Nowadays, the costs of starting off with a business are low and so 90% of start-ups are self-financed (also known as ‘’bootstrapping’’). Starting off can take a bit of time which is needed to save some money before the company begins to grown in its natural way. However, the advantage is that you don’t have to loose your control nor ownership rights. Your company is yours only!

Subsequently this will demonstrate to your sponsors that you see this as a long-term commitment and you treat it with all seriousness.

This is also one way of getting your spouse, parents, family or friends involved. The financer considers this as ‘’patient capital’’, as the money will be reimbursed later on, as the business profits increase considerably.

As a general rule the professional investors are expecting you to already have similar engagements in order to demonstrate your credibility. If your friend or family do not believe in you, don’t expect much more from the outsiders. This is the primary source of non-personal funding for start-up businesses which wish to speed up the starting process.

These are brand-new sources of financing in which everyone can participate. Exemplified by online websites such as Kickstarter one can request a modest capital to show support or in exchange of a token such as a shirt, for example.

Finding the right client or business partner who sees and believes fully in the value of your idea can prove itself more difficult than it seems. In a very short period of time you would receive anticipated payments and some royalties to complete your development.

This form of financing is not necessary for all business owners. These types of professional investors put their institutional money solely into qualified start-ups with convincing business models. They are only in search of businesses with real potential in the sectors of information technology, communications and biotechnology.

The venture capitals assume an ownership position in the business in order to help realize the promising project. This, however, means that you would have to renounce a part of your property and some of your business’ profits . The funders with such target are also expecting a good return on their investment. It is fundamental to ensure that you have found investors that have relevant knowledge and experience. The financers from this segment prefer investments in the 1,000,000 Euro area.

The majority of metropolitan areas have groups of local individuals (also known as ‘’angels’’) interested in supporting start-up businesses. The angels are usually rich people or retired business senior executives who invest directly into small businesses of others’ ownership.

Often they are leaders of their sectors of interest and not only can they contribute with experience but also with putting you in touch with their contact network. In turn the angels tend to finance the initial phase of the business with investments in the rage of 25.000 to 100.000 euro.

In consequence, to not put their money at risk, they reserve the right to control the management practices of the organization. In concrete terms, this often leaves space for administrative suggestions and transparency guarantee.

These organizations are very popular nowadays and are often associated with renowned universities, community development organizations or big enterprises. The majority provides free resources for start-ups, which include consultation and logistics.

The business incubators (or accelerators) generally concentrate on the high-tech sector, providing operative and logistical support for the new businesses in various stages of their development; including creation of job positions, revitalization as well as hosting and division of the services.

Businesses which receive this type of support often operate in the more advanced sectors, such as the biotechnology, information-technology, multimedia or industrial technology.

It’s not always easy bringing innovations into the light of day, and so the governmental departments or the Ministry of Economic Development supply enterprises with help. Having access to such funding could cover expenses such as research and development, markets, workers’ salaries, equipment and productivity improvement.

Technically a subsidy is a sum of money that has been conditionally approved by your enterprise and which doesn’t need to be reimbursed. Otherwise, once one obtains money from the government resources it is not rare to receive further funding from the same source, if the conditions of the program have been met.

Obtaining such subsidies might be difficult with a big and strong competition. Furthermore, majority of the subsidies request a division of financial commitment: for example, a research grant could cover only up to 60% of the total initiative costs.

Bank loans are the most common way of funding usually used for small and medium enterprises. A good idea is not enough if it is not supported by a solid business plan. Generally obtaining this type of funding for a new business is quite improbable if one does not have a good credit history or existing assets that can be put at risk as a guarantee (pledge or personal guarantee).