Hard work and passion are no longer enough for small business startup success. Small business funding collapsed along with the rest of the financial system in 2008 and has never recovered. More than half of business owners report a lack of financing options, and nearly a third say they may be pushed out of business for lack of startup funding. As always happens in a free market, new solutions have emerged to overcome hurdles in the old way of doing things.

A new model of business funding has been born, staged-funded through alternative finance. This book is about that new model of business funding and how to start a business strategically. You'll learn first how to create a business plan from the executive summary through marketing and the financial projections that will impress investors. You'll learn how to create a stellar business plan that will not only get you startup funding but will guide your business strategy. We'll then cover the four stages of business funding and real-world examples of entrepreneurs that have used the new model to create and drive their small business ideas.

Each chapter includes detail on one of the four funding sources as well as how to get the best deals. You'll get a comprehensive look at the advantages and limits of each stage and how to use each one successively to grow your business. You'll be able to set realistic goals for each stage of business funding as well as how to leverage your progress into the next stage. As an investment analyst for a venture capital firm, I've seen exactly what it takes to build a business from the ground up and what you need to get funded. I've helped entrepreneurs detail their business plan to uncover the source of their competitive advantage and how to present their case for startup funding. As an entrepreneur myself, I've used this same process to raise money and get my own small business ideas off the ground.