This is my teams 2nd year competing in FIRST, therefore we are still not completely stable. One big issue we had in our rookie year was finance. What are some things we can do as a relatively new team to overcome this issue? Also, how do we persuade companies and business to sponsor us?
Phase 1: Come up with some marketing material. Who you are, why should companies support you, what you do, stuff like that.
Phase 2: Identify local businesses that you think could be helpful to have supporting you (not limited to tech-type businesses–imagine if you could convince a catering company to deliver a couple trays of food on a build night or weekend, for example).
Phase 3: Distribute marketing material to said businesses. Repeat as necessary.
Also check out https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=63 for more ideas.