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The Startup Money Hunt: When Entrepreneurs Bring In Investors (Infographic) Entrepreneurs looking to grow quickly often exchange portions of their company for cash several times in their company's lifecycle. Here is a look at what that path can look like.

By Catherine Clifford

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Giving away portions of the company you poured your blood, sweat and tears into may be painful. But, as an entrepreneur, selling equity in your startup for cash can be financially beneficial.

Many successful startup entrepreneurs follow a well-worn series of stages in their quest for funding from a first friends-and-family round, moving on to a seed investment and later a venture capital investment. As a business grows and becomes more successful, investors often become willing to invest greater sums in exchange for increasingly smaller amounts of equity.

Related: From Renting Bedrooms on Airbnb to $1.5 Million in Venture Capital: Lessons in Resourceful Startup Funding

The infographic below, from San Francisco-based startup community organization Funders and Founders, breaks down the funding path of a successful entrepreneur, from idea to initial public offering.

The Startup Money Hunt: When Entrepreneurs Bring In Investors
Catherine Clifford

Senior Entrepreneurship Writer at CNBC

Catherine Clifford is senior entrepreneurship writer at CNBC. She was formerly a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com, the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Clifford attended Columbia University where she earned a bachelor's degree. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. You can follow her on Twitter at @CatClifford.

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