How To Use Social Networking To Raise Money For Your Business

40Billion.com Launches Free Social Networking Tools for Small Business Entrepreneurs and Startups Seeking Loans and Resources

By Cornelius Colin McNab, 40Billion.com

Looking for funding to start a new business? Need to raise startup capital, but don’t know where to go? Well, you may already know hundreds or thousands of potential financing sources that you interact with every day. This article exposes five simple steps to raise funding by leveraging your social network online.

It is estimated that half of small business entrepreneurs raise money through friends and family to fund the first phase of their startups, but it is often difficult to manage these relationships. With Internet social networking, it can be much easier to raise money while maintaining your relationships. So what steps should you take to raise funding for your business through friends and family? How can you increase your access to capital and resources by leveraging your social network? 

  1. Upload Your Business Plan
    A recent poll of 140 people found that a good business plan is the #1 most important factor in deciding whether to fund a friend’s or relative’s business. One of the best things you can do as an entrepreneur to increase your chances of raising money is to turn your idea into a business plan, and make your business plan accessible to people you know. Some services allow you to upload a document and share it on various social networking websites quickly and easily. However, be careful not to upload any confidential information or intellectual property that you don’t want publicly known.

  2. Create A Social Funding Profile For Your Business
    After you’ve written a compelling business plan, you need to make sections of it available to your potential funders. Create a business profile online that people you know can easily access on the Web. The profile should provide insight into your vision and plan for the business, how much funding you need and why, and what you have to offer in return – e.g., rewards and discounts on products or services you sell.

    In the last three years, social funding websites, such as 40Billion.com® (http://www.40billion.com), have launched that allow you to create your own profile page and use it to raise money for your business. You can even make your profile private in order to limit access only to invited people you know and trust, not strangers.

  3. Invite Your Friends And Build Your Network
    After you’ve created your business fundraising profile, broadcast it to people you know. Invite your friends, family, community members, neighbors, and others in your social network to view your business profile, contribute towards your funding target, and spread the word. Post a link to your profile on any online social networking websites that your friends are on, such as Facebook® and LinkedIn®, or simply invite all of your friends to join you on the social funding website if it has built-in social networking tools. The more people you share your profile with, the better your chances of raising the financing you need.

    For example, imagine you need to raise $40,000, and you invite 40 friends to contribute $100 each in support of your startup. You may even propose to reward them with a free trial or discount when your business is up-and-running. Each of your 40 friends invites 40 more friends to contribute. Together, 40 x 40 = 1,600 people helping to raise money for your business. If just one out of every four contributes $100, then you’ll easily reach your target.

  4. Use Automated Payment Methods To Collect Funds
    Now that you have potentially thousands of people interested in funding your business, how do you make it easy for them to send you money and for you to track all of the transactions? There are online payment processing services, such as PayPal®, that facilitate fundraising by handling the transactions as donations or payments for goods and services. These online payment processors enable the funders to transfer funds from their bank accounts or credit cards to the entrepreneur, while making it easier for the entrepreneur to keep track of all the transactions in one place.

  5. Keep Your Promises And Keep In Touch
    After you get funded, what then? Be sure to thank your friends and family who believed in you and supported your venture. Distribute any rewards that you had promised to your funders, and be sure to keep the lines of communication open by sending them regular updates to let them know how their support has helped you fulfill the “American dream.” A great benefit of social networking sites is that it’s easier than ever to send messages and stay in touch with friends. These communications will go a long way in helping you maintain good personal and professional relationships, and your friends will be more likely to support you again in the future as funders and even as customers. 

About 40Billion.com
40Billion.com is the first micro-funding platform that facilitates American small business capital fundraising through gifts and loans from an entrepreneur’s network of friends and family online. 40Billion.com’s scalable platform helps entrepreneurs raise funding more affordably through friends and family than through banks or other traditional financial institutions. Using proprietary online tools, entrepreneurs build social networks – including friends, relatives, colleagues, customers, and other contacts – and use these connections to raise capital through small business loans and gifts. Entrepreneurs create fundraising profiles and invite their connections to offer funding in exchange for discounts or potential returns. 40Billion.com, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. For more information, visit http://www.40Billion.com.

