or private funding such as from your family, my friends and I have found nothing but closed doors and polite denials such as "We're not going to be able to help but thank you for service!"
Quite honestly, despite having several partnership agreements with Chinese and Sino-American firms and letters of support from top state officials, I have came to the point where I am just sick and tired of dealing with everything involving starting and growing a company and finding denial after denial in the quest to fund my small business.
It's a tragedy that only so few are able to attain the necessary resources to get going, but from everything I've witnessed in almost three years now, without matching resources you're not going to get very far.
Answers
Makes sense. Maybe you are going to have to take a less direct path to get your business started. It's tough when paying for school and with young kids. Maybe the thing to do is to get a job and more experience in you chosen field. When I started my business, I had some money saved up, then took out as many credit cards as I could. When I got a contract I used the credit cards to pay for the equipment, then paid them off when the client paid me.
But it sounds like that is not something that is an option for you at this point.
I started it before I graduated in spring 2010. To be able to work in our areas of concentration there needs to be capital up front for regulations and overhead before being legally able to bring in revenue.
It took precedence because it's a unique program and only starts once a year, but I also needed my GI Bill and graduate aid since I hadn't funded my company prior to June so that was the principal factor. Twin 6 year old girls aren't cheap either.
Have you already started your business on the side? Is it able to make money as it scales and grows?
And why does getting a graduate education take a higher priority than funding your business?
Hey gents, thanks for the replies. I actually was accepted to go to the IVMF down in Florida this past summer but couldn't get out of my grad program for a week to attend. The work I want to do with my company requires some significant start-up capital so there's no way for me to not take on some sort of debt... Unless I win tomorrow's powerball. :-p
David,
Check www.daveramsey.com for information on small business. He is not big on debt or borrowing but has some ideas on how to get started. Most of his stuff is available at the public library.
David,
I recommend looking at the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF). They have a various programs to assist veterans become entrepreneurs. Website: http://vets.syr.edu/education/ After reviewing their offerings, I'd reach out and try to talk to someone personally
Thanks - John.
Your Answer
Please log in to answer this question.