BRINGING PRODUCTS TO MARKET MADE SIMPLE

BHR Global Associates, Inc. is dedicated to helping companies bring their products to market successfully. We can help with finalization your design, to helping find the right source at the right price, help you maintain a solid on going supply chain and help you sell the product through our team of sales professionals. Our blog will supply information and details on successes, failures, and road blocks to avoid in bringing products to their full potential.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Funding Options

You have your idea, you have spent savings getting it finalized, you may have spent money on a prototype, and you have generated interest in the product.
Now what do you do to get funding to make tooling, produce samples, set-up marketing materials, producing a website, etc?
You typically go to friends and family and raise money that way.
Then you prepare a business plan and try to raise money from Angel and Venture Capital networks and groups.
If your story is compelling, well done, well presented, and shows there is a huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow you might get the funding you need.
It is not winning the lottery but the chances are almost as long unless you are perceived to have the "next big thing".
What you think is not important and your sales projections may be reduced by as much as 75% by potential investors and then if all works they will invest in you.
There are options available to this path that will require you to put up collateral however based upon your asset base and you conviction in your product companies will provide the needed funding and set-up processes to add funding as success happens.
This option also allows you NOT to have to give up any ownership percentage and the need to have a "boss" or someone watching over your shoulder for every move.
Do your homework and assure yourself that if the project fails you will be able to pay back the funding source.
The point is explore all funding options and be comfortable and open minded.