Sometimes it Takes a Village to Fund a Company - Entrepreneurs Get Creative with Sourcing Funds

Plenty of entrepreneurs are turning to their communities for support in these tricky times. As the recession wreaks havoc on America's economy, finding the money to launch, expand or even just sustain a small business is often a struggle. In the second quarter of 2009, venture capital funds raised the smallest amount since the third quarter of 2003, according to the National Venture Capital Association in Arlington, Va. Banks continue to pull credit lines and credit cards from many small businesses. Even proprietors who are willing to extract capital from their homes -- often their biggest personal asset - can't always do so, because the declining housing market has left so many homeowners underwater.
But entrepreneurs are resourceful, and as the economic crisis forces them to seek new sources of capital, a growing number appear to be finding money in their own backyards. After all, local customers have a personal incentive to invest in their favorite businesses. And while no one is officially tracking the trend, anecdotal evidence suggests that the practice is growing.

John Halko was halfway through renovating an expanded space for Comfort, his mostly organic eatery in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., when the credit crisis hit. His source of funding -- a home-equity line -- ran out, so he applied for a loan at a local bank. He was turned down.
Halko wasn't ready to throw in the dish towel. His solution? The modern equivalent of an old-fashioned barn raising. Instead of soliciting neighbors to lift timbers, he asked them to open their wallets. For every $500 they purchased in "Comfort Dollars," his patrons received a $600 credit toward meals at the restaurant. As the community rallied around Comfort, Halko says, "it gave us hope." He raised $25,000 in six months, and the new, larger space - now called Comfort Lounge -- opened for business in May.

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What is your Idea Worth? -- Matchmaking for Companies

A federally funded online service helps small manufacturers find inventors with new technologies - and estimate their worth.

Process Equipment Co. had a fine history of innovation. Founded in 1946 by Emmert Studebaker, a member of the famous car-making family, PECo sold laser welders and other specialized equipment to GM and other manufacturers. That brought in dependable revenues of $40 million a year.

But demand for PECo's products dropped as GM declined, and last year the Tipp City, Ohio-based firm was forced to lay off a third of its employees. More cuts would come unless PECo could figure out how to adapt its machines to other industries.

Hiring a research firm to do the job would cost $100,000 -- way out of PECo's price range. Now, for just $2,000, PECo can turn to the USA National Innovation Marketplace. In May the Department of Commerce's Manufacturing Extension Partnership teamed up with entrepreneur Doug Hall to offer the service to small businesses. Hosted at Hall's Web site, Planet Eureka, the marketplace matches inventors with manufacturers.

It's too soon to say whether such matchmaking will work in the small company world. But the National Innovation Marketplace has no shortage of ideas waiting to be picked up. Among them: a food packaging film made from edible soy protein, said to help protect ready-to-eat food from dangerous bacteria; a drug designed to prevent and cure osteoporosis in a single dose (the research predicts that commercialization will take up to 10 years); and a "supersaver dream sander" that eliminates dust when sanding drywall.

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