b'1. What is Syndication?non-real estate small business startups will likely be different than those described in this book. This book is not about finding institutional lenders, such as banks, credit unions or even hard money lenders (people who are in the business of loaning money) to loan you money. However, these sources of funding should always be explored first, as they may be the cheapest source of financing, with the lowest interest rates and longest terms. Getting cheap money from these sources for part of the funds needed will allow you to raise less from private investors, and to leverage their returns.By having private investor funds within your reach, you can finance the gaps between available institutional financing and the ultimate costs of the assets you want to purchase or the funds you need for your startup business before it starts generating enough income to go sell it or grow it. WHAT IS CROWDFUNDING?Crowdfunding, in the context of this book, is the online practice of ad-vertising an investment opportunity to solicit investments from the gen-eral public. Crowdfunding can also be used to raise money in a non-profit or rewards-based scenario. Crowdfunding and syndication go hand in hand; you cant engage in crowdfunding of a for-profit syndicate until you have a securities offering. This book explains how and when you can legally use crowdfunding to market your for-profit securities offerings. This book is for entrepreneurs who have a business idea that will gen-erate a profit they can share with investors. If your business idea wont generate profit, you should read books about starting non-profit organi-zations. WHY SYNDICATE?With few exceptions, if you want to capitalize on your knowledge and follow your dreams to start a business, you will either need an unlimit-ed source of money or you will need investors. Even the wealthiest peo-ple and most famous entrepreneurs (such as Warren Buffett and Donald Trump) use private investor funds to invest in their real estate and busi-ness ventures. 3'