Forgive potential investors for being skeptical of tossing you their spare change for your business proposition in this post-Madoff world. Banks aren’t exactly waving small-business loans in your face these days either, so what’s someone with a great new business idea to do?

The Big Money is here to help with a how-to guide on Reuters about scrounging up financing for a start-up.

The author is Jonathan Weber, who has been raising funds to expand NewWest.net. He says venture capital and initial public offerings are so hard to come by these days that you may be better off just begging your rich uncle for money:

Former colleagues or mentors can often be excellent prospects; good angels are usually invested in you as much as your business plan. I’ve also found that angels are very sensitive to who else is a part of the deal, so if you can get one person with a good reputation to sign on, it will be a much easier road from there. A pretty common level of commitment for an experienced angel investor is $25,000 to $50,000, though some angels will do as much as several hundred thousand.

Using your own credit to secure loans and hitting up state and local small business development organizations are also options.

Or you could always just panhandle like the guy in the photo. What he lacks in college sports team tastes he makes up for with a concise, effective pitch, a winning personality and a compelling business proposition.

The ABCs of Raising Money [Reuters]
(Photo: scentzilla)

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