Scripture for Six Stages of a Start UpSample

Seed Money: Tool or Idol?

Raising funds. It can be every entrepreneur’s greatest nightmare. Steady climb after steady climb to the top of Venture Capitalist mountain, only to walk back with your head down after each rejection. It’s not easy. In fact, this is the easiest stage of the journey to toss out the elevator pitch and quit.

But instead of quitting, this stage of the journey might be a great chance to check our hearts and examine our motives. What are we raising capital for? Are we doing this for personal gain or a sense of stewardship to what God is calling us to do? What is our why? 

Spending day after day trying to raise capital doesn’t mean we’re worshipping money over God. But this is the part of the process where that becomes the risk. So how do we honor God by giving Him our best (Col. 3:17) while also keeping money from becoming an idol?

It’s a strange tension—a high-wire entrepreneurs must walk. See, there’s this fine line between viewing money as an idol and as a necessary tool. If we love money more than we love God, then we’re doing it wrong. But if we love God to the point where we don’t care about money at all, then our business fails and we may miss our sense of stewardship. So, what we do?

We have to choose daily to “Seek first His kingdom…” God’s kingdom will outlast our business. God’s glory comes before our success. If we’re seeking Him first, we can’t go wrong.

The good news is that we’re not wrong to want our business to grow. In fact, desiring success if both a noble and completely appropriate thing to do as an entrepreneur. It’s when we desire success or money or fame over God. It’s when we put our kingdom above God’s Kingdom.

Yes, we want our businesses to grow. And yes, we should do what we can to make that happen. But we have to focus on seeking God’s kingdom first. If we want to save ourselves from the seductive trap of success, we can start by seeking God first, and by using our success as a tool to point others to Him to Him.

Further Thought

• What are some ways you could see money becoming an idol in your life? How can you avoid that trap?
• What are your frustrations that come with raising capital? What would it look like if you talked to God about those things?