Quoting two investment experts on msnbc discussing grants for small business:
Ken Yancey, CEO of SCORE 'I've been doing this for 16 yrs and never met anyone that got a grant.'
Phil Town, bestselling investing author, '...must be 20-30 websites about U.S. grants. I think they're all scams.'
I see many posts here from folks looking for grants for their small business startup and I hate to see them wasting time and effort looking for free government money. It just doesn't exist.
This is what I've been advising entrepreneurs for years...there are no grants for small biz start ups or for for-profit small businesses.
It is also very difficult to qualify for SBA backed loans. Venture capital is not available for the little guy. And angels are not lining up to pass out money.
But there is still hope. As a small business owner I spent the past few years advising entrepreneurs how to start their own small business. I know the difficulties in locating funding and will be launching a new funding source, peer to peer GIVING at Preneuraholics.com. Please see the blog below for more info.
there are some grants available through the gov though aren't there? by grants do you mean free money or loans to cover start up costs?
Government grants are not available for for-profit start ups. Grants that are available are generally for very specific geographic areas and/or for specific development (environmental for example) and/or for non-profits. These grants are usually meant to create jobs for under developed areas.
You might find an occasional contest type grant through a private organization but the payouts are very small, around $1500 - $5000. And the compeition is fierce.
For a typical entrepreneur looking for government grants, they just don't exist.
bizdev | Creator | 11/29/2009 - 4:26 pm
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