What questions do I need to answer to get funding?

You have a project and need funding to make it happen. Where to start looking for money, who to ask, how much, are problems that are presented to you and that you must clearly identify and solve appropriately. Let me give you some advice based on my own experience.

Ask yourself questions, not answers

I always say you have to live with questions and not with answers. At the time of funding a project, it must be the same. We need to stop giving ourselves the usual answers “You won’t trust me to do this or that”, “It’s impossible to find an investor for a project like mine”, “I’m an idiot, nobody leaves me money”, etc .

Instead of all these answers, which are typical of the personality of the people of our country, you should ask yourself all sorts of questions, but the most important one is this:

What do I have to do to get it?

The first thing to know is your actual financing needs. You will have this number identified in your business plan, which is mainly based on your initial investment plan, short-term funding needs, and medium-term treasury plan. Of course, your salary must be included in these numbers. It’s a big mistake many entrepreneurs make not counting their salary. And this is important for survival at the beginning of the project and most importantly for safety at home.

The second thing you should do, and which is very important, is to define your profile by asking yourself a series of questions:

If available:

Do I have enough money available to finance my project and am I willing to invest it in my project?

Regarding guarantees:

do i have wealth How high are my assets, do they cover the entire financing requirement, if not what percentage?

To all these absolutely necessary questions comes the most important one: Am I willing to guarantee the financing of my project with my assets?

It is possible that in a supposed financing case and if the answer to the last question is positive, your assets do not offer the necessary guarantees, so you should ask yourself a few more questions, do I have someone to vouch for me? The guarantor covers the financing needs? And most importantly, am I willing to ask him for a bond?

In terms of creditworthiness:

Am I currently paying off loans, is the loan installment more than 35% of my monthly income? Do I have incidents in Rai, Asnef, etc.?

Regarding partners:

Am I willing to include partners in my project? Am I ready to find partners for my project? Am I willing to be a partner of others contributing to my project, am I willing not to be a controlling shareholder and thereby lose control of my company?

Once these questions are answered, whose answers also provide an accurate picture of your involvement in the project, will help you define the channels you can turn to to find funding for your idea. Remember that this profile is a first step in that quest. And that depending on the financing method, the most important thing is the project, its feasibility and, of course, its profitability.

Generally and without excluding a priori, with a positive profile in terms of guarantees and creditworthiness, any channel in which the credit institutions participate, through their own financing products and through the various initiatives of the public administrations in which banks and savings banks participate

With a positive partner profile, you can go to private investors, business angels, investment companies, etc.

We can also apply for grants, go to family or friends, to a guarantee company, etc.

Some useful tools to get funding

Above all, the right atmosphere. We must go in search of the money we are lacking in a positive, optimistic way, believing that we have a great project worth investing in.

Our own identity and the identity of people close to us or to the project. And when I say identity, I mean the identity that we have created through our studies, our work, our baggage, the successes and failures that we carry on our backs and that build the vision that others have of us.

have customers. Nothing is better for convincing an investor than having clients or closed deals waiting for us to get started.

The networks of your own contacts or of friends or acquaintances. We must not forget that we move in networks of contacts for all areas of our lives.

Social Networks and the Internet They are tools that bring us closer to potential investors from all over the world and that today open up new avenues of financing.

About the author, fight Mira

fight Mira He is a businessman, entrepreneur and coach. Educated and trained in mobilizing people, he is also an ISO standards auditor, EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) evaluator and a specialist in customer service quality. As administrator of several companies, he has promoted and participated in several projects, mainly in the food, disabled, education and construction sectors.