If I have an idea that is not funded on Project Catalyst, where else can I find funding other than venture capital firms
Please disclose any affiliations (if you have them) when answering.
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Sign up to join this communityWhile Project Catalyst is for commercial and non-commercial Cardano projects, you are not limited to specific resources that fund only Cardano projects.
Venture Capital and non-commercial typically do not go hand-in-hand together. VCs have an interest in your company/project's success. They give you money so you (or one of your competitors who they also fun) can make them more money.
Depending on your project/company/organization you want to build, different avenues are at your disposal that have nothing to do with blockchain.
It also depends on your jurisdiction and whether you can apply for public money. Applying to grants (outside of Project Catalyst) and fundraising efforts are big parts of a non-profits. This question is a little bit too broad to give an accurate answer. If you can be more detailed what it is what you're trying to do (link to your proposal), you may receive more and better suggestions.
If you are looking for funds your own project I can only assume you are operating as a business entity, if you insist on not accepting VC money despite wanting to operate as a business entity then I would seriously suggest you check out this new funding modal, unique to and only possible using Cardano called an "Initial Stakepool Offering" or ISO.
In my humble view it radically changes the game when it comes to sourcing funds for blockchain based startups/projects because it taps into the existing innovative staking mechanism built into Cardano, and your supporters funds are completely safe. This is of critical importance and is the killer-feature of the ISO model because it creates a risk-free (minus fees collected approx. 5.5% APY that you would otherwise collect for staking) environment for supporters in direct opposition to the scam-ridden ICO funding model of the past. The fact that people can support you virtually risk-free creates a very rich and liquid startup environment where people are more than happy to throw some ADA around at different projects.
It also creates a much higher level of trust between the project and the supporters because once you have someone's money you lose the financial incentive to work as hard as possible to deliver. While the ISO model has built-in incentive by way of the supporters losing faith in a project that continually misses roadmap targets and will eventually undelegate their ADA, and only having to accept the loss of 5.5%~ APY that they would have otherwise earned. This is massive and simply cannot be overstated.
I am unaffiliated in any way with SundaeSwap directly, although I'm a firm believer in the funding model that they pioneered.