Capital

Money is also called capital or cash.

Why it matters:

• Money is important because it gives you to freedom to do what you want without jeopardizing the basics of life. A life without sufficient money can leads to powerlessness or ruthlessness.
• It is the most liquid form of leverage that can be converted into other forms of leverage. For example, you can hire people with Labor and Judgment, or Buy your way in to a Owned Network, etc.
• In-hand cash allows you to Build multiple entry and exit options.
• Failure to manage Cashflow leads to Risk of Ruin.

How to get capital to do business:

Below are the ways to get capital:

• Inherit it.
• Earn it. This is a deterministic path but it takes too long. Eventually, you’ll bootstrap a Profitable business and own 100% of the company.
• Borrow it from banks is generally a low probability, high risk option.
• Raise it from six sources:
• Friends and family usually invest in your idea not because they want to profit from it, but because they want to be enablers.
• Crowdfunding works well for opportunities for which good product-market fit already exists. It allows you to sell an idea to an audience prior to building it out.
• Often media startups do not generate high returns. Awards and grants are a good way to raise risk capital: risk-free money to try out the startup and see if it scales.
• After you have launched, join accelerators, to scale up quickly. Preferably seek support from accelerators who specialize in helping media startups.
• Look for high net-worth individuals or angel investors, who are invested in the idea or cause.
• Venture capitalists invest into companies in exchange for equity. They are usually hugely invested in the growth of the venture. Most for-profit VC money is looking for 30% year-on-year growth. However, most media businesses cannot provide that kind of returns.

Footnotes:

• Naval Ravikant
• The Narrow Road, Felix Dennis