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Unique Ways to Funding Your Small Business

funding

If you’re a startup, there is nothing surprising in facing teething troubles.  But none of these challenges or troubles is as big or critical as funding your business. That means finding investment to get your business off the ground is, without a doubt a daunting task.  From production space, buying goods to renting office, and hiring staff, turning a simple idea into a business practically requires funds and money.

Unless you are wealthy enough to finance your business or your benevolent relative has left you a lot of money, you probably have to find ways to fund your business.  Luckily, there are some smart ways you can resolve this problem. Here are some of those unique ways to help you fund your business.

How Can You Fund Your Small Business?

1.     Crowdfunding

One of the easiest way to find your business enough funds is crowdfunding- which is a practice of raising funds from different forums or people.  It is an alternative finance and a kind of crowd sourcing.   Luckily, there are plenty of crowdfunding options available for you right on the internet.

When asking for investment funds for your businesses from a variety of investors, it is highly recommended to come up with an impressive pitch. The success of your crowdfunding campaign depends more on how you pitch the idea than it does on the idea itself. Of course, you need a team with you to plan out your crowdfunding campaign.

A common reason why startups choose this method of funding is because of the flexibility of options. Venture capitals are known for being strict with their investments. They will demand more equity in your business than you will ever have to offer through a crowdfunding model. They usually focus more on their returns than the success of the startup. The situation is quite the opposite when you go with the crowdfunding option.

2.     Angel Investors

Angel Investors is no doubt one of the unique funding options among all as they are always looking for innovative ideas to invest in the business. Originally business giants like Yahoo and Google were also used this funding option. It is worth noting that taking funds from Angel Investors requires entrepreneurs to give them some equity share in the company.

3.     Small Business Loans (SBA)

This funding option is a result of the U.S government’s interest in rampant growth of the small business industry.  The s Small Business Administration, in this regard, offers a wide range of loan types and business investments to help business owners get started.  Exploring the SBA loan options is a great way to kick start your business, if intend to run an educational institute or non-profits set-up.   For easy funding, you might want to request for SBA grants.

4.      Venture Capitalists

Much like angel investors, the funding option invest money in up-and-coming- businesses that have high potential to not only grow but also monetary returns.  In addition to that, Venture Capitalist looks for equity share in the business it invests money in. The investors are also interested in getting a right in company’s directorial decisions.  In short, VCs make money through their investments and consider having some control or authority in the business is the best way to do that.  It is always better to investigate this funding option thoroughly before opting it.

5.     Microloans

 Reserved specifically for small non-profit businesses, finance institutions grant microloans to entrepreneurs who don’t qualify for a bank loans. Microloan organizations, instead of giving donations to the non-profit companies allow entrepreneurs to invest in various economic opportunities.  Microloans are also a popular financing option in developing nations.

6.     Personal Financing

There is no denying that investing in a startup entails a lot of risks and these risks are what prevent traditional lenders from giving loans to business owners. This becomes even more skeptical if business owner doesn’t invest his/her own money in the startup.

7.     Purchase Order Financing         

 There is an array of factors that affect the cash flows of any business. These factors may include supply and demand and seasonality.  For examples, sometimes a company is unable to complete the orders due to fewer funds to buys inventory and material to make the products.

In situations like these, purchase order financing can be the panacea to the problems. It helps companies extend advance to purchase material they need to make products. Purchase order financing collect back money when products are sold.  If your business deals in manufactured goods, it stands a chance to makes 20% more on its sales by opting purchase order financing.

8.     Vendor Financing

If your bill payment record is contingent on your product selling record, you may take the benefits by negotiating longer payment terms with the vendors.  Vendors, typically require payments on invoices within thirty days before imposing penalties and late fees.  Negotiating longer payment terms will allow you work with more cash in the interim.

This is even more important if your business has a longer sales cycle than thirty days. That means if sales cycle takes  forty to forty-five days from  purchasing to selling goods, you will not be able to make invoices payment within a  month.  In that case, you need negotiations to avail vendor financing to benefit your sales cycle.

Final Thoughts

In a nutshell, investments and business funding are of paramount importance no matter what industry you want to get into. If you lack sufficient finances, it is important to weigh all options you can choose to give a kick start your business.  Given that, the mentioned funding options are great to consider if they suit your requirements.

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How to Avoid Financial Problems for Your Startup?

