Serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Nihal Mehta overcame $400,000 in debt at one point of his career. The lessons he learned through his many failures before finding success is very common in entrepreneurship.
One cause of failure was poor cash flow management. Good thing for you, with every business plan comes a cash flow analysis! I can tell in which month/quarter you’ll likely be cash strapped. I can tell you how much to ask, in either debt/equity, and what interest rates and payment duration will work for you.
See his insightful interview at: http://cnb.cx/1MyP7Kj