Helping Women Raise Seed Capital

Even as women compose half of the American workforce, they still encounter difficulties. For female entrepreneurs, raising the seed capital needed to start a business can prove especially problematic.

"Studies have shown that, historically, women entrepreneurs have more difficulty raising capital from traditional sources than men," says Timothy Hogan, CEO of Commonwealth Capital Advisors, an investment banking advisory firm.

Statistics show that while women start new businesses twice as often as men, they receive only 2 percent of America's venture capital. Women own 36 percent of the nation's businesses but receive only 22 percent of small-business loans.

Some businesses are working to create services that will help the growing number of female-owned businesses raise the capital they need to succeed. For example, Commonwealth Capital Advisors has created its Financial Architect software, which makes capital-raising tools, like private placement or limited public securities offerings, for business owners who would normally struggle to access traditional forms of financing.

"Women entrepreneurs and business owners no longer have to rely on the 'old boys' network for capital obtained from traditional financial institutions, such as venture capitalist and investment banks," says Hogan. "With a direct offering of securities, they avoid the need to be 'qualified' by traditional sources of venture capital."

The Financial Architect software helps to quickly and inexpensively produce a "Marketable Deal Structure" and the required securities-offering document. Management teams can raise capital from friends, family and professional contacts, as well as accredited investors and smaller financial institutions.

Women should raise ample seed capital to launch a larger development or expansion-capital-raising effort successfully. According to Hogan, "this process has become far more affordable because these entrepreneurs can complete the required documents with the use of Financial Architect, for legal counsel review, at a fraction of the traditional costs."

To learn how you can raise capital with this new patent-pending system and download a complementary copy of the abridged edition e-Book entitled "The Secrets of Wall Street -; Raising Capital for Start-up and Early Stage Companies," visit www.CommonwealthCapital.com/members/4750n