Quote:
Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab
Have you tried angel investors? Some financies can get you a low interest grant. There are tons of programs out there for new start ups. Im not sure how they do it with partnerships, but if you have decent credit you should be good for at least 75K. Just something to think about.
The way I see it you are losing 50% but I understand you are burnt out.
You have better odds with a business loan and finishing the car later. I say take a break, apply and let it ride. The car should be a last resort.
How far is the car from being a roller?
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I have searched around a little and spoke with a few companies about some financing. Either their interest rate was at loan shark rates or they were wanting six months of financial statements. I'm not willing to accept a high interest rate loan and the company simply isn't old enough to have six months worth of financials yet, so that ruled those out.
The original company was created by a long time friend of mine, who researched and developed the product for the past four years, which we now sell. He developed the perfect product to fill a much needed void in our target market. Interest in our product has been received well. We shipped our first unit out today from our new, 50 year old building. Our product is typically targeted towards water works facilities, roadway maintenance crews, cities, etc. We are currently building a unit for LSU that they will be flying in this coming weekend to pickup.
The company is a little past the start-up phase. We are selling our products on a regular basis, however not enough yet to really turn a profit. We could get buy with the bare essentials that we are working with, but to increase production we would need more capital. Part of our sales comes from performing demonstrations. These demos are required by many of our customers before they are allowed to purchase. I do not have the truck that could handle pulling our products all over the country. I'll need to purchase a diesel truck, but just can't quite afford to do that just yet either. That, in of itself hurts, my business.
The main reason I need capital is to help handle the Purchase Order's that my customers are required to use. My product is expensive and it is expensive for me to build. It's difficult to produce my product without capital upfront. I haven't spoken with my bank just yet about helping with the costs to build on the PO's. I'm hoping they would be more lenient in their rules to cover them. It's virtually risk free.
My friend that started this company do an excellent job in developing the product, but has no clue how to run a business. He essentially handed over the company to me and became an employee. We filed the dissolution papers with the state to dissolve the old company and created a new one with me as the sole owner. I have not looked into angel investors. I've been trying not to have to sell off pieces of the company to get it fully operational. This week I plan to try and explore as many avenues I feel is available still to me to help raise capital. One of those is the sale of my car. Hate to do it, but if its the only place I can find it, then that is where I'll have to get it. It hurts to even think about taking half of what I have in it. Trust me!
I could have the car assembled in a day, by myself and drive it out of the garage in two days. Of course, it still wouldn't be considered a roadworthy car.
Thanks for the tips!
I was born and raised in a family owned service business and handling a manufacturing business is quite a bit different.