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San Diego Founders’ Fight Club Pitch-Off

The San Diego startup ecosystem is growing, along with the resources available to entrepreneurs. Mentor programs, co-working spaces and meetup events over the past few years have increased at an exciting rate. Along with our Entrepreneur Spotlight video series, The Startup Garage is going to cover monthly startup events to showcase the exceptional talent in […]

How to Allocate Friends and Family Capital

Allocate Friends and Family Funding with The Startup Garage

The most important principle of startup fundraising that every entrepreneur needs to know is: raise enough capital to achieve a set of milestones that will allow the company to attract the next round of investment. The use of your initial friends, family, and founders (FFF) capital should be directed towards achieving the milestones that will […]

Raising Capital from Friends and Family: Gifts, Loans, Equity

Gifts Loans and Equity with Friends and Family from The Startup Garage

Raising Capital from Friends and Family: Gifts, Loans, Equity Most entrepreneurs who are starting a new business venture need capital to fund their business plans. Typical sources of capital include personal saving, home equity loans and loans or investments from “Friends and Family.” Friends and Family capital typically is provided as: 1) a “gift” 2) […]

Raising Funding From Family and Friends: Division of Equity

Division of Equity from Seed Investors with The Startup Garage

When it comes to the division of equity in startup, there is a similar process every entrepreneur must follow beginning with raising the first round of startup funding and, if you’re lucky, finishing at the point of IPO. Today we are going to describe and analyze the stages up through friends and family funding. At […]

Asking Startup Founders For Human and Financial Capital

Seed Capital and Sweat Equity from The Startup Garage

Another group to consider asking for funding from is other startup founders and entrepreneurs. I know what you must be thinking, “I’m a startup founder and don’t have any money. I thought we were all in the same situation. How is another founder going to be able to afford and give me the funding I […]

Milestones That Friends, Family, and Founders Care About Before Investing

Seed Stage Milestones from The Startup Garage

The most important principle of startup fundraising that every entrepreneur needs to know is: raise enough capital to achieve a set of milestones that will allow the company to attract the next round of investment. As a startup with zero to very low revenue, your friends, family, and cofounders do not expect you to have […]

The JOBS Act Negative Impact on Friends and Family Funding

Seed Funding and the JOBS Act from The Startup Garage

2012’s Jumpstart our Business Startups Act, known as the JOBS act, went into effect last month encouraging entrepreneurs and exciting the startup community. This act intends to increase jobs by making it easier for businesses to raise money to grow and expand their operations. One provision of the bill – the ending of the ban […]

Raising Startup Capital Through Convertible Debt Financing

Convertible Debt Financing Capital from The Startup Garage

Most startup founders do not have enough capital to launch their companies and need to raise money at some point. The first milestone in a new startup’s financing is called ‘Seed Capital’ which refers to the initial investment raised by the founders from their friends and family, or commonly referred to as FFF (Friends, Family […]

Startup Funding Preparation: Approaching Friends and Family

Seed Funding Preparation from The Startup Garage

Starting any business will require some initial capital, even if only to register the business. Most startups will have additional expenses to develop the product or service, acquire a physical location, pay employees, market the business, etc. Unfortunately, angel investors and venture capitalists are rarely interested in funding a company at this stage.  There are many reasons […]

Drawbacks of Startup Funding From Friends and Family

Friends and Family Drawbacks from The Startup Garage

Part 2 of the two-part series considers the potential drawbacks of raising startup funding from friends and family. Part 1 detailed the benefits. Most of the drawbacks relate to interpersonal issues that can occur. It is important to take the business relationship seriously. Be transparent about the risks, lay out the business plan for the […]