Startup

There is no denying that starting your own business in an established niche is exhilarating. However, at the same time, you cannot eliminate the risk factors involved. As a startup, you have to deal with a plethora of problems, with an endless stream of administrative tasks. Not only does it require a lot of your attention but also time and critical thinking to manage business finances.

When you launch a new business, you require sufficient capital to cover all the expenses, and also funds to run your business before it turns a profit. This reason is why it is important that you work with a proper financial plan that can ensure your leap into the business world that is secure and realistic. Once you are sure that your business has enough finances, you will be able to maximize the chances of success.

Here are some tips to help startups and entrepreneurs manage financial problems:

Tips to Avoid Financial Problems for Startups

Avoid Taking Expensive Credits

Whether you’re an established brand or thinking to set up a startup, you need to make optimal use of your business funds. You need to establish some financial goals that can help you build a progressive business portfolio to benefit your business.

Remember that it is the growing period of your business, and the credit cost plays an important role. Your foremost financial goal must be to set up interest core at a minimum price to attain profitability and reduce costs.

Keep Expenses Low

Business is in the survival stage in the initial phase, so keeping expenses fixed or low is a wise move. Expenses play a critical role in helping you maintain steady business revenue. 

Always try to plan large expense, including taxes, payrolls, and cost materials for products, interest, utilities, and operating expenses in advance. Managing these expenses may help you reduce the financial burden. Moreover, low expenses will ensure your cash flow is running smoothly, even on a tight budget.

Keep a Balance between Personal and Business Finances

This important step can help you avoid financial problems. Once you register your business, make sure you set up a commercial business account. To put it simply, use different banks for your business and personal accounts.

Keeping business and personal financial accounts separate can make accounting straightforward throughout the year. Also, you can easily calculate your taxes as well as eliminate the cash crunch situations startups face due to unexpected withdrawals. This also means you need to avoid withdrawing money for personal use from the business account.

You can use different credit cards and loans for your startup but avoid using them for personal expenses.

Consider Insurance

You might not like the idea of insurance and paying a big amount for your startup, but you cannot deny that your business actually needs it. Do some research about what suits your business needs for managing business finances and building a profitable portfolio. This step is imperative to evaluate which type of insurance can provide your business with long-term financial security.

Prioritize Payments

To keep financial problems at bay, entrepreneurs need to draw a line between less important and essential costs for at least the first six months. This helps entrepreneurs project where they need to inject the cash flow. They can start by reducing unnecessary expenses and adjusting the budget.

Prioritizing payments may also help you determine the key issues, such as business overspending. Once entrepreneurs take a closer look, they will find ways to become more cost-savvy with their business expenditures.

Invest in Advanced Technology

The next important thing to avoid financial problems is to invest in the right technology. To retain a prominent position in the business world, analyze your competitors’ strategy, and upgrade business operations. Use online software to track finances and also establish a strong online presence.

Using bookkeeping software for developing budgets, paying taxes, and understanding your business financial position is a great idea. Almost, all large-scale businesses have a separate finance department that uses professional software.

However, your business is in its infancy, but if you don’t embrace technological advancements gradually,   running a business efficiently will become challenging.

Manage Money Movement

Regardless of what stage your business is at, outlining payment terms is important to manage business finances efficiently. The best way to do this is to track money movements, from supplier costs to product purchasing. Make sure you consider both the legal and the financial sides of monetary transactions to trace money movements.

This way, you can figure out which business areas are performing efficiently and where you need to invest fewer funds. The data is useable for not only tracking progress but also developing a reasonable budget.

Negotiate Your Business Needs with Vendors before Finalizing a Contract

Don’t hesitate to negotiate whenever you are signing a deal. Successful entrepreneurs know what rates can benefit their business and how they can achieve them. They carefully examine purchase terms, such as grace periods or payment penalties, which can help them negotiate a great deal.

Maintain an Emergency Fund

Once you know how important it is to negotiate the right prices with vendors for managing business finances, you need to set aside emergency funds to ensure the success of your startup entity. Know that your sales will not be consistent throughout the year. This part is where you need to have some emergency funds, particularly for the off-season, to maintain a steady cash flow. 

For emergency funds, take out a proportion of your profits or income every month (particularly during high sales) and keep it for off-month expenses.

Bottom Line

While starting your own business is exciting, it entails a myriad of challenges, especially when it comes to handling business finances. If you’re facing these same issues and want to be prepared, try implementing the tips mentioned above to help you move towards a bright future.