Cornelius Colin McNab is the founder and chief executive of 40Billion.com, a micro-funding site that facilitates business capital fundraising through social networking online. Cornelius earned a bachelors degree from Yale University and a masters degree in business administration from the Sloan School at MIT.

Copyright 2010, 40Billion.com Inc. All rights reserved.

Happy New Year!!!

We wish you success in 2011. Happy New Year!

The 40Billion team

Sign in with your LinkedIn account (Facebook too)

40Billion and LinkedInNow, you can sign up and sign in with your LinkedIn account

LinkedIn is a professional social networking site with over 75 million users worldwide, many of which are U.S.-based entrepreneurs, small business owners, business school students, alumni, business partners, and potential investors and funders. 

If you’re currently using LinkedIn, you could benefit from using 40Billion too.  That’s why we’ve made it easy to log in to both sites with the same username and password, your profile is automatically updated, and you can invite your LinkedIn contacts to join your network on 40Billion with one click.

Go to http://www.40billion.com/login.asp and click the “Sign in with LinkedIn” button to log in now.  You’ll instantly be signed in on 40Billion, and your profile (including photo, summary, education, interests, honors, etc.) will be automatically created for you, based on the information that’s already in your LinkedIn profile.

And, with your professional profile completed on 40Billion, you can raise money for your business, invest or fund businesses, network and find resources to build businesses on 40Billion.com.

Oh, and if you don’t have a LinkedIn account, you can log in with your Facebook account too!

- The 40Billion Team

40billion.com Introduces Commercial Paper Offering



Additional social network funding option to help entrepreneurs create their own American dream

Nov 29, 2010 – Atlanta, GA, November 29, 2010—40Billion.com (http://www.40billion.com), a micro-funding platform that facilitates business capital fundraising through gifts and loans from an entrepreneur’s network of friends and family online, today announced the addition of an innovative Commercial Paper offering.

Commercial Paper is an unsecured Promissory Note to meet short-term liquidity needs. It is a lower cost alternative to a traditional bank line-of-credit (LOC).  Commercial Paper, which has been in existence for over 100 years, is used commonly by large corporations to raise quick and low cost working capital. 40Billion.com is pleased to be able to offer this reputable financing option to small- and mid-sized businesses seeking to borrow $5,000 to $1,000,000 for up to 270 days.

“We see this as a true ‘win-win’ situation for both investors and borrowers,” said Harendra Jani, vice-president of finance, 40Billion.com.  “If you asked entrepreneurs to name the most difficult obstacle to overcome when launching their business, the most common answer is likely to be access to low cost capital.  Providing a venue to access low cost capital has been 40Billion.com’s mission since day one, and the addition of Commercial Paper speaks directly to that mission.”

40Billion.com aims to address a $40 Billion gap in small business and startup funding by providing an online platform for social funding so that more entrepreneurs can have access to affordable business financing through gifts and loans.

40Billion.com helps entrepreneurs:

  • Gain access to needed funding to start and grow their business, with more funding options, and at rates that are lower and more affordable than most alternatives.
  • Formalize the terms of funding in order to reduce the risk of ruining relationships with friends-and-family funders, while building a network and reputation that they can utilize for future funding needs.
  • Take advantage of unique features that are created specifically for entrepreneurs that need to raise money.
  • Find trusted resources and services for their business, such as incorporation or company formation.
  • Acquire customers by offering services to other members on 40Billion.com.

