SPONSORED BY THE INC. 5000 HONOREES WHOSE PROFILES APPEAR IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES
YOU KNOW THIS: There are no million-dollar business ideas that don’t need at least a few bucks to get started. Those bucks might come in the form of bootstrapping, cashing out your savings, confident relatives, or even VCs—but one way or another, you don’t get from idea to satisfied customer without investment of some kind easing the way.
And the need for money isn’t just to start. Scaling isn’t cheap either. There’s more staff, and more marketing, and more development and systems and inventory, and so much more. That requires more. Money, that is.
No surprise that some 40 percent of the already successful Inc. 5000 are on the lookout for funding.
So, whether it’s for the next month or the next five years, a smart founder needs to constantly understand how and where to find the necessary dollars—and how to deploy them wisely. There is one thing you can do that’ll help. Because so many other entrepreneurs have had to contend with this business problem, and because we at Inc. know from entrepreneurs, all you have to do is turn the page. No, you won’t find a blank check. But you will find a collection of the best tips, advice, and inspiration from founders who got it right. Read on for what you might call the money quotes.
Bert Jacobs
Co-founder
LIFE IS GOOD
“One of the things we did in the beginning that’s very effective, and I don’t see enough companies doing, was go to our supply chain. We went to local screen printers and said, ‘We don’t have any money, but we have really good ideas. Here’s some great artwork. Will you front us 144 T-shirts?’ And some took a risk. We paid them back, with a little extra, pretty quickly, hoping that they would then lend us 500 T-shirts. And they did. And then the 500 T-shirts became 5,000 T-shirts.”
Boston-based lifestyle brand Life is Good now has a reported $100 million in annual sales.
01 | Cherie Hoeger
Co-founder and CEO
SAALT
“Saalt started as a side hustle that was selffunded and supplemented with SB A loans to fund inventory purchases. We worked out of my husband’s real estate office. We reached profitability in our second year of business and have been able to maintain that profitability and fund growth through reinvested earnings. Budgets are still tight, but taking the self-funded route affords a lot of peace of mind, and we don’t have to answer to investors beyond ourselves.”
Hoeger co-founded the Boise, Idaho, period-care company in 2018. In three years it has reached eight figures in sales.
02 | Simon Taylor
Co-founder and CEO
HYCU
“Don’t rush into raising if you don’t have to. Waiting can be a major advantage. Focus on where you want the business to go before gauging how much gas to put in the tank. Take time
