An article that has been floating around the blogosphere presumably since first appearing on Advancing Women the "International Women's Community" again raises the question of whether creating a substantial business is possible without significant financial investment.

Another repost of the article appears, not surprisingly, here at VC Blogosphere without some of the annoying pop op ads found in the more recent version.


The essence of the piece can be summed up in this paragraph:

We should all understand, nothing happens in a business - any business- until money finds its way to the table. It may take many elements to start a business- inspiration, creativity, innovation, shrewdness, the ability to spot a market while it is still a distant speck on the horizon - but one of the most important is money.

The money is needed, the article suggests, for crossing the "capital chasm to take the venture to the next level."

The article also lists three major sources for the finances needed to move a business forward. They are:

• Friends, fools and family, people who will invest small amounts in your venture because they believe in you and probably still will even if the business goes bust and they never get their money back
• Angel investors, often ex-entrepreneurs who would like to make some money but don't necessarily need to make it in the short run and are more interested in being involved in a new financial venture
• Venture Capitalists, people who are investing huge suns, definitely expect to make huge sums and will cut your company loose if they don't.

However, other business owners have found ways to bootstrap their enterprises without the need to worry about some, or in many cases any of these outside funding sources.

• Self improvement guru Steve Pavlina insists he used only a $9 investment to register StevePavlina.com as a domain name and from then on committed never to spend a dime on the site that didn't come out of revenue. He claims the site now earns $1,000 per day.
• Andrew S. Field, President and CEO of PrintingforLess.com grew his $80,000 a year conventional printing business in Livingston, MT, into a formidable on line printing service and built a database now valued at $20 million with cash flow from his existing company.

As bootstrapper Greg Gianforte explains:

Every year, almost 8 million entrepreneurs start their own businesses in this country. They need lots of things to build a great company. Energy. Chutzpah. A really good idea. What they don't need is money.

Don't give up your dreams of owning your own business just because you don't have a big bankroll. (Read more)