SBA 7(a)
Up to $5 million guaranteed, with 10-year maturities for working capital and equipment and 25 years for real estate. Every owner at 20% equity or more signs a personal guarantee; expect 30-90 days end to end.
How small businesses get funded
Eight routes account for most small business and early startup money: four loan programs, federal grants, two kinds of crowdfunding, and equity from angels or seed funds. Each has a hard ceiling, a real cost, and one eligibility condition that decides you in or out before anyone reads your plan. This page lines them up side by side, then walks the two procedures founders ask about most: the SBA 7(a) application and the federal grant clock.
Start at the gate, not the form
Scroll the strip sideways — 6 cards.
Up to $5 million guaranteed, with 10-year maturities for working capital and equipment and 25 years for real estate. Every owner at 20% equity or more signs a personal guarantee; expect 30-90 days end to end.
A ceiling of $50,000 with average approvals around $13,000-14,000. Repayment terms run up to 6 years. Built for the smallest capital needs.
Fixed-asset financing with a debenture capped at $5 million per business. The conventional split: 50% bank, 40% CDC, 10% borrower down payment.
Phase I funds 6-12 months of feasibility work at $250,000-300,000; Phase II funds about two years of development at $1-2 million. Neither phase takes equity.
All-in costs run about 8-10% — roughly 5% platform plus 3-5% processing — over campaigns of 1-60 days. On Kickstarter, missing the goal means keeping nothing.
Angel checks run $25,000-100,000, assembling rounds of $150,000-1 million. Seed VC rounds raise $1-3 million and typically cost 10-20% of the company.
Every route runs on a published clock; the ones above are fixed by program rules, not by how hard an applicant pushes.
| Funding route | Maximum amount | Cost or equity given up | Known timeline | Deciding condition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SBA 7(a) loan | Up to $5 million | Interest; no equity | Decision in 7-10 business days; closing in 30-90 days | Personal guarantee from every owner with 20%+ equity |
| SBA microloan | $50,000; average approval $13,000-14,000 | Interest; no equity | Repayment up to 6 years | Sized for the smallest capital needs |
| SBA 504 loan | $5 million debenture | 10% borrower down payment | Finances fixed assets | 50% bank, 40% CDC, 10% borrower structure |
| USDA B&I loan | $25 million | Interest; guarantee covers up to 80% | — | Rural area with population under 50,000 |
| SBIR/STTR grant | Phase I $250,000-300,000; Phase II $1-2 million | No repayment, no equity | Phase I 6-12 months; Phase II about 2 years | Active SAM.gov registration and Grants.gov submission |
| Regulation CF | $5 million per 12 months | Securities sold to investors | Investor caps of 5-10% of income or net worth | Must run through a registered platform |
| Rewards crowdfunding | Set by the campaign goal | About 8-10% in fees | Campaigns of 1-60 days | All-or-nothing on Kickstarter: miss the goal, keep nothing |
| Angel / seed equity | Angel rounds $150,000-1 million; seed $1-3 million | 10-20% of the company at seed | Angel checks of $25,000-100,000 each | Investors take permanent ownership |
The right route is decided by four numbers: how much you need, what it costs, whether you give up ownership, and how fast it arrives.
Loans fit businesses that can service debt and want to keep ownership. The SBA 7(a) program guarantees loans up to $5 million with maturities of 10 years for working capital and equipment and 25 years for real estate; microloans cover needs up to $50,000, with average approvals of about $13,000-14,000 repaid over as long as 6 years.
Grants fit research-heavy startups and rural expansion. SBIR/STTR awards run in two phases — up to $250,000-300,000 for 6-12 months of feasibility work, then $1-2 million over about two years of development — and take no equity. USDA Business & Industry guaranteed loans reach $25 million, but only for businesses in rural areas under 50,000 people.
Equity fits companies that can trade ownership for scale. Angels write checks of $25,000-100,000 each, assembling rounds of $150,000-1 million; seed venture rounds raise $1-3 million in exchange for 10-20% of the company.
Each program carries one condition that decides eligibility before your plan is ever read; find yours first.
For SBA 7(a) loans the gate is the personal guarantee: every owner holding 20% or more of the equity must sign one. If a co-owner refuses, the application stops there, regardless of revenue.
For Regulation CF crowdfunding the gate is the platform: the raise — up to $5 million in any 12-month period — must run through a registered portal, and non-accredited investors are capped at 5% of the greater of their income or net worth, rising to 10% once that figure passes $124,000.
For federal grants the gate is registration: a free SAM.gov account that takes 1-3 weeks to activate must be live before anything goes through Grants.gov. The USDA gate is geographic — a population under 50,000 where the business operates.
This reference was compiled from published program documentation — SBA loan program rules, USDA Business & Industry guidelines, SEC Regulation CF, SBIR/STTR solicitation terms, and platform fee schedules. Routes were compared on four axes: maximum amount, cost or equity, time to money, and the eligibility condition that decides each one. No applications are accepted here, and no figure is an estimate of any individual business's chances.
Where the numbers come from
All figures trace to published program materials: SBA 7(a), 504, and microloan terms; USDA B&I program rules; SEC Regulation CF; SBIR/STTR agency solicitations; and crowdfunding platform fee schedules.