FWIW, there are other alternatives for entrepreneurs to get financing without giving up equity. MainVest offers Revenue Sharing Notes (RSN) and Equity-alternative Revenue Notes (EaRN) through Reg CF crowdfunding. Here are some examples of how they work:

RSN: A $200,000 RSN that matures in 5 years and 5% of revenue is paid back quarterly until a total 50% return (i.e. the "cap") has been hit. In this example, the business is expected to pay back a total amount of $300,000 by paying 5% of their revenue to investors over five years. If at the end of the 5-year period, the $300,000 has not been paid, then the business has to pay the remaining balance at that time.

EaRN: A $200,000 EaRN that matures in 10 years and 5% of revenue is paid back quarterly until a total 25% return (i.e. the “cap”) has been hit. Upon reaching the “1.25x cap”, the company then pays a smaller percentage (e.g. 2%) on revenue until the maturity of the EaRN is reached.

The entrepeneurs set the terms of their offering and investors in their community decide whether they would like to invest.

Source: https://mainvest.com/securities

Disclaimer: I am a CoFounder of MainVest.