NEW YORK, NY (October 12, 2018) - A decade after the market crash of 2008, the world of small business loans is thriving. Approval rates are rising at community banks: 49.8% of funding requests were granted in 2018.
Venture Capital Limited by Geography, Race and Gender in 2017
BOSTON, MA (October 1, 2018) - Fewer than 10% of venture capital-backed startups had a female co-founder, and fewer than 1% had an African-American female cofounder in 2017, according to a recent report by Pitchbook. The study also determined that 75% of all venture capital went to companies in California, Massachusetts and New York.
Increasing access to venture capital is imperative in 2018, to empower and maximize the potential and impact of entrepreneurs of all genders and races throughout the United States.
Despite the lack of venture capital funding, companies with a woman on the founding team outperformed all-male companies by 63% in a ten-year study by First Round Capital. Racially diverse companies outperformed industry norms by 35%, according to a McKinsey study.
Resources for Female Entrepreneurs
NEW YORK, NY (April 16, 2018) excerpt via FORBES - Female entrepreneurs face formidable challenges in starting a business and securing financing. Despite these extra hurdles, women-owned businesses are growing rapidly.
From 2002 to 2012, the number of women-owned businesses grew at 2.5 times the national average, and employment in women-owned businesses increased at 4.5 times the average rate, according to the US Census Bureau.
Forbes presents an interview Carla Harris, President of the National Women’s Business Council, offering advice and support to women business owners.
Dispelling Myths About Business Financing
NEW YORK, NY (April 4, 2018) excerpt via FORBES - The world of small business lending can be mystifying and immensely frustrating to entrepreneurs, with copious misinformation from predatory online lenders and questionable sources.
Levi King at Forbes presents a guide to dispelling common misunderstandings about business loans, and what it takes to qualify for one. He describes his dismay at the proliferation of misleading online articles, “perpetuating business credit myths and misconceptions that cost me thousands of dollars when I was starting my own small business. This bad advice is continuing to cost American entrepreneurs millions of dollars each year -- and, for many of them, their dream.”
King additionally reports that only 46% of business owners are satisfied with loans from online lenders, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, illustrating the significant problems that come with the convenient but predatory online lenders.
Saving on Taxes for Small Business Owners
March 23, 2018 (via David Rae, Forbes):
Tax season is upon us, much to the dismay of small business owners. Forbes offers some simple and easy-to-use advice on how to navigate taxes and save as much as possible.
Savvy Advertising Strategy for Small Businesses
NEW YORK, NY (February 6, 2018) - Advertising is essential for any company to spread brand awareness, and yet most small businesses don’t have an advertising professional on staff or understand how to maximize its use.
Forbes presents a guide to advertising for small business owners with a focus on doing a lot with a little - using resources and time intelligently and effectively.
“Creativity has nothing to do with size of your budget or team. As Vahbiz has seen with many of her nonprofit clients, being creative with where you spend what few resources you have is the key to success. Take the time to think about what you have and how to use it best to grab headlines,” Anuja Khemka writes.
Business Financing Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs
NEW YORK, NY (January 29, 2018) - Women-owned businesses are expanding rapidly in the United States. In 2017, 11.6 million women-owned businesses employed 9 million people and generated $1.7 trillion, according to the American Express State of Women-Owned Business Report. Revenue among women-owned companies has grown 104% in the past decade and generates more than $1 million each year.
The number of female entrepreneurs applying for loans rose to 29% in 2016, according to Rohit Arora at Forbes.
“Borrowers who previously refrained from borrowing money for expansion or capital improvements re-entered the credit markets. Because the economy has been relatively strong and because interest rates are still quite low, women entrepreneurs have shown a willingness to take on more risk by borrowing money to grow their businesses.”
Arora provides a detailed description of the most popular sources of business financing for women business owners in the US.
Entrepreneurship is Growing in the US - Especially Among Women
BABSON PARK, MA (January 22, 2018) - More than 25 million Americans are launching or operating new businesses in the past two years, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2016 United States Report by Babson College.
The influence of women in business is expanding, too - the rate of entrepreneurship among women has grown 1%, while holding steady for male entrepreneurs. Women are innovating more than ever, with 40% of female business owners introducing services or products that are new to consumers and not yet offered by competitors. Overall, Americans are developing new and groundbreaking products at the highest rate in 15 years.
Smart Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs
NEW YORK, NY (January 16, 2018) - Women in business face unique challenges - and author Kerry Hannon at Forbes offers some valuable strategies to help small businesses thrive. Finding mentors, seeking financing, and staying curious are among her tips for developing habits for success.
Hannon’s article also emphasizes the unique strengths women may bring to work: “Many entrepreneurial successes depend on an exquisite form of human understanding and organizational leadership that women have the edge on,” author Michael W. Sonnenfeldt writes.
Small Business Owners Are Retiring, And Millennials May Not Fill The Gap On America's Main Street
WORCESTER, MA (September 20, 2018) — A local hardware store in Worcester, Massachusetts recently announced that it was going out of business. This wouldn’t be big news, except Elwood Adams Hardware has been around since the Articles of Confederation. Dating back to 1782, it is (or was) one of the oldest hardware stores in the United States—continually open for 235 years under various owners.
According to the US Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 48% of national employment in the United States. In number, they represent 99.7% of all businesses in the country. Small business owners, some with staffs of 500 employees, others toiling alone in a home office, and plenty more in-between, are the stewards of an enormous segment of the American economy.
In the demise of Elwood Adams Hardware, we can see two forces at work that may figure to change the landscape of American small businesses and entrepreneurship. There is the continuing disruptive dominance of the Internet in the commercial sphere. And, perhaps less well-observed, there are the swelling ranks of retired-or-retiring Baby Boomers, and the emergence of the Millennials to replace them as the brunt of the workforce in the United States.
To read the entire article, click here.
Small Business Lending: Finding, Fitting, Financing
NEW YORK, NY (January 5, 2017) - Access to capital is consistently raised as a pressure point for small businesses. However, simply saying it’s challenging to obtain capital isn’t all that helpful without getting to the crux of the issue. We recently gathered a group of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses alumni to probe more deeply into their experiences getting capital. One result of our discussion was a breakdown of their capital search into a series of definable steps:
Finding - identifying the available sources of capital
Fitting - deciding which source is the best fit for you and your business
Financing - determining what are the most important components of the deal
To read the entire article, click here.
