Small Business Financing

January 9, 2009

How Merchant Cash Advances Work

Small-business owners who need quick access to capital have a burgeoning industry eager to fund them: merchant cash advance providers. The decade-old industry has ...

January 6, 2009

Avoiding Tax Pitfalls When Issuing Stock

Working with outside investors to finance an early-stage company by issuing stock can be stressful, time-consuming, and complex. For the most part, founders will focus...

December 23, 2008

The Credit Outlook for Small Business

Over the past year, the economic downturn and the frozen credit markets have harmed small business owners' access to get loans and credit lines. While the severity of ...

December 12, 2008

The Right Number of Shareholders for Your Company

With Facebook growing at a torrid rate, the private company has had to raise several rounds of capital as well as issue shares to its employees. As a result, the ...

December 2, 2008

Advice for Startups Seeking Venture Capital

Landing venture capital is tough for startups (BusinessWeek, 2/1/08), even in a good economy. But given the ongoing financial crisis, how hard is it for early-stage ...

November 18, 2008

Raising Capital from Customers

If you run an independent company and are looking for ways to raise capital, consider selling shares to your customers via a private placement. A private placement is ...

November 11, 2008

Barter Exchanges Catch On as Credit Tightens

Shawn Cressman, president of Cressman's Lawn & Tree Care, the business his father started 33 years ago in Bethlehem, Pa., has occasionally engaged in bartering with ...

November 7, 2008

Negotiating with Venture Capitalists Now

The past few years have been relatively easy for founders of startups to raise venture capital. VCs were willing to take bets on new markets—and make large ...

November 4, 2008

Springboard Helps Startups Land Capital

Given the state of the financial markets, how hard is it for media startups to get equity financing right now? It's the morning of Oct. 30 in Midtown Manhattan, and ...

October 31, 2008

When and How to Hire a CFO

When San Francisco e-mail marketer VerticalResponsegrew to $6 million in revenues and 30 employees last year, company founder and CEO Janine Popick was overwhelmed ...

October 24, 2008

Shifting into Cost-Cutting Mode

Back in 2002, Scott Chatel's business remodeling brownstones and apartments in Brooklyn and Manhattan was so good that he set a goal to increase annual sales from $2 ...

October 17, 2008

Angel Investors Get Picky

Meet the new breed of angel-backed entrepreneur. Donna Myers, president of software provider TowerCare Technologies, is in the process of securing $2 million in angel ...

October 17, 2008

How Bridge Loans Work

I recently received an e-mail from an early-stage software company that has landed $1 million in funding from angel investors (BusinessWeek.com, 10/10/08) over the ...

October 10, 2008

BofA's Small Business Lending Woes

Bank of America (BAC) has taken a hit on small business lending—and that could mean still tighter credit for entrepreneurs. In a conference call with analysts on...

October 10, 2008

How Angel Investing Works

Is your company looking for an equity investment under a few million dollars? You might first think of approaching venture capitalists, but I suggest you try angel ...

October 9, 2008

Time to Review Your Company's Credit Report

Do you know what's in your company's business credit report? If you've ever had a line of credit with a bank or supplier or a lien or court judgment against your ...

October 3, 2008

The Pros and Cons of Factoring

The breakdown in the credit markets clearly isn't limited to the financial industry itself (BusinessWeek, 10/02/08), and some businesses (BusinessWeek.com, 9/26/08), ...

September 26, 2008

The Credit Crunch and Small Business

How directly will small business lending be affected by the ongoing financial crisis and forthcoming bailout? The evidence is mixed. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ...

September 19, 2008

How Venture Debt Financing Works and How To Get It

When a venture capitalist invests in an early-stage company, the structure set forth in the term sheet (BusinessWeek.com, 8/15/08) is usually in preferred stock. These...

September 12, 2008

Race's Role in Startup Success

Blacks and Latinos start businesses at a lower rate than whites and Asians, and their companies are less likely to be profitable, less likely to hire employees, and ...

August 28, 2008

Hiring the Right Lawyer When Raising Capital

When I raised the capital for my first company, I didn't use a lawyer. My main reason was the cost. Why spend $400 an hour? How could somebody be worth that much? And ...

August 22, 2008

How to Negotiate a Term Sheet, Part II

In my last column, I looked at some of the key issues of negotiating a term sheet and offered advice on how founders should handle them (BusinessWeek.com, 8/15/08). In...

August 20, 2008

Credit Cards Replace Small Business Loans

The 30% interest rate on their small business credit card shocked James and Heather Hills enough to stop using it entirely in April. The couple had turned to credit ...

August 15, 2008

How to Negotiate a Term Sheet, Part I

A term sheet is a document prepared by venture capitalists that sets forth the key terms of a proposed investment. The temptation for the entrepreneur is to focus ...

August 8, 2008

Putting a Value on a New Venture

Sure, there are generally accepted ways to determine what an established private company is worth (BusinessWeek SmallBiz, 4/16/08). But for a relatively unproven ...