“One of the many effects of the volatile credit market environment of the past few years is severely decreased access to affordable sources of business credit,” said Cornelius McNab, founder and CEO, 40Billion.com. “No segment has been affected more by this than entrepreneurs trying to live out their own version of the American dream.  Today’s entrepreneurs are tomorrow’s employers.  Providing access to capital for entrepreneurs will undoubtedly lead to job creation in the future, and 40Billion.com is proud to play a role in that process.”

About 40Billion.com
40Billion.com, Inc. is the first Internet-based microfinance company serving American small businesses. 40Billion.com’s scalable platform helps entrepreneurs raise funding more affordably through friends and family than through banks or other traditional financial institutions. Using proprietary online tools, entrepreneurs build social networks – including friends, relatives, colleagues, customers, and other contacts – and use these connections to raise capital through small business loans and gifts. Entrepreneurs create fundraising profiles and invite their connections to offer funding in exchange for discounts or potential returns. 40Billion.com, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. For more information, visit http://www.40Billion.com.

Upload and download business plans

Now, you can upload your business plan to your fundraising profile, and let visitors (i.e., potential funders) download your business plan easily with just one click.

In a poll of over 140 people, we found that a good business plan is the #1 most important factor in deciding whether to fund a friend’s or relative’s business.

The best thing you can do as an entrepreneur to increase your chance of success and raise money for your business is to turn your idea into a business plan.

The second best thing you can do is upload your business plan on 40billion.com when you start a Raise.

Grab a widget! Add a custom widget on your website or blog for easier access to your business fundraising profile.

It’s easier than ever before to share and access Raises (business fundraising profiles) all over the Web. Just add a 40billion widget to your own website or blog. Simply copy the embed code and paste it into your website’s code wherever you want the widget to appear.
 
You can grab a widget for any Raise that you have access to on 40billion.com. Just click ”Widgets” at the bottom of the page.
 
Want to try out an example? Visit our sample Raise and then click the Widgets link at the bottom of the page. Copy the code in the box for the widget that you want to use, and paste the code into your website or blog.
It’s just as simple as adding a YouTube video to your website or blog, and it’s FREE.
 

Is the “American dream” dead?

Is the idea of achieving the “American dream” a dying fantasy that is becoming impossible for more and more people? Yes, unfortunately, it is true. There is no doubt that the economy is suffering, and suffering with it is the American dream.

Entrepreneurs can’t afford to start businesses, families can’t afford to buy homes, and students can’t afford to go to college. Wall Street banks don’t seem to care, and the government seems to be paralyzed from the waist down.

But the fact is you don’t need a bank loan in order to build and grow a successful business, just like you don’t need an Ivy League college degree in order to be a successful entrepreneur and businessperson. We have to help ourselves and save our own economy, our own businesses, our American dream.

40billion.com is people funding businesses. Let’s start here!

Want to learn more about 40billion.com and get tips for raising capital through people you know? Sign up for our upcoming webinar and see live demos.

Please join us for an exclusive live product demonstration of the 40billion.com business micro-funding platform. This intimate webinar and demonstration occurs weekly on Thursdays at either 2-3pm or 7-8pm Eastern Time. Reserve your seat for an upcoming webinar below.

40billion.com is the micro-funding platform that helps entrepreneurs raise capital quickly, easily, and affordably through social networking so they can start and grow successful businesses.

The #1 reason why many small businesses fail is lack of adequate funding and access to resources. 40billion.com enables friends, family, and others to form networks, in which they can raise money for businesses, support and invest in businesses, and find resources to build successful businesses.

This live demonstration will share with you all that 40billion.com has to offer and allow you to ask questions of our expert presenters.

Register for a session now by clicking a date below:

Thu, Sep 30, 2010 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

Thu, Oct 7, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Thu, Oct 14, 2010 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

Thu, Oct 21, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration
with information you need to join the Webinar.

To your success,

The 40billion Team

New funding option launched: Commercial Paper short-term business loans for operating expenses

We’ve launched a new, innovative, and exciting addition to our business fundraising platform… Commercial Paper! Commercial Paper is ideal for existing businesses seeking short-term loans of $5,000 up to $1,000,000 for operating expenses or working capital.

