Got a good idea? want to take it further? don't know where to start or who to turn to? then join the club!
Having a brilliant idea is the easy bit. Making money out of it can be a world away and the route filled with hassle! But if you're willing to put the effort in, read on.
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In the 21st century, it doesn’t take good ideas to change the world. It takes money!
If you write a funny film or the most dramatic book……
or the next “must-have” electronic beeping toy:…
even if you invent the fuel-less car!!!
In general, the idea won’t get anywhere without the money to cover expenses such as design costs, development costs, prototyping, salaries, marketing, production, either of a film or play, with actors wages during rehearsals, or manufacturing production where you have production wages & materials to pay for, then there’s printing, distribution, administration and if it’s a really-really good idea, you might want to protect it with patents, or trademarks, copyrights or design registration and a whole host of other costs that you didn’t even know existed!
To undertake almost any business idea you might have, you are going to need financing of one sort or another. And the more innovative, novel or different the idea is, the less likely it is that you are going to find that money from the high street mainstream investors.
Banks and Building societies are naturally risk averse and make a very good living out of charging lots of customers for their services. So they are not keen on lending large amounts to advance the world and your pocket!
So one answer is to look for multi-source funding. This can of course include bank funding. But there are a mind-boggling number of other sources of funds available to assist business start-ups or expansions. These can range from no-ties grants of a few hundred pounds, to equity funding of hundreds of thousands of pounds, they include government grants, arts council grants and lottery grants. There’s research funding for feasibility studies, for prototyping and a huge variety of venture capital funding that covers all the above and more besides.…
The process of navigating your way through this myriad of funds can be time consuming and at times soul destroying.
The Reel and Shaft Handling Company is a company backed by three different sources of funding, including a recently awarded NWDA grant for Research & Development to help with the costs of prototyping a new invention. Over the last few years I’ve invented a few products and with the help of TechINVEST, the North West Seed Fund and 'Dragon's Den' type Business Angels, found the investment funding necessary to start-up a business, develop the products, and take them to market. I’d be happy to share with you a brief overview of my experiences, which hopefully may be of use to some of you out there currently looking for funding for your business ideas. Simply E-mail me at,
and I'll try to direct you to where you can get the help you need.
Alternatively, you can visit our 'LINKS' page and connect through to the websites of TechINVEST, the NorthWest Seed Fund, the NorthWest Development Agency and Aquarius Equity Partners, for more detailed information.
