Startup Grant for New Entrepreneurs: Intuit Contest

If you are thinking of starting a business and looking for startup funds, you may want to try your luck in the ""Just Start" campaign of Intuit, makers of the accounting software Quickbooks. The grand prize is $50,000 in cash

Here's the description of the contest from the Intuit website www.IWillJustStart.com

Intuit Just Start Contest ... is a skill contest in which participants can submit ideas on how they would resign from their job and what dreams they have for starting their own company for a chance to win the Grand Prize of $50,000 in cash and consulting services ($40,000 in cash & $10,000 in consulting and service fees) or one of two First Prizes of $5,000 cash. Entry to the Contest is free. The Contest begins 12:00:01 a.m. Pacific Time (PT) on October 9, 2007 and ends 11:59:59 p.m. PT on December 15, 2007

In order to join, you must either submit a 2-minute video or a 250-words essay answering these questions:

• What’s your idea for starting your own company?
• What you will resign from?
• What you would do with the winning to pursue starting a business?
• OR if you have already started your own company, please describe your experiences getting started in your entry and also answer the question, What did you resign from?

You may also be interested in downloading their free accounting software QuickBooks Simple Start 2008 at http://www.simplestart.com/.

Warning Against Grant Scams

I just responded to an email sent by a visitor asking about government grants and whether he can get one to start his business. This is a common question that I suppose is on a lot of people's minds. Even on Yahoo Answers where I am the #1 in the Business and Finance category, this is my bread-and-butter question (or where I get most of my best answers) as there are a lot of people asking this question day in and day out.

The Small Business Administration even included the question of whether there are grants for starting or expanding a business in the Most Requested Items section in their website http://www.sba.gov/mostrequesteditems/CON_FAQ2.html

"The U.S. Small Business Administration does not offer grants to start or expand small businesses, although it does offer a wide variety of loan programs. (See
http://www.sba.gov/financing for more information) While SBA does offer some grant programs, these are generally designed to expand and enhance organizations that provide small business management, technical, or financial assistance. These grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments."

You may also want to read the warnings FTC has issued against these "grant" companies:

• http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/03/grantresources.htm
• http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt134.htm

Here is also one of the warnings issued by the Better Business Bureau http://www.concord.bbb.org/tips_timesharescams.html

If you want information on grants, the only places to go are government websites: the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov/ and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov/ - these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the CFDA listings and see if you can find any grant that would support a for-profit venture. Once you find the grant where you can qualify, go to Grants.gov and download the application form of the relevant grant. You will be asked the CFDA number of the grant.

When you hear or see offers of companies promising to give you grants, treat it with a grain of salt and be very skeptical about it. Uncle Sam does not call or email or write to people to tell that they can get grant money. I have previously written about grants at http://www.powerhomebiz.com/guide/cases/shirleyisabel.htm