Now, 40billion.com offers 3 alternative ways to raise funding for your small business: gifts & donations, private direct loans, and commercial paper short-term loans. Check it out, and start a Raise at http://www.40billion.com/raise_start.asp now.

Raise business capital from the people you know on 40billion.com

To your success,

-The 40billion Team

COMING SOON: Short-term working capital loans, a.k.a. “commercial paper”

Short term business loans coming soon to 40billion.com

We’re busy developing an innovative new product to facilitate short-term “commercial paper” loans for operating expenses. This will be available as a new funding type and a great potential solution to the short-term liquidity problems of millions of existing small businesses in America.

What is commercial paper (CP)?  CP is an unsecured Promissory Note with a fixed maturity of 1 to 270 days. Think of CP as an IOU (i.e., “I owe you”), lasting from a day to nine months. It is issued to investors who have temporary idle cash and want to earn a decent return, perhaps even while helping out a friend/family member’s business with short-term liquidity (i.e., cash) needs to cover operating expenses or current assets.

  • By law, CP can be used to fund operating expenses or current assets only (e.g., buying inventory, making payroll, or other short-term cash needs). It is not used for financing fixed assets such as land, buildings or machinery, which are long-term assets.
  • CP is a quick, easy, and cost-effective way of raising working capital and can be a lower-cost alternative to a Line-Of-Credit (LOC) with a bank.
  • CP has been around since the 19th century and is typically used by big corporations to raise quick and low-cost working capital.

But we’re creating a 21st century version, and never before has CP been offered as a solution for small businesses in the way that we’ll unveil in just a few weeks.  Here’s a clue: It’s like Facebook and eBay for microfinance. Got it?  Stay tuned, and check out 40billion.com for more info and the big launch date!

Introducing the Social Business Rating System, a.k.a. SBRS score, for small businesses and startups!

You may have noticed that there is now a unique score given to each Raise (business fundraising profile) on 40billion.com. This is the SBRS score, where SBRS stands for Social Business Rating System™. It is a proprietary system developed exclusively by 40billion.com to rate businesses based on criteria that really matter for success, not traditional credit scores.

SBRS generates a score for each Raise based on 17 or more criteria, including business-related success measures, entrepreneur profile, peer ratings, and reviews. It is a novel approach to rating businesses that does not exist anywhere else.

The SBRS score helps funders and entrepreneurs to compare business ventures and assess their potential likelihood of success. 850 is the highest possible SBRS score, and scores are updated weekly (not monthly like traditional credit scores).

What can entrepreneurs, small businesses, and startups do to increase their SBRS scores? Start by editing and updating your Raise, editing and updating your personal profile, and increasing your fundraising and social networking activity on the site.

Here are just a few things that may influence your business’ SBRS score and which you can control:

  • % of Raise profile completed — when starting a Raise, be sure to fill in the profile completely and honestly.
  • % of personal profile completed — be sure to fill in your personal profile completely and honestly.
  • # of recommendations received
  • Amount of funding raised
  • # of connections in your social network
  • # of invitations sent to people you know
  • # of followers — i.e., people following your Raise
  • # of Raises you’ve started or participated in
  • # of company updates added to your Raise

So, what is your SBRS score? If it’s currently below 550, then we believe you’ve got some work to do in order to increase your likelihood of success! Start with the tips above, and your SBRS score will grow along with your business over time.

Recommend your favorite entrepreneurs and funders

We recently launched a new feature for giving and receiving recommendations in your social network on 40billion.com. Just click the  ”Recommend” button near the top of anyone’s personal profile page in order to give them a recommendation. You must be connected to that person first.

Here’s how it works in a nutshell:

  • User can recommend a contact on 40billion.com with one click;
  • # of recommendations received is displayed on the contact’s personal profile page;
  • Any user can view the list of recommenders.

