The different types of funding could be grouped in 4 main categories depending on the stage your business is at:
Stage 1: Pre-seed funding
This is the time when you are exploring your concept and validating your idea. The sources you might consider at this point are FFF (friends, fools and family), grants, loans, crowdfunding, bootstrapping, angel investors and some early-stage venture capital funds (VCs).
Stage 2: Seed funding & early-stage funding
This is the time when you are building your product and working with your go-to-market strategies. At this stage, the focus shifts from investment (which is the most typical financial instrument for a startup) towards VCs.
Stage 3: Series A/B
This is the time when you are typically raising money for growth and expansion. This means you have a product with proven potential and a market that is ready to expand. These are the stages when numbers start to play a bigger role in the evaluation of the companies done by potential investors.
Stage 4: Series C and beyond, Merger&Acquisition, IPO
When your company is mature, you can continue looking for venture capital funding, turn towards private equity investors, corporate buyers or even consider doing an initial public offering (IPO).
This information was part of the SASSI LLC training materials. If you want to learn more, visit the Guide to becoming an Olderpreneur on the SASSI Hub.