Financial stability in business leads to better money management and success opportunities, and thus, these factors are crucial for the success of any startup.

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Parallel Bio Funded $4.3M to Enable Advancement of Biotechnology through Human Immune System

Immune

Parallel Bio, a Cambridge, MA-based Operator of a biotechnology company, intended to design and engineer tools to change how diseases are cured. The company’s platform deploys human immune organoids to rapidly accelerate the discovery and development of immunotherapies, cell therapies, antibody therapies, and vaccines, enabling medical professionals to access novel insights into human biology.

Parallel Bio was funded $4.3 million led by Refactor Capital, with participation from Y Combinator Jeff Dean and other strategic angel investors of Breakout Ventures. The acquisition capital has helped it to establish the viability of its immune-system-in-a-dish venue and accelerate the rate of drug discovery and development—several biotech-focused reserves: and senior executives at global pharmaceutical companies.

CEO Robert DiFazio and chief scientific officer Juliana Hilliard, Parallel Bio has developed a platform replicating the human immune system in a drug discovery and development dish. Parallel Bio’s platform merges immune organoids with artificial intelligence and robotics to uniquely illustrate organoids as people. As a result, its platform is the leading technology of its type to model the immune systems of entire people and the only immune technology that has the needed complexity.

Parallel Bio achieved important scientific and business milestones this year, enabling it to get its immune venue to market to medicine and biotechnology partners.

Zal Bilimoria, the founding partner at Refactor Capital, said Parallel Bio has the idea and technology to cure the disease, which starts entirely through the human body. In addition, it is building a new drug discovery and development platform that upends a century-old support for animal testing. Parallel Bio’s method promises to shave billions of dollars of waste and years of extra waiting from the drug development procedure.

By: K. Tagura

Author statement:

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Why It Is Not Advisable to Not Have a Business Plan

Plan

When you start a business, different people will advise you differently on how to turn your venture into a success. While it looks natural to have a business plan beforehand, do not be surprised if you find some people telling you to not have one. According to some, having a business plan limits you in your exploration and prevents you from taking risks. That might hold true in some cases, but that’s not how it is for everyone. Having a business plan is a sensible step, but if you are on the fence about whether to have one or not, here are some disadvantages of not having a business plan to help you make a well-informed decision.

Why Not Having a Business Plan Is Not Advisable

1.      There Is Nothing to Achieve

Milestones have to be an integral part of any venture. When you don’t have any milestones and targets, there is nothing for you to achieve. Having no business plan is the first sign of your non-seriousness with your business. If you could not take out time to create a detailed plan, how can one expect you to manage your business – an activity that could require even up to 16 hours of continuous working at times? The problem with having nothing to achieve means you will have no strategies for your expenses, profits, revenues, etc.

How would you ever know how much you should spend or not spend? Why would you invest in marketing when you don’t have any goals?

2.      There Is Nothing to Interest Investors

There might be some proponents of the idea that a business does not require a business plan, but there are still more people who believe in having a business plan. Investors always need indicators from entrepreneurs to judge their personalities and potentials. Business plan is one of the strongest indicators of a person’s potential of doing a business. When you ask investors for a certain amount of money, the first question they ask is why you need that money or what you need that money for. Your answer to this question can make it or break it for you.

In fact, that is not the only question. They will follow up this first question with a lineup of crucial follow-up questions. For example, if you tell them you will invest the money in marketing, they will ask you about the type of marketing you are aiming for, the return you expect and the costs of customer acquisition. How can you answer all those questions if you do not have a business plan?

3.      Your Marketing Will Go Awry

One of the damages of not having a business plan is your marketing plans going awry. Entrepreneurs have more power to them today than they ever had before. These days, startup owners have internet where they can collect information about their customers in the startup stages. Collecting customer information helps them create buyer personas and target their audience with appropriate marketing. Here are some pieces of information you will have to collect.

  • What age group and gender my product appeals best to?
  • What interests my target age group and gender?
  • What platforms is my target audience most active on?
  • What is the average buying power of my target audience?
  • What type of content best attracts my target audience?
  • What expectations do my potential customers have with my product?
  • How can I personalize my marketing to my audience?

That’s just few of the many questions that you have to get the answers for to make your marketing endeavors profitable. However, all of this homework is a part of your business plan.

