Funding
Information on local, state, and national business financing opportunities
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Funding Sources
Personal funds
Tapping into your savings or other personal resources, often to get started. read more
Friends and family
How your loved ones can help bring your company to life. read more
Crowdfunding
Pitching your business idea to an audience of potential supporters. read more
Banks and credit unions
A traditional source of loans, lines of credit, and other financing. read more
SBA programs
Loans, surety bonds, and other options from the U.S. Small Business Administration. read more
Alternative lenders
Non-traditional sources of capital, including fintech lenders. read more
Venture capital
Investors supporting early-stage companies in hopes of high returns in the future. read more
Angel investors
Wealthy individuals looking to support promising ventures. read more
State-Level Resources
Funding Insights
Questions to Ask When Selecting a Bank for Your Business
- Questions to ask to better understand a bank before starting a business relationship with them
- Gauging lending authority as well as the extras available with an account
- Inquiring about basic,
How to Analyze Your Business Processes
- Understanding the core activities that make your business work
- Identifying basic and expanded business processes
- Steps for performing a process analysis
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How to Sell Your Small Business
- Knowing when it’s time to sell your business
- Determining your business value and pre-qualifying buyers
- Preparing the necessary documents and deciding whether to use a broker
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Guide to Funding Strategies: Finding the Fuel to Grow Your Small Business
- Key steps for acquiring funds for starting or growing a business
- Potential avenues for financing
- A word of caution on alternative fintech lenders
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Alternative Fintech Funding: A Cautionary Tale
- Financial technology options can be an appealing option for entrepreneurs who have trouble accessing funding through traditional lenders
- However, fintech can also come with higher interest rates and more onerous repayment terms
- Proceed with caution when looking for financing
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Establishing a Bank Funding Relationship: Small Business Loans and Services
- How to develop a relationship with your bank to meet your small business needs
- The important documents to bring when meeting with a bank representative
- What banks are looking for to gauge creditworthiness
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Understanding CDFIs
- Community development financial institutions offer an alternative source of funding with higher approval rates
- CDFIs seek to broaden economic opportunities for low-income and minority communities
- The pros and cons of using CDFIs for your business financing needs
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Investor Funding: Private Investors, Private Placements, VCs, and Angels
- Investors can provide funding to help a promising new business grow
- The components necessary for a successful investment pitch
- How different types of investors work and what they’re looking for
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Early Stage Funding: Bootstrapping, Friends and Family, Strategic Partners, and Crowdfunding
- Entrepreneurs often have to rely on personal funds for early-stage funding
- Tapping into personal funds, bringing on partners, and convincing friends and family to lend their support
- Crowdfunding options to take your appeal to a wider audience
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The Importance of Cash Flow and How to Calculate It
- While entrepreneurs often focus on profitability, cash flow is arguably the more important consideration
- The benefits of tracking how money is coming into your business and how it is being spent
- Calculations involved in calculating and predicting cash flow
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Capital Requirements: Funds Needed to Start or Expand
- Finding the funds necessary to start or expand a business until it can reach profitability
- Forecasting expenses and revenues as part of your business planning process
- Calculating how much money you’ll need to sustain your business until you break even
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Alternate Ways for Early-Stage Companies to Raise Money
- Entrepreneurs often have to rely on personal assets to get a business started, but frequently don’t have sufficient funds
- Taking an alternate route and seeking support through a community development financial institution
- Options for investors that can support your early-stage company
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Gust.com: An Investor and Investment Ecosystem
- A service describing itself as the world’s largest community of investors and early stage investors
- Online tools for entrepreneurs to start, run, and raise funds for their companies
- Creating a free profile and getting started
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Small Business Grants: How They Work and Where to Find Them
- Grant funds do not need to be repaid and can provide targeted support for your small business
- Where to look to find grant opportunities
- Preparing a grant application and increasing your chances of success
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Selecting a Bank For Your Business
- Lending authority, small business services, and other inquiries to make to a bank
- Weighing the benefits of a local, regional, or national bank
- Using a one-page information sheet to narrow down your options
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How to Create an Emergency Fund
- How much cash will you need in an emergency and where will you keep it?
- For entrepreneurs starting and expanding their businesses
- Help your business overcome unexpected financial events
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The Most Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make
- Common mistakes made by entrepreneurs seeking to run a business
- Failure to have a clear plan for finances, marketing, and other aspects of the business is a major shortcoming
- Entrepreneurs must also be willing to commit to a venture and seek help as needed
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What Are the Main Purposes of a Business Plan?
- Understand why a business plan is important and what it needs to accomplish
- This document provides crucial guidance and minimizes the chances that you’ll run into common mistakes
- Business plans can be dynamic documents,
6 Types Of Business Plans
- Understand different types of business plans
- Business plans can assist you when starting a business and when growing one
- Choosing wisely during the different periods of your business will help you better achieve your goals
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Understanding An LLC Operating Agreement
- How an operating agreement can assist with the management of a Limited Liability Company
- For those looking forward to starting their company as an LLC
- Helps govern internal operations of the business in a way that suits the specific needs of the business owners
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Understanding the LLC Articles of Organization
- Articles of organization formally establish a limited liability company (LLC) with the state
- Provides basic information about the company and its members
- Distinct from an LLC operating agreement
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Common Business Plan Mistakes
- A business plan can help you prep your company for launch, but you can jeopardize your chances of success if you make one of several common errors
- Factors range from sloppy grammar to unrealistic financial forecasts
- For those planning a business
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Free Business Plan Templates
- Resources providing free business plan templates
- For those planning a business
- Makes the process easier and more manageable
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The SBA’s Guide to Writing A Business Plan
- An official, simple guideline for writing a business plan
- For those planning a business
- Get an overview of the key concepts of a business plan
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How to Write the Financial Section of a Business Plan
- Tips for writing a financial section that can help attract investors or win approval for a loan
- For those planning a business
- Income statements, cash flow analyses,
Frequently Asked Questions About NAICS Codes
- Official website on NAICS code answers 27 frequently asked questions
- For business organizations and institutions
- Learn more about how NAICS code facilitates economic analyses through the collection,
Is It Time to Scale Up Your Business?
- Understanding when your startup has reached its tipping point, and what to do next
- For those who have started businesses and are thinking about expanding
- Understand the challenges that will inevitably come as your business scales
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How Do I Find My Suppliers, Manufacturers, and Distributors?
- Finding manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers to acquire the items you need to develop your own products
- Pricing, quality, minimum orders, and other considerations in choosing a company to work with
- Directories,
Is It Better to Lease or to Buy Equipment?
- Whether it is better to buy or lease equipment for your company
- For those starting or expanding a business
- How to decide which option makes the most sense for your business
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Are Some Locations Better Than Others?
- Factors that go into choosing a business location and questions that entrepreneurs should ponder
- For those starting or expanding a business
- Also a resource for Connecticut business location selection
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What Kind of Profits Can I Expect?
- When your company might achieve profitability and what profit margins you can expect
- For those starting, managing, or expanding a business
- Different definitions of profitability and margins
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Do Partners Make It Easier For a Business to Succeed?
- The pros and cons of starting a business with partners
- For those starting a business or expanding a business
- Identify whether working with a partner can grow customer base and improve your business
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What Should I Do to Succeed in a Business?
- Tips for making your business a success
- For those starting or managing a business
- Important factors that can determine whether your business will thrive
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Why and How Do I Need to Define My Business in Detail?
- How to define your small business brand
- For those who are planning a business
- Steps to help your business grow, get your team to understand your vision and mission,
