The Funding Trap

Here's how it usually plays out:

1. You do the numbers and work out you need £150,000 to start 2. You have £80,000 of your own money (savings, redundancy, remortgage) 3. The bank says no, or offers you £30,000 at 8% 4. You either go to a crowdfunding campaign (months of work, uncertain outcome) or an alternative lender (expensive money with harsh terms) 5. You cobble together enough to start, but you're undercapitalised from day one 6. Being undercapitalised means you can't buy the equipment you need, can't market properly, can't absorb the inevitable slow months 7. You need more money, but now you're a struggling business asking for money, which is harder than being a new business asking for money 8. The cycle from Chapter 15 kicks in

Most breweries don't fail because the beer is bad. They fail because they were underfunded from the start and could never catch up.