4.      Your Team Won’t Share Your Vision

It is crucial for a business’ success to have a team that shares the same vision and endeavors to achieve it. Several studies and researches have proven that employees do not perform at their best when they don’t understand the vision well. You must define clear and vivid targets to your employees for them to know exactly what they have to do to be of value for the company. What you have to realize is that telling your team the vision of the business is not enough. It is a broad concept and does not define the action plan to your employees.

What you have to do is break the process of achieving your vision into small parts. These small parts are the milestones and within each milestone the role of your team is clearly defined. In short, break the entire pursuit of vision into small missions, and explain the role of every team member to achieve a milestone.

5.      You Won’t Know When to Exit

One of the biggest mistakes most startup owners and entrepreneurs make is that they don’t know when to exit. If you can close down your business before it starts hurting you financially, that’s a form of success. The true failure is when you cannot realize that your business is hurting you and you keep burning dollars for its success. An integral part of a business plan is defining favorable and unfavorable conditions for the business to exist.

In a business, you have to define a deadline before which you must see positive results. You have to define a time frame within which you can continue to invest in your business. However, you have to draw a line to make it clear when you cannot continue anymore. If you have been running your business for six months and the money has been going out of your pocket, it might be an indicator that it won’t work for you.

Conclusion

A business plan should be considered a part and parcel of a venture. It is not an optional component because your success rests on it. If you are looking forward to starting your business, it is advisable that you sit down and take time to write and review your business plan. If that is too much for you, hire a professional to write it for you.

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Eion Funded $12M to Build Up the Carbon removal Technology Distribution for Economic Beneficial

Carbon

Eion is a Princeton, NJ-based originator of fine-grained mineral material invented to terminate carbon permanently and at scale while delivering economic benefits to rural communities. The company’s product rapidly captures and holds carbon dioxide when applied to agricultural soils, providing farmers and the agricultural industry with a supportable pathway to decarbonization.

Eion was funded $12 million, led by AgFunder and some strategic angel investors of Ridgeline. New and returning investors contain SLVC, Carbon Removal Partners, Mercator Partners, Trailhead Capital, Orion, and Overture.

This budget round will help Eion to continue to make out its distribution partnerships and expand the availability of its patented CarbonLock™. This nature-based soil amendment removes atmospheric carbon dioxide permanently and verifiably through improved rock weathering on farming soils. The company will also employ the funds to draw high-impact talent to make out its financial, commercial, and science teams.

Adam Wolf, Founder, and CEO of Eion, said Eion’s technology allows permanent carbon removal on agricultural soils, but their vision is much broader. Eion seeks to leverage carbon removal to diversify agriculture and maintain land productivity, enhance margins for farmers, help the bedrock of American businesses in our supply chain, and boost rural vitality.

Tom Shields, Partner at AgFunder, said Eion’s CarbonLock™ solution delivers farmers a low-disruption way to help decrease carbon in the atmosphere. They are keen to work with Eion to accelerate the usage of carbon removal as a crucial part of addressing climate change.

Brandon Harris, Principal at Ridgeline, also states that Eion’s rare combination of solid agricultural co-benefits for farmers and high capability for checkable carbon removal positions the company to be a leader in the future.

By: K. Tagura

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Black Sheep Foods Funded $12.3M to Scale-up Global Production of Plant-based Meat

Meat

Black Sheep Foods, a San Francisco, CA-based. Producer of plant-based meat intended to provide an environmentally sustainable alternative to animal meat. The company’s products are a plant-based alternative to ground lamb. They are made using analytical chemistry from soy protein, coconut oil, and natural flavors. They enable consumers to lessen their carbon footprint by choosing the cheap lamb alternative with the same taste.

Black Sheep Foods was funded $12.3 million led by Unovis, alongside Bessemer Venture Partners, AgFunder, other strategic angel investors, and KBW Ventures. It intends to use the funds to raise production for its debut lamb produced from plants for global distribution.

Sunny Kumar, co-founder, and CEO of Black Sheep Foods said their senses associate meat with a form, a texture, and a flavor. The surface has been the focus of meat innovation, and the taste is a white space. The debut lamb produced from plants includes more depth of flavor, richness, and delicious aromatics than other meats, full stop. They’re in the business of giving consumers access to the most delightful meat variety, using plants instead of animals.

Charles Billies, CEO and Founder of Souvla, said they are incredibly thoughtful when selecting a plant-based meat partner. Since launching Black Sheep Foods’ product in their restaurants last year, they’ve been seriously impressed with its integration into their menu and the overwhelmingly positive response from their many loyal guests. They stay keen on the fate of their product offerings and this vital action in the years to come.

