Situation: I'm an operator studying AI engineering. I'm considering buying a small business and growing it with faster quoting, scheduling and back-office work. A bank lends against a real company with real cash flow, so the debt makes sense to me. Raising money from investors is my weak spot, so I'm sharing what I've learned. Task and action: How do you even do this, and where does the money come from? I joined this community, talked with other entrepreneurs, and started a self-funded search. I've talked with sellers, brokers and bankers, read the equity-raising discussions here, and built a worked example. I'm also testing which industry fits me. Result: five lessons so far. Lessons 1 and 2 follow SOPredactedas one SBA loan broker reads the new rules; confirm with your lender. 1. Your own cash sets your ceiling: at least half of the 10% down payment, so 5% of the project, must be your own cash, and $250K supports about a $5.00M project. 2. Investor money works best on top of the 10%, not inside it: inside, investors can be paid only enough to cover their taxes until the bank loan is paid off. 3. What investors expect, from the discussions here: an 8% to 12% preferred return (paid before profit is split), their money back first, a 1.5x to 2.5x step-up (extra ownership per dollar) and a 30% to 35% IRR (yearly return). 4. Start with your own network and ask every "no" for a referral, then public asks and investor lists; build the list now, ask after the LOI (letter of intent). Since March 2026, every owner must be a US citizen or national living in the US (a Dickinson Wright client alert, linked in the full version, explains it); keep each investor under 20% with no control, and confirm with your lender. 5. A lower price often beats raising more: in my example, the same loan works at $5.00M plus $647K from investors (you own 74.1%) or at $4.28M with none (you own 100%). Two theses I'm testing: 1. Industrial electrical contractors in New England: critical power for hospitals, labs and plants, with the region's roughly 100 existing data centers as upside. 2. Decorated apparel in New England: schools, colleges and teams as customers; so far, the multi-year contracts I've found are at colleges. Thank you to this community for helping me go from 0 to 0.5, with a long way still to go. Full version, with sources: redacted Visual explainer with a narrated video (about 2 minutes): redacted If you've raised equity for a self-funded deal, what do you wish you'd known before your first investor call? Educational only. Not investment, legal or tax advice. The worked example is an illustrative company, not a real deal.