Paintbrush — $50k funding at the idea stage - yes, really

A shoutout from the PH OG @rrhoover! Honestly, the biggest surprise has been the size of the demand, I came at this from a mindset of alternative funding, but it's mindboggling how many new businesses are created every day with no capitalization path. Weekend Fund is making a small dent :), but the reality is that non-VC backable companies are the vast majority >99% of new businesses and there isn't a bank or fintech that offers them anything to get off the ground.

@stephen_walter5 @rrhoover Product hunt temporarily smothered our site! Our form is back up for anyone who wants to get started on their journey. Thanks so much—you all really are the best! https://getpaintbrush.com/get-st...

@rrhoover @stephen_walter5 I'm interested in how well this goes actually. Not sure if you saw the news, but there may be state funds to supplement your efforts. https://home.treasury.gov/system...

@rrhoover @tammy_petro1 That's awesome!

@jas801 Thanks for checking us out! We would love to offer this internationally, and hopefully we will be able to at some point! Right now we're partnered with an amazing sponsor bank, Continental Bank, to make these loans possible, and their license is based in the US, so we are only able to lend within the US. Also worth noting you do not have to be a full US citizen however to be able to receive the loan—as long as you are a resident with a US social security number, you will meet that part of the criteria.

Thanks so much for hunting us @joedmarti, and thanks to the ProductHunt community for the support! Starting a business is easier than ever, but getting money to start a new business is still impossibly hard. We wanted a way for startups to get capital on day 0 — no revenue, no product, just an idea — and that’s exactly what we’ve built. What it is:

Application you can fill out in 10 minutes

Automated approvals or declines

Next-day bank funding for $50,000

5-year term loan (low monthly payments, same amount every month)

Flexible income-driven repayment if your business fails

Actual idea-stage startup capital, no gimmicks What it is NOT:

No deck, business plan, etc.

No pitch meetings

No warm intros needed

No requirement to fit the perfect Silicon Valley stereotype

No equity, ownership, or warrants

No origination fee or pre-payment penalties You can fill out the 1-min self-assessment on our site to join our waitlist today. Thanks and happy building!

@joedmarti , I think the interest rate is super high!

@mjain_mayank Thanks so much for the support!

@gabe_moronta More companies are being started every day than ever before, and the bar for getting funding is only getting higher. Hopefully we can help bridge that gap. 🙏

Thanks so much, @michelledearxox! Two big themes for us stood out: 1. The majority of businesses that get created aren't venture-scalable, and if you can't raise money through equity, there's nothing available at the idea stage. That just seemed so stupid that over 99% of businesses had no options available to them. 2. We really wanted to figure out how to reduce barriers to entry in a scalable way—no worrying about warm intros or if you meet someone's idea of what a good founder looks like or anything else. We're not solving either of those problems perfectly yet, but we continue to obsess over them every day and we'll continue working on them until we have!

@kenfrei Thanks for checking us out! Since the Paintbrush Loan is limited to $50k per startup, we expect nearly all of our startups will need future financing from debt or equity partners. You can absolutely get VC funding after your Paintbrush Loan. In fact, our success team is happy to help Paintbrush companies to get in touch with venture funds! And don't worry, the Paintbrush Loan does not accelerate after a venture financing. The loan doesn't change pricing or repayment pacing at all after a venture round. Most importantly, the Paintbrush Loan does not transform into equity like a convertible note or SAFE Note or contain warrants or options of any kind.

@kenfrei Borrowing one of the top comments here to note—PH temporarily smothered our site, but our form is back up now for anyone who wants to get started on their journey! https://getpaintbrush.com/get-st...

YESSS @kaela_worthen @heathwblack

Thanks @sturbovsky! Yes, that is absolutely on the roadmap for us. One step at a time :)

@anumitha_apollo That's the goal, thanks!

@trentmano Absolutely, no signaling issue for us :) Most important thing is to make sure referrals understand this isn't equity financing. We built a robust FAQ help center and tons of info on the site about how the Paintbrush Loan works. I think this is a great way for idea-stage startups to get built and prepped for pre-seed fundraising, or maybe they'll realize they don't need VC money!

@gabegundy We try to be as transparent as we can, so hopefully there aren’t any catches, but that being said, there are a couple important things you should know: If your business fails, you are still on the hook personally to repay the loan. However, it’s extremely flexible and can be paid back over time, and even as a % of your income (which means that if you don’t have any income, your monthly payment is $0). More info here: http://support.getpaintbrush.com... In order to make the math work on that first point, the underwriting criteria are a bit high. While your business doesn't have to have any revenue, you as the founder do need to have a history of making $100k/year previously, as well as a 720 credit score. You can see all our criteria here: http://support.getpaintbrush.com...

@kb_sujith Hopefully we'll be able to expand internationally at some point in the future! Best of luck with your upcoming launch!

@kaela_worthen Absolutely, Kaela. Actually, we are coming to USA very shortly, but we would still not be able to leverage you as we do not have SSNs in USA, and hence no credit history. But I look forward to any other mechanisms for collaboration, in the future.

@will_works haha you might have hit the window when our form was done due to too much traffic from PH, but we're back up now if you want to try now! https://getpaintbrush.com/get-st...

@stephen_walter5 @trey_davis Thanks for the support! Hopefully this will make it easier for others in the future.

Thanks so much for the support @dnsbty! Lots more to come in the future. :)

Hey @_scott_raff! This is an idea-stage loan, so you're not required to have a full business plan, pitch deck, traction, etc before you can receive it. That being said, there are SO MANY things founders can do before they go full-time on any endeavor to de-risk it, whether that involves getting funding or leaving their day job. It's important to research the market and your competition, do a ton of customer research, have a rough scope of how much it will take to build out your MVP, etc. A few things you should be able to do: - State in 1 sentence what the PROBLEM/pain point is you're addressing for people (not what your solution is—too many solutions in search of a problem) - State in 1 sentence who your core demographic is (if it's for everyone, you're way too broad) - Be able to differentiate what your MVP (minimum viable product) looks like compared to your long-term vision so you don't try to build everything all at once And of course, have done the research to back those things up. Most of those things can be done for free and at a leisurely pace.

@asafdari Thanks so much! Also PH temporarily smothered our site, but our form is back up now for anyone who wants to get started on their journey! https://getpaintbrush.com/get-st...

Thanks so much, @ryleyrandal22! One of the fascinating themes to come out of this is side gigs. Around 50% of millennials have a side gig (probably almost everyone on this site has one or started their company as one). Some of them plan on keeping both, but want to grow that side hustle with some extra funding to buy some inventory or ad space for their Amazon/etsy store or get some equipment, etc, while some of them are building a new SaaS company and want to switch over full-time as soon as they get a bit more cash or traction to be able to do so. The type of company varies, but the founder path they all start on is amazingly similar.

Thanks so much, @jiovan! Really appreciate the support!