The company says Black Sheep’s lamb has gained a following in the Middle East. Prince Khaled calls the lamb “shockingly good.” But, he says, as someone who grew up with the taste profile in Saudi Arabia, he couldn’t believe the authentic mouthfeel and flavor. With preference being a vital aspect of customer adoption, Black Sheep Foods will easily overwhelm plant-based meats.

By: K. Tagura

Author statement:

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Stony Creek Colors Funded $4.8M to Develop the Proprietary Technology for Natural Plant Dyes

Natural

Stony Creek Colors is a Springfield, TN-based developer of dyes technology designed to offer bio-based dyes for the textile industry. The company’s technology provides clean and safe natural dyes that replace the hazardous chemicals currently used in the supply chains, enabling the textile and fashion industries to give their consumers access to environmentally conscious premium products.

Stony Creek Colors was funded $4.8 million led by some strategic angel investors in Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Levi Strauss & Co. The company will use the capital further to grow its farming infrastructure and the dye extraction procedure to bring regenerative solutions to farmers and the textile industry.

Sarah Bellos, Founder and CEO of Stony Creek Colors. The company remains the only industrial-scale manufacturer globally of 100% bio-based indigo, as permitted by the USDA BioPreferred Program. Its vertically-integrated prototype allows full traceability-down to the farm level–that brands and consumers trust.

Since its inception, the company has grown, reaped, and processed its proprietary indigo sorts on over 500 acres of farmland via its repeatable and expandable farmer production model. The company’s natural indigo procedure fixes nitrogen and catches more carbon than it uses, boosting environmental progress for the farms where the crops are produced.

In complement to farming supply chain integrations, Stony Creek Colors is known for its innovations in current dye applications and customer point-of-use for this natural chemistry. Earlier this year, Stony Creek Colors publicly established IndiGold®, the first plant-derived, pre-reduced indigo for denim mills, with global metier chemicals leader Archroma.

Stony Creek Colors’ vertically-integrated technology eliminates the significant documented inefficiencies in plant-based indigo production. To authorize a high-purity dye appropriate for its industrial denim mill customers while showing a soil health-enriching and favorable climate chemical that fits well into farmers’ annual crop rotations. Stony Creek is increasing accessibility of renewable color chemistries as demand for plant-based innovations rises in the fashion and textile demands.

By: K. Tagura

Author statement:

Who we are:  Funded.com is a platform that is A+ BBB rated over 10+ years. Access our network of Investors, get instantly matched with a Lender, or get a business plan by visiting us Funded.com

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What Are the Necessary Means to Improve Your Business

ImproveEntrepreneurs are not born; they learn things by experiencing ups and downs in a business. To make consistent improvement to improve your business status is critical to maintaining sustainability. Successful entrepreneurs perpetually monitor their business process in order to identify loopholes.  Monitoring your business cash flow and identifying your strengths and weaknesses is a key process that helps you improve your business.

Apart from this, there are several things you can do to keep the risk minimum while enjoying a double-digit growth every year.

Here we have included an overview of some necessary means you can use to improve your business growth

Ways to Improve your Business

1.     Assess Your Business Situation

As mentioned earlier, monitoring the progress of your business is a key to bring improvement.  This is where you identify the areas that need change. However, before you make the changes, it is ideal to ensure that you are aware of the factors that are affecting the success of your business.

These factors may include emerging market trends, your current business strategies, weak market strategies or even lack of competent staff. Fortunately, there are a number of tools you can use to assess your business status. Following tools can help you:

SWOT Analysis:

It is an effective tool that is designed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business. Not only does it help you assess the strong areas of your business operations, but also threats and opportunities. You can work out all internal as well as external factors that keep your business from growing.

SWOT is one of the widely used analytical tools to help you in the decision-making process.

SWOT

  • Builds on strengths
  • Minimizes weaknesses
  • Seizes opportunities
  • Counteracts threats

Market research

It is another important tool to investigate the business market to help entrepreneurs identify emerging trends, new technologies, and customer demands

Trend   Analysis

The tool uses your business data for the last five years to identify and assess consistent trends.

Benchmarking

It is a smart tool that is used to measure business performances with the same size of business being operated in the industry.

2.     Business Goals

Whether it is business or your life, without goals it is completely directionless. Business goals keep you focused and energetic, which makes your business successful. You can use these objectives as a part of your ongoing business plan to make sure you keep moving forward.

