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Ask HN: best way to get $10k in 2mths?

9 points by FrozenMind ↗ HN
Throwaway acct for obvious reasons; been on HN for a while now.

Been trudging along on a startup for a few mths, (still in development). Long story short; got into startup chile but from all accounts, I'll need 10k to fully access the 40k allowance (because it is given as reimbursement after the fact). Prob is, I'm dead broke with no other job or any savings left. I've been trying to think of the most efficient way to raise $$ but my mind keeps freezing with panic. I've tried finding short term contracts unsuccessfully. All I've come up with is working at retail stores for the holidays which wouldn't make enough. I'm of business background and although I can do basic web dev for my startup, (+worked in non-web IT firm before) I'm not a developer.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

10 comments

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patio11
Friends and family loan? If I were in your shoes, I'd talk to my gainfully employed brother or that uncle who once told me that living abroad was the most important thing he ever did and that I had options if the scholarship fell through (it didn't).

Assuming you're a middle class American, many people you know have $10k sitting around somewhere.

pajju
Isn't there any other way to be in the valley? There is yc, but apart from that I can't think of anything else.
FrozenMind
I don't "want to be in the valley" (although I'm not opposed); I want to build a company by whatever means.
FrozenMind
Thanks, I'm trying to structure how to approach F&F circle without burning bridges. Because although I'm optimistic about my startup, I know it could go either way (up/down) or at least take longer than expected to bloom, so I don't want to falsely promise "I will repay by X date".

Also, anyone whom I think may have close to 10k is probably in terms of assets (eg house), not sitting in accts, plus they have expenses (mortgage, family, etc).

SHOwnsYou
I think you're underestimating the ability to raise money from F&F.

First, I'm sure you have friends with lots of cash, but the beauty is that you don't need 10k from one person -- You could get 1k from 10 people.

corkill
2 credit cards with 5k limit each.

Do you own any other assets. Car etc, sell those. Even random stuff around your house can probably raise a few thousand.

FrozenMind
No assets (like car/house) to speak of. Getting rid of old laptop and few things but expecting only few hundred dollars back.

I've thought about credit cards but assumed I couldn't get them because I have no official income?

setzer
I'm probably going to get downvoted here, but they usually do not verify income (or anything really) for credit card applications in the US.

(As a college student I just used my parents' incomes, using a broad interpretation of "household income")

willpower101
Nope. This is good advice. Although some have become aware of this in the last year or so and started cracking down in it requiring verification after approval. I learned everything about this from reading the forums at http://www.creditboards.com
willpower101
This might sound crazy but could you come up with a way to ask for the money on kickstarter.com and repay everyone with interest as soon as you get the allowance? I'm not sure how your allowance works or how fast the turn around but you would only need 500 people to spare 20 bucks.