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!

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!

@joedmarti @stephen_walter5 Congrats on the launch!🚀🚀🚀🚀

@joedmarti @phanis Actually that's on the lower end for the U.S. The national median rate is 25%

@joedmarti @stephen_walter5 very compelling incentive to run on that next idea!

Thanks @rhett_weller, As soon as we close out our seed round. We are raising a $4m round led by RiverPark ventures, trying to close out ASAP and launch!

@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!

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.

@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...

Thanks so much, @rob_hennefer! We're excited for the same thing—can't wait to hear the stories of all the founders who use this and see all the amazing companies they build that are even cooler than what we're doing. Edit: 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...

@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...

Hey @puneet_kohli! You're correct, this is a loan, and we've tried to be pretty transparent about that in the banner images, our comments, and the first line of our site. We believe there are many different types of funding for startups, and what type is best for you depends on what stage you are at, what type of company you're building, what your goals are for the company, and more. You can check out this page on our site where we dive into several different categories and the pros and cons of each, and even have a quiz people can take to figure out what might be best for them (doesn't collect any personal info, and no, it doesn't always say you should get a Paintbrush Loan): https://getpaintbrush.com/fundin...

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.

@alec_zaharov Thanks!

Hey @kat_kennedy1, thanks for checking us out! Right now we’re focused on businesses in industries that have a reasonable chance of getting to revenue within 6 months, primarily software, hardware, consumer goods, ecomm/dropshipping, locally-based businesses, consulting, and side gigs. You can see the full list of businesses we do and don’t support here.

Hey @salah_eddine_bendyab, unfortunately right now, yes. 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 for now.

@nlsanders The income-driven repayment option means that if your business fails and the loan hasn’t been repaid fully, instead of having the same payment each month regardless of your circumstances, you can have it fluctuate as a percent of your income. So if it takes you a while to find a job after your startup fails, you don’t have to pay anything (15% of $0 is $0!), or if you’re in a sales role where your commission varies, you don’t have to worry about not being able to make payments. (Also, if your income is below $50k/year, repayment is paused.) More info here: http://support.getpaintbrush.com...

YESSS @kaela_worthen @heathwblack

@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 @tannerhp! So glad to hear you mention those words—transparency has been a big focus since we started out. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for first-time founders who don't have a CFO yet to know exactly what their options are and what they're getting into. Which is why they can see all the criteria before even applying, know interest over the life of the loan, monthly payment amounts, everything, without giving us a single piece of personal information. It's all public on our site.

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

@michael_zaro The Paintbrush Loan is ideal for founders in these areas:

Software

Physical product innovation

Consumer goods

Local business

Ecommerce/dropshipping

Consulting

Side gigs Click here for a full list of businesses we can and cannot support at this time: http://support.getpaintbrush.com...

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!

@kaela_worthen love it! makes a ton of sense