Entrepreneurs looking for start-up funding from friends and family may have a tough time doing it these days, according to a new study out of Pepperdine University.
According to The Wall Street Journal, just 35 percent of entrepreneurs polled said they had “informal investors” funding their businesses, down from 56 percent last spring.
The most glaring reason for the drop in family funding is that the recession has made it more difficult for entrepreneurs to pay those loans back, and entrepreneurs are, therefore, less likely to ask just anyone for the money.
One Brooklyn-based entrepreneur discussed taking a $5,000 loan from his father with the Journal. He said, “I feel like I’ve dipped into his rainy day fund…If he were to have trouble with his car or the roof of his house, this is the money he’d put toward that.”
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