第1章 Praise for Raise Capital on Your Own Terms

“This is a crucial, powerful resource for businesses that need money to make their dreams come true. There are so many investors out there who are looking to move money off Wall Street and into their community. Jenny shows you how to connect with them so you can build a better world together!”

—Kate Poole, Founding Member and Leader, Regenerative Finance

“An insightful, practical, enriching book for entrepreneurs and organizations looking to build their businesses without venture capitalists. A much-needed alternative voice for entrepreneurs!”

—Aner Ben-Ami, Managing Director, Candide Group

“Raise Capital on Your Own Terms is a perfect motto that speaks directly to entrepreneurs. We have all that we need to create a better business funding system, and Jenny lays out the path forward.”

—Vicki Saunders, founder of SheEO

“Jenny Kassan's new book turns the way entrepreneurs should look for capital upside down. It is a book for any entrepreneur, but especially mission-driven ones.”

—Alicia Robb, PhD, founder and CEO, Next Wave, and Managing Partner, Next Wave Impact Fund

“Jenny Kassan is an expert on raising capital from friends, customers, and community and a leader at creating terms of investment that work for everyone.”

—Morgan Simon, author of Real Impact

“Jenny Kassan is the go-to small business advisor. With this book, she shares her proven strategy for helping businesses raise capital on their own terms, in alignment with their values, by guiding them to finding like-minded, supportive investors.”

—Kristin B. Hull, PhD, Director, Nia Community Fund

“Jenny Kassan's book is both inspirational and practical. It is inspirational because it lifts the shroud of mystery over raising capital, and it is practical because she walks the reader through the process in well-written, bite-sized chunks. This is a must-read for those new to raising capital as well as many who may think they are ‘old hands'!”

—Vince Siciliano, CEO, New Resource Bank

“This should be the Bible for entrepreneurs building a small business. It makes the daunting task of raising capital easy to navigate through clear and detailed advice and innovative legal options and ownership models. These proven strategies from a national expert can empower everyone with a business plan while helping evolve capitalism into something more conscious and regenerative.”

—Michael Kramer, Managing Partner, Natural Investments, and coauthor of The Resilient Investor

“A major problem plagues the entrepreneurial sphere. Many of the best businesses don't reach their potential because they've not been empowered with information about how to raise capital in a way aligned with their own vision and goals. This book is a solution to that problem. It's an invaluable and groundbreaking resource that I would recommend to all entrepreneurs to expand their thinking and develop their unique right approach to raising capital. We have needed this book for a very long time, and now it is here.”

—Tara Mohr, author of Playing Big

“The process of raising money often dehumanizes both sides. Jenny Kassan outlines a path that allows business owners to retain their integrity and raise capital on their own terms and investors to support the real value created by business owners. A more local, more grounded, more connected kind of economy is what the legal techniques described in this book guide us toward. This is the kind of world I want to work for. I am glad to be in her orbit.”

—Kevin Jones, cofounder of Socap, Good Capital, and Neighborhood Economics

“Jenny Kassan fulfills a desperate need for entrepreneurs seeking capital. Her book addresses the emotional, psychological, and practical barriers to seeking funds in an interconnected and easy-to-understand way. I can't recommend this book enough.”

—Nikki Silvestri, founder and CEO, Soil and Shadow

“I'm so excited about this book! Jenny Kassan has been at the forefront of community capital, and readers could not find a better coach, mentor, and guide to this innovative way of raising capital. Prepare to have your old notions of how to raise capital turned upside down!”

—Amy Cortese, author of Locavesting