What are some unorthodox methods for borrowing money to start a business?

Question

Don't waste your time or mine by answering with "borrow from family" or "go to your bank", etc.

I have a few ideas for businesses that I would like to start, but it seems like every avenue I explore to borrow money turns out to be a dead end. Forget about borrowing from banks and family. What are some less than common borrowing methods I can consider? I checked with the SBA, they no longer lend money, and the only grants they can assist you in getting seem to be for environmental causes. I checked into numerous venture capital companies, but they all seem to be interested only in information technology ventures. I've considered forming a private corporation and selling stock in it to private investors, but I don't know if I'd be able to find enough investors. Also, I'm afraid I'd the investors would be breathing down my neck all the time and trying to tell me how to run the corporation. Anyone have any worthwhile thoughts on all of this?

I am not interested in prosper.com. Please refrain from answering with referral links to this or anything else. Anything that you'll profit from if I sign up, I'm not interested, so don't waste your time or mine. Thank you.

No more answers like the one from the ignorant dolt who posted the 3rd answer below. "I know someone who was helped by this lender, or I was helped by so and so, or I'll lend you the money - I'm an accredited lender". You people know who you are. Rather, I should say, you SCAMMERS and CON ARTISTS know who you are, and I see right through you, so don't waste your time, or what is infinitely more important, MINE.

Answer 1

You have covered all the normal methods except maybe a HELOC or selling things to raise capital.
Depending on the type of business you may be able to have your customers finance the business. Say you wanted to start a janitorial firm and you had been cleaning buildings for another firm so had the experience but no equipment. You could find customers and get them to buy the equipment and lease it to you deducting the payments from your fees.
Another method is to buy out the company you work for on a contract paying payments out of current proceeds. This is pretty common in CPA firms since the buyer must be a CPA and a one working there has a relationship with clients.

Answer 2

You might want to consider trying out this >

http://www.prosper.com/referrals/all.aspx?referrer=snigglefritz&utm_source=referrer-snigglefritz&utm_medium=referral-link&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=referrals-all


I hope it helps! Good luck!