MBA Mondays - Business 101 for startups by Fred Wilson

Financing Options - Financing Options For Startups

I got a bunch of great suggestions in my kickoff post on this topic last week. Based on that feedback, the series is going to look like this:

Friends and FamilyContests/Prizes/Accelerator ProgramsGovernment GrantsCustomer FinancingVendor FinancingConvertible DebtPreferred StockVenture DebtCapital Equipment Loans & LeasesBridge LoansWorking Capital Financing

This list is roughly in chronological order of how a small company might avail itself of the various financing options, but there are always exceptions. Starting a company is more art than science.

I want to do each financing option as its own dedicated post so I'm not going to start today. I will start next week with friends and family.

If you are looking for some meaty MBA Monday reading this week, I point you to Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson's awesome venture capital term sheet series , which is required reading for anyone seeking to raise venture capital.

From the Comments

Wil Schroter added:

Fred, with so much emphasis on angel and venture funding, I think most people forget that 99% of companies will receive neither and seem to get by just fine. This may be captured within a different category, but traditional bank financing, SBA Loans, Microloans, etc. are also part of the picture.

Also, I'm glad you added customer financing since I'd argue it's the most valuable.