Just because the venture capitalists, angel investors and banks have rejected your application for funding, doesn’t mean you should give up. Entrepreneurs around the world are forced to come up with inventive ways of raising cash to get their businesses up and running.
One of these is Mark Bello, founder of Pizza a Casa located in New York. Bello had been giving pizza classes around the city and in his own apartment in Chinatown for five years before he decided to literally set up shop. He opened his ‘pizza self-sufficiency centre’ where he teaches people to make their own pizzas in four hour lessons. Recognising that his is a niche business, Bello notes that more and more people are willing to pay to learn to cook at home.
Lightbulb Moment
Bello opened on a shoestring budget. He had some money from a furniture business he started when he was younger. He took on a lot of the construction work and refined his bartering skills with suppliers. He presented his business plan to the Viking appliance company and persuaded it to donate equipment to his business, resulting in a massive saving in the start-up stage.