Startup: Where to find money?

90% of startups fail. This is a banal statistic, the reasons for which can be sought in the startup founder's weak management skills, misunderstanding of the market, etc. It's worse when a significant portion of these "projects of the future" begins building their empire with pocket money saved from lunches in college/university.Let's start with the fact that any project can be broken down into stages, and funding sources are chosen based on the stage of project development: - Seed - product development - Startup - product launch - Early growth - market penetration - Expansion stage - development - MaturityIn the first two stages, the project typically does not generate revenue, which means finding funding is very difficult. Revenue appears by the middle of the third stage, but due to the difficulties of the seed and startup stages, not all great projects make it that far. Therefore, let's focus on finding money at the initial stages.Seed stage: This is precisely the stage when the product is not yet launched and prototype development is underway. High risks + absence of a product and precise metrics lead to the fact that funding activities must come from one's own pocket. Investors can certainly be found, but most likely, they will be people referred to as FFF. FFF (https://buduysvoe.com/ru/publications/gde-dengi-lebovski-istochnik-finansirovaniya-friends-family-fools-fff-3f) — Friends, Family, Fools (inexperienced investors who do not understand the risks associated with investments). As an option, you can consider university grants and seed funds. Sponsorship from funds will require meeting certain conditions: registration of a legal entity; a formed team; presence of a clear concept, development plan, and prototype. Only a small fraction of SEED stage projects meet these requirements.Startup stage: The product already exists, a target market has been identified, and the project concept is defined. At this stage, the project is no longer something ephemeral, and the entrepreneur already has something to present to external investors. Various funding options appear:Innovation development ecosystems: business incubators, accelerators, tech parks. This is, perhaps, the most ideal option. It allows obtaining both financial and expert assistance at all subsequent stages. Of course, Kazakhstan is far from Silicon Valley, but recently business incubators have started appearing here as well: MOST, NURIS, Astana HUB, TechGarden, and others.Competitions. There are many options here: local, regional, international, and industry-specific. It is important to carefully monitor information about the launch of preliminary stages. New competitions usually arise with irregular frequency. Here are a few examples of regular competitions: BCG Idea Challenge (http://bcgideachallenge.com/), National Innovation Competition, AQMOLA POWER, and others. Note that selections for most competitions start at the beginning of the year.Business angels are private investors who invest in innovative projects at early stages. The main goal: selling their share in the company after a few years, thereby receiving income several times greater than the initial investment. In this type of funding, there are certain nuances: first, it is difficult to find and convince an angel; second, such investors usually built their wealth in other fields and are not well-versed in innovative activities.Grants. This type of funding is largely similar to obtaining funds through competitions. For example, on the QazTech Ventures website, you can find information about 3 grants in different directions. A significant niche is occupied by state grants.There are other sources of funding (venture funds, loans, private equity funds, strategic partnerships, and stock markets), but they are optimal for subsequent stages of project development.