Get people you know to recommend you today! Your friends, family, customers, clients, classmates and others may recommend you if you ask them to, especially if it’s as easy as clicking one button.

Recommendations can add credibility and make you stand out from all the rest.

Welcome Brent Wadman, our new VP General Counsel, to the 40billion.com team

We’d like to welcome Brent Wadman, our new General Counsel, to the team!

Brent is a litigator and corporate attorney with more than 11 years of experience. He volunteers substantial time and effort in the entrepreneur community and has created several businesses of his own. Brent has significant experience counseling corporations in IP licensing, litigation, M&A transactions, SEC compliance, corporate governance and general regulatory compliance. He has recently represented corporations before the SEC, State Attorneys General and foreign regulatory agencies.

In his career, Brent has been Assistant General Counsel of infoGroup, Inc., a publicly-traded, $600 million, marketing solutions provider for businesses; attorney and owner of Wadman Law, a corporate litigation boutique concentrating on corporate formation, commercial transactions, government contracting; and, Attorney at Ameritrade, Inc. a publicly-traded, financial services corporation providing online trading and investing, where he concentrated in NASD/FINRA compliance and maintained series 4, 6, 7, 23, 24 and 63 securities licenses.

Brent holds a BA degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and a JD from the University of Tulsa, College of Law.

Grow your social network to over 100 people fast

40billion.com is the social funding network for entrepreneurs and people who support entrepreneurs. Whether you’re starting a business, running a business, funding a business, supporting someone you know who has started a business, or providing services to business owners, this is where you want to be!

It all starts with your social network of friends, relatives, co-workers, classmates, and other people you know. Use your social network to help you raise funding for a business, support businesses seeking funding and resources, and even acquire customers. Your personal profile page is where you can connect with people in your social network and grow your network.

We recommend building a network of at least 100 people. To add people to your network, find people already on 40billion, invite people to join, import your contacts from your email (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, or Outlook), and post to your Facebook page.

The more connections you have in your network, the more you’ll be able to accomplish… and the more fun it will be!

Use our Startup Guides to get your business up-and-running fast

Now you can access our five Startup Guides, and you can download the MP3 audio files and the quick-start templates to help get your business going fast.

Visit http://www.40billion.com/startupguides/ to get these quick and easy Startup Guides today.

In these Startup Guides, you’ll discover useful tips for:

  • Funding your business in 4 ways
  • Writing a business plan in 13 easy steps
  • Forming a company or incorporating
  • Managing your cash flow… so you don’t run out of money
  • Protecting your ideas and intellectual property

Go to http://www.40billion.com/startupguides/, or just click “Startup Guides” from the home page of 40billion.com!

Need to raise more money? Need more time to raise additional funding? Extend your Raise!

Did you know that you can extend your Raise for additional months? Even if your Raise has already ended, you may extend it in order to continue raising funding for your business until you reach your funding target.

To extend your Raise, just go to your account at http://www.40billion.com/my_account.asp, click “Extend” next to the Raise you’d like to extend, and add up to 6 more months of time for only $9.99 per month.

Add more time to your Raise today!

Welcome Dan Pugh, our new Chief Operating Officer, to the 40billion.com team

We’d like to welcome Daniel Pugh, our new COO, to the team!

Dan is a business executive and corporate attorney with more than 16 years of experience leading and advising technology-driven companies and counseling business leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, and venture capital investors. He particularly enjoys working with startups and early-stage ventures and has assisted these companies in all aspects of business including founding, organization, operations, early funding, venture and mezzanine investments, IPOs, public and private M&A transactions, intellectual property development and licensing, joint ventures, corporate governance, and many other areas. Most recently, Dan served as a strategic and project management consultant to the hedge fund Silver Point Capital, as business and legal consultant to Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) and Micro Focus (US), Inc., and as strategy and transactions advisor to numerous private companies and entrepreneurs.

