The textbooks say financial markets are supposed to take in your savings and funnel the money to businesses, but there’s strong data that when it comes to money for start up businesses, banks are risk averse these days and want to see a track record before lending. Sure there are angel investors who like to make bets on tech, especially.

Marketplace’s economics contributor Chris Farrell says there are other informal ways for entrepreneurs to get early money — just look back at how Motown got started.

Click on the audio player above to hear the full interview.