Do You Have A Good Business Idea? How To Get Startup Fund At The Idea Stage In Nigeria
Is it possible to get startup fund at the idea stage of your business?
This is one question that has been continuously thrown at me on the social media. Yea, it is possible and I’m going to show you how.
The truth of the matter is that most investors won’t touch your idea until it ready to be launched. Well, not in all situations. The truth is that most businesses that are started fail and investors are more careful with where they put their money now.
The stat from Forbes is even more damning. Do you know that out of every 10 startups, 8 fail to succeed as a business? This is about 80% failure rate. Did you know that? I didn’t know that.
There are great ideas, good ideas, and not-so-good ideas. I wouldn’t know the one you have.
Related: 3 major startup financing challenges and how to solve them
Remember, the success and failure of your business in terms of funding are all in your hands. To that extent, you will need to understand how to get startup fund at the idea stage.
To get answers across readers and visitors of Entrepreneur Nigeria, I did some deep funding research and the following are my findings. It will shock you to find out that it is indeed possible to get startup funds at the idea stage.
Well, without much ado, we will get them across to you. You may or may not be aware of their existence before now.
How To Get Startup Fund At The Idea Stage
Instead of getting funds from one person or a few people, you can get startup funds from so many people around the world. That is what crowdfunding does for you.
In fact, crowdfunding is meant to carter for the idea stage startup fund. When you have pitched up something interesting with a good story and a good publicity, you can get so many people to get money across to you from all over the world.
Related: 5 easy steps to crowdfunding success in Nigeria
The reality is that Nigeria has not recorded many successes with this method but they are getting there. It is just a matter of time. You can check in with Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Crowdrise, RocketHub and other platforms to help you run the campaign.
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Join up with an incubator
Incubators are platforms that provide you with funding for your business ideas. But, they don’t only provide you with funds; they also provide you with mentorship, the right infrastructure, and technical support.
There is a handful of them in the country. You will find Lagos garage, CcHub, and IdeaHub in Lagos alone. This is a very good platform for your business idea because their mentorship and infrastructure can prove to be invaluable. It is arguably the best platform for you.
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Look for grants by entering startup competitions and hackathons
These are two related but different ways to get startup fund at the idea stage of your business. They are about getting grants or rewards for your business ideas.
But as stated earlier, they are different. Hackathons are about getting together novel solutions for a long uninterrupted period of time. The winners usually go home with a price.
With competitions, you just enter into competitions with your ideas and face other ideas. If your idea wins, you did get a huge sum to start your business.
Entrepreneur Nigeria is coming up with a platform that will carter for your ideas if you have great ideas. I will update this post as soon as it is ready.
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Team up with a rich co-founder
We have talked up the importance of your co-founder to the success of your business idea. You are meant to choose one that has complementing skills, you are also meant to pick someone that has a decent number of zeros in his bank account.
This will help offset some of the things you need before other investors can come in.
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Your previous startup stories can help
If you need to meet investors, you will need to be prepared to convince them. They can be very difficult to handle if you understand what I mean.
As difficult as that may be, with a string of other startup success stories, you might be able to pull it off. They will build certain levels of trust and belief in you because you had a certain success history. Just bring it to bear and even the not-so-good ideas can be sold by you.
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You need to be an expert in your field
To get startup fund at the idea stage, you need to understand everything your field has to offer. You need to become an expert who can offer useful solutions to problems.
This will get you the trust needed to succeed in the business idea and by extension, the money you need to start the business.
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Use your immediate network
Actually, this is about the first source of funding for your new business idea. You may not hear this always but you should know that your immediate network is always available to help you out.
You have friends and family who will always be there for you even if they have no idea what you are working on. They can provide you with the necessary funds to start.