However, there are certain criteria that need to be considered while setting these goals. Your goals have to be SMART- specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. That means they have to be practical to be achieved within a set timeline. It would be better to prioritize your business goals or to write them down on paper.

You can plan short or long -term strategies to accomplish them. It will help you determine the time, finances and resources.

3.     Develop a Strategic Plan

There is no doubt that businesses whether small or big, take time to progress. That is why it is important to create a smart strategic plan that has an outlook of at least 3 to 4 years. The plan should be made keeping the business goals ahead.

Make sure each year defines your business goals plus how your team will achieve those goals over the estimated time. Besides this, it is important to prepare a financial plan to meet the growing needs of your business.

That means the business strategy will not only define how your business will make profits, but also where and how much you will invest.

According to expert entrepreneurs, it is always beneficial to review your business strategic plans. It helps you match the set goals with the profit your business has produced.

4.      Be Passionate About Meeting the Goals

This might seem a no-brainer or something trivial, but it can make a huge difference when it comes to accomplishing your business goals. When you are passionate about your work, your colleagues and employees can feel this energy as well.

In other words, showing enthusiasm and excitement cannot be underestimated as it plays a critical role to make your team more hardworking, and focused toward their work productivity. The passion and enthusiasm translate to a better outcome.

Unhappy workers, on the other hand, pass through negative energy and make work more challenging.

5.     Implement Strategies

You cannot achieve business goals unless you implement the changes. Once you have made the strategic plan and estimated finances, it is the time to implement strategies. The implementation process includes several tasks and actions.

It is always a good idea to device an action plan, divides the workload, and tasks accordingly.  Following are some of the important points to help you implement the changes for business improvement.

  • Time Frame: Determine how long a specific task will take to complete. Set tentative dates for the task.
  • Actions: Divide the tasks among those employees that you think are the most appropriate to accomplish them. State actions to be taken precisely.
  • Responsibilities: Assign responsibilities; make sure your teams get the work done in time
  • Resources: Compile a list of supplies, budget, and other finances
  • Outcomes: State your desired outcomes and how the results will be evaluated

6.     Evaluate Success

You need to establish some measures to evaluate whether you have achieved your business goal or not.   These assessment measures depend on the type of tasks you are working on. If your business goals are significant, the measurement process will be more complex, such as measuring profits by a set percentage.

Along with these measures, you can set percentages for each task. It will help you evaluate the success statistically.  Plus, you need to consider how frequently you wish to measure your business achievements. It is very helpful when it is about setting new goals.

Final Thoughts

Your business does not only need your time, but also smart strategies and an effective action plan to improve revenues and profits. The above-mentioned tips are necessary means all entrepreneurs must adopt to sustain a prosperous business.

Who we are:  Funded.com is a platform that is A+ BBB rated over 10+ years. Access our network of Investors, get instantly matched with a Lender, or get a business plan by visiting us Funded.com

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Some Unnecessary Small Business Expenses to Avoid

Business Expenses

When you start a business, you have to be extra careful with how you spend your capital. There are many ways for small business owners to increase their profits. Reducing their costs is one of the simplest and most effective ones. A lot of the times, entrepreneurs would add costs to their budgets that they don’t necessarily have to make. It might appear to them that these are necessary expenses when that’s not the case. They can add many of these expenses once their business has established.

Expenses That Small Businesses Should Avoid

Excessive Advertising

Yes, advertising is quite important for businesses, but excessive advertisement is not. It still makes sense for large businesses to go full-on with advertising because they have the budget to do so. However, when it comes to small businesses, they must do intelligent and selective advertising only. Their first course of action should be to identify the advertising channels that work best for them. Just because you are a restaurant at the corner of a street does not mean you have to use awnings, vinyls, neon signs, and all other types of materials for advertising purposes. Pick the ones that work and skip what doesn’t.

Too Many Work Hours

You don’t necessarily have to follow the trends of your competitors to compete with them. It does not matter how good they are, even the best ones can make mistakes at times. Many business owners choose to keep their premises opened for customers for long hours. They will open the business early in the morning and close it late at night just so they can serve more customers. However, one must do cost calculation before taking such a step? What if you are getting only five customers in the first three hours of the business and five more at the last two hours?

