A different Kauffman report says eighty-three per cent never touched a bank loan or venture capital at all, that around sixty-five per cent ran on personal and family savings, and that roughly one in ten was carrying a balance on a personal credit card. A study out of the Tinbergen Institute counts it differently again. Four per cent venture capital, three per cent angel, fifty-five per cent personal savings, twelve per cent family and friends.

From I Want to Start a Business but I Don't Have Money, chapter 1: The data that destroys the "need money" myth

Kauffman looked at high-growth firms and reported sixty-seven per cent starting on personal savings, thirteen per cent bootstrapping, eight per cent taking angel money and seven per cent taking venture capital. Add those up. Ninety-five. Five per cent of the sample is simply unaccounted for, and nobody tells you where it went.

From I Want to Start a Business but I Don't Have Money, chapter 1: The data that destroys the "need money" myth

Your "after" would look different from mine, because your savings, your field, your family and your country are different. But I think it would have the same kind of pieces in it: a hard stretch, a way of earning money, a cost that isn't only financial, and a choice about whether to try again. You can't know the details in advance. You can know that the shape has pieces, and that none of them is a black screen.

From I Want to Start a Business but I'm a Coward, chapter 6: What happened to the people it happened to

These passages come straight from the books. So, if one of them speaks to you, read the full chapter. It goes further, and it ends with a practical exercise.

In addition, these titles look at how to get money to start a business from different angles. Each one opens with a passage from the book. Then, pick the one closest to your situation.

• The Service to Product Pivot: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• Money You Did Not Know Existed: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• The Growth Loop: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• How Many Days You Have Left: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent: I Want to Start a Business but I Don't Have Money
• I Want to Start a Business but I Don't Have Money: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start: What Counts as Started, and How to Get There
• I Don't Have Money: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent

Start with what you already have. Pick one, and you get a first step that costs nothing and gets you paid before you spend.

What I already have

A skill people ask me forPeople who trust meSomething I own and barely useA few free hours a week

Show my first step.

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Finally, I Want to Start a Business but I Don't Have Money goes deeper into how to get money to start a business. Therefore, it is the natural next step. You can read it or listen to it in the stores below. It is also available in 19 languages.

Go to the book page. All topics.

• How to start a business.Diego Segura's books begin somewhere else: with a small test you can run this week, a first paying customer, and costs kept close to zero.
• Business ideas.Lists of business ideas are everywhere, but a list can't tell you which idea fits you.
• Online business ideas.Online business ideas look easy because the tools are cheap.
• Low risk business ideas.These passages show how to limit the downside, so that fear doesn't decide for you.