Funding / grants / loans for start up

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dave29

Registered User
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Hi all,

I want to start my own web design / development company,

I've been working in the industry for over 12 years and want to start my own thing.

I've never owned a business. I've done loads of freelancing etc but I want something with my own office / and hire a few people.

Obviously this is going to cost money. I don't have the personal finance to fund this and wanted to know what the correct / best road is to go?

Is there funding out there that will cover wages / renting etc until the company can afford to take over?

I know are some grants for startup but not 100% what these grants cover and how much they are

And finally a loan. I've a fear of this as i'm not sure how this works, and while i don't want the company to fail before it even starts all i can think of is if i get a loan to start this and it doesn't take off i'll be left with massive loan on my head.

any advice would be great.

thanks.
 
Enterprise Ireland are only interested if you are operating in the internationally traded goods and services area. If you are looking to service customers in Ireland only then they will not help.
The local enterprise board is your best bet.
You will need to have a business plan and show that you have some sort of financial reserves, they won't fund wages and start up costs. You should look at a Feasibility Study Grant to start with.

Maximum funding will be 50% of expenditure so you have to spend money to get money.
What that mean is that if you get a business loan from a bank then you can apply for a grant for up to half of that amount, depending on what you spend the money on.
Local Enterprise Board funding
Enterprise Ireland Funding

The only up-front money you can get is if you are what EI catagorise as a High Potential Start-up but from what you are saying you don't fit the bill for that.
 
So you want someone else to fund your business but you don't want to take any financial risk yourself? :confused:
 
Andy836 said:
So you want someone else to fund your business but you don't want to take any financial risk yourself? :confused:
Click to expand...
Not getting paid while you start it is a financial risk and if it works he'll pay it all back in taxes and then some.
I do agree that you shouldn't start a business if you aren't willing to put skin in the game.
 
Andy836 said:
So you want someone else to fund your business but you don't want to take any financial risk yourself? :confused:
Click to expand...

That's a really useful comment to make to someone setting out to build a business.......

I think you'll find that the reason people look to external sources for funding is usually because they don't have any or an insufficient amount of their own.

To the OP: the other advice is sound. The only thing I'd add is:

- jumping through the various hoops involved in getting support from the likes of EI can be a real distraction from the real business
- best source of funding is company sales to customers: start selling (something) as early as possible and minimise costs (no need for external office at day one for example, these can be rented by the hour/day/month as needed)

Best of luck!
 
Ignore Enterprise Ireland at this stage, you're not in scope for them

Go and talk to your LEO as a previous poster indicated. They will give you good advice and potentially a mentor to assist you as well. They also do good courses and provide excellent net working opportunities. Note that some element of any grant aid may be refundable.
 
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