In
this case, your business will need to be incorporated, to allow you to
have multiple shareholders. Then - just don't sell more than 49% of the
common (voting) stock.
Of
course, control is a common goal among investors, so expect your goals
to be in conflict to those of your new friends and their money. When
this happens, you'll be presented with the dilemma of which to give up,
the money or the control. It's not impossible to get both, but it's not
a high-percentage expectation.
Now,
before you go wandering around the marketplace looking for investors,
it's important to get your attention. The securities laws and
regulations for selling shares of a company to investors are deep and
wide, and the organizations that monitor investment activity and
enforce these laws, will punish those who violate them, sometimes
including putting them in jail. So the importance of having competent
securities law counsel when offering any kind of investment cannot be
over-emphasized.