In the role of company legal advisor, Dan has been General Counsel of Synthetic Genomics, Inc., a biotechnology startup focusing on synthetic biology and biofuels research and development, Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel-Corporate of Prism Communication Services, Inc., a broadband telecommunications venture, and Senior Attorney with Arbitron Inc., the media audience and consumer research company. Dan started his career as an Associate in the Corporate Department of the law firm Piper & Marbury L.L.P. (now DLA Piper) representing entrepreneurs and venture capital funds and specializing in venture capital financing, M&A transactions, securities law, and technology licensing. He later was Of Counsel to the firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, working with similar clients and transactions.

Dan holds a BS degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a JD from the University of Maryland School of Law (where he served as Executive Editor of the Maryland Law Review), and an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business.

Introducing direct payments

Now, when you raise money through gifts/contributions on 40billion.com, the payments go directly to your PayPal account (minus applicable PayPal fees), or funders can mail checks directly to your business’ address.

There is no longer a minimum required for you to raise, no waiting period before funds are disbursed, and no fee charged by 40billion.com for this service. That’s right: No minimum, no waiting, no fee!

Start a new Raise now (or edit your current Raise), and invite people you know to make direct payments to help fund your business.

http://www.40billion.com/raise_main.asp

5 tips for approaching friends and family about your business

At 40billion.com, we provide online tools to help small-business and startup entrepreneurs increase access to funding and resources by leveraging their social networks, including friends and family. Here are 5 tips that we give to entrepreneurs to help them approach friends and relatives about their business:

1.  ASK FOR ADVICE & REFERRALS, NOT HANDOUTS

When you approach friends and family about your business, just share your idea in a conversational manner, and ask them for their advice, feedback, or referral. People are usually glad to give you their point-of-view if they think their advice or feedback may be helpful. And, if they really believe in you, they will either offer to help or they’ll be willing to refer you to someone who can help.

2.  FORMALIZE A LOAN OR DISCOUNT

Businesses often get started with a loan from the entrepreneur’s friend or relative, but it can be difficult to manage the relationship, especially if the loan is not formalized with a written agreement. Create a formal loan agreement with details of the loan, including what is owed, when payments are due, and any consequences for missing payments. Even if you’ve promised a discount to your friend or relative in exchange for a loan or referral, put it in writing and provide a discount coupon that can be redeemed. This may significantly reduce the risk of ruining your personal relationship over business.

3.  GIVE A PRESENTATION

Are you serious about your business? Then give a business plan presentation to your friends and family, and show them. This is your chance to display your professionalism and passion, while getting free advice and feedback from people you know. The result could get you closer to the funding, resources, and customers you need to get your business up and running.

4.  POST ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Add a description of your business to social networking websites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn. This easily allows your friends and family to read about what you’re doing and spread the word to other people they know. So, instead of you going to them, they will come to you and ask about your new business.

5.  KEEP IN TOUCH

Be sure to thank your friends and family who supported you or helped you spread the word. Then, be sure to keep the lines of communication open by sending them regular company updates to let them know that their support has been put to good use, and you’re achieving those milestones that you set in your business plan. These communications will go a long way toward maintaining good relationships with your friends-and-family supporters, and they will be more likely to support you again as customers, investors, advisors and advocates.

New business startup guides and templates to get up and running fast

Guess what? We just posted five new audio guides to startup success, and you can download the MP3’s here and listen to them in your iPod, on your computer, or just about anywhere:

http://www.40billion.com/startupguides/

In these quick startup guides, you’ll discover useful tips for:

*  Funding your business through friends & family, angels, banks, and VC’s

*  Writing a business plan in 13 easy steps

*  Forming a company as a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, or corporation

*  Managing cash flow so you don’t run out of money

*  Protecting your ideas and intellectual property through patents, trademarks, copyrights, and NDA’s

The first startup success guide is free for you and each additional guide is only $0.99 here:

http://www.40billion.com/startupguides/

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