Now imagine the cost of utility, wages of your employees, etc. Are you covering the costs of keeping your business opened for five additional hours with only 10 customers? Even if you want to continue this way, you better test it for a week only. If the response is cold, you should quit this practice as soon as possible.

Pursuing the Best of Everything

The idea sounds great but is not the way to go about doing business when you are in your early stages. You should spend your money on things you need, not the things you want unless you have the budget to do so. If you are renting space for your office, you should look for a place that you can easily afford. Going for the best location in the most commercial area will cost you a lot of money. You can save your money even when it comes to internal equipment. Why buy new couches, seats and brand new computers when you can do with high-quality used equipment?

Why go for a printer with fancy looks and capacity to print hundreds of pages in a minute when you won’t ever need that many printouts at a time? Go with simple and beautiful when it comes to decorating your office. You don’t want to spend your budget on things that are not going to yield any benefits for your business.

Hiring IT Staff

IT is integral to any business today, tech or non-tech. However, it does not mean you have to have an IT team on board. One of the beauties of modern technology is that it allows you to outsource a lot of the business processes. The best thing about outsourcing business processes is that you can save a lot of money by doing so. Managed IT services are a perfect way for you to save IT costs while benefitting from expertise of the best professionals of the industry. Rather than paying thousands of dollars to three or four IT people, it makes more sense for small businesses to outsource their IT processes for a small monthly fee.

The good news is that you can outsource almost anything IT-related. From basic helpdesk to on-demand data officers, IT outsourcing can cover a lot of ground for you.

Unnecessary Debts

Taking loans when starting a business is imperative for your growth and to have enough cash in hand to support your operations. However, there are more ways to fund your business than you might realize. Many small business owners follow venture capitalists and conventional banks when it comes time to fund their businesses. However, crowdfunding has emerged as an amazing funding option for startups and small businesses. The good thing about crowdfunding is that you do not necessarily have to offer equity to the investors in your business. Sometimes, you can just reward them with a sample of your product.

Hiring Only Full-time Employees

If you own a small business, you might want to consider hiring interns. Interns can benefit your business in many ways. First, you do not have to pay them the salary of a full-time employee. Second, you can ask them to do a lot of the mundane tasks that otherwise affect the productivity of your full-time employees negatively. While it might not be the best practice, in some countries of the world they have free internships as well wherein you do not have to pay your interns. However, that’s not the right thing to do, and you should compensate their work to keep them motivated.

Conclusion

You should consider avoiding these expenses if you are a small business owner or about to be one. You can always take advice from those who have their own businesses to figure out what’s necessary and what’s not. Keep yourself up-to-date with new technological advancements. Taking advantage of modern software and hardware solutions can help you save a lot of money. Take the example of a printer with duplex printing option. You could cut your paper costs in half by printing on both sides of the paper. In the end, look into your current setup and operations to see what some expenses are that you can easily live without.

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Carv Funded $4M to Empower the Web3 Gaming Data Identity

Gaming

Carv is a Los Angeles, CA-based developer of a gaming platform designed to provide all games in one place. The company’s services offer achievement display, friends, game discovery, and direct monetization, enabling gamers with data sovereignty and games with intelligence.

Carv was funded $4 million led by Vertex, Temasek Holding’s venture capital arm, with participation from EVOS, Infinity Ventures Crypto, YGG SEA,  SNACKCLUB, UpHonest Capital, Lyrik Ventures, Lintentry Foundation, PAKADAO, 7UpDAO, Angel Investor Aliaksandr Hadzilin. The company intends to use the funds to onboard talent and continue building the interoperable credential infrastructure alongside ecosystem partners.

It uses blockchain-based technology to allow users to host their usernames and information and carry it between applications. This information can include data such as achievements users have earned in games, their reputation, connections to friends they have met along the way, and more. Decentralized identity acts as a single sign-in where the user generates a unique identity that the user control.

The company concentrated on Web3 gaming because of the considerable consumer-facing demand, and that’s where the most significant draw for decentralized identity opportunities currently exists. Web3 is the name given to the possible successive era of the web, learned as the decentralized web, where apps use peer-to-peer without centralized authority and run using crypto token economies.

This also builds data infrastructure and analytics to empower game studios to recognize gamer activities accurately, capture an insight-driven understanding of the user base, and effectively reach the desired group of users.

CARV is continuously building the gaming space with partners to kick off gaming tournaments and game night campaigns backed by talks, in-game hunts, and rewards to bring engagement to its product.

By: K. Tagura

Author statement:

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