Make It Happen Bootcamp

For this week’s finance module, I completed the section on Finding Funding.  This section introduced six different possibilities for funding a small business. For each example, basic information was given about each option along with the pros and cons.  I was already aware of several resources for obtaining start-up money for new businesses including self-funding, loans from family and friends, bank funding, and government loans, all of these are pretty much self-explanatory. However, I  was introduced to one innovative idea for funding which was crowdfunding.  I have heard of crowdfunding for a means to raise money for individual’s various medical treatment or trips, but I never thought about applying it to small business start-ups.  The information in the module was limited in this section so I did some additional research in this area.  Apparently there are several different types of crowdfunding including reward based, equity, debt-based, litigation, and charity.  Several of these options might work for instituting funding for a new business? I was also somewhat familiar with microfinancing, which seemed to me, to be one of the best routes for funding  a small business, especially if you’re applying it to a student population.  

 The Finding Funding section also introduced new technology skills including advanced Google search and Delicious.com which is a social networking service.  I was familiar with Google advanced search but I frequently forget to use it, so this served as a good reminder.  Delicious.com was new to me but apparently it has been around for a quite a while.  I might need to do some more exploring on this website which looks very interesting.  

     If I was going to integrate this information into the classroom, I would start by introducing the information about the different funding options.  Using the new technology skills, I would have the students meet in groups to explore funding for a fictitious business along with completing a  group discussion.  I would also ask them to consider local resources for support.  I think UGA has small business support information services.  Clark Howard, out of Atlanta,  also has some great information on his website http://www.clarkhoward.com/best-websites-to-get-small-business-loan.