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There’s one major question that nearly everyone faces when starting a small business or startup: Where are we going to get the money? One option is a small business loan.

In general, a small business loan is any loan that exists to help a small business or startup with little to no business history. While there are a range of financing options for small businesses and startups, let’s take a look specifically at SBA small business loans.

What is a
SBA small business Startup loan?

A SBA small business loan is a loan that is backed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Founded in 1953, the SBA is a federal government program that provides support to small business owners in the form of mentorship, workshops, counseling, and small busine...

Starting your own business is not a simple task. As a busy entrepreneur, it’s essential to be able to focus on your business anywhere. Today, mobile technology greatly helps you connect with clients, increase productivity, and sell on the go.

Here are seven of the best apps for business growth!

App #1. Slack

Slack is a neat app to increase work productivity that allows you to communicate quickly with your colleagues.

You can share links, pictures, and files either one-on-one or with multiple people at the same time through different channels.

The app is available as a web app as well as in the iOS and Google Play App store.

App #2: LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great social media site for professional networking. It’s a convenient way to keep i...

Nancy Duarte is a pro when it comes to presentations. Not just giving presentations, but starting them, finishing them, and every step in between. Author and co-founder of Duarte Designs, Nancy Duarte is a seasoned veteran when it comes to incorporating storytelling into speaking and creating connections with an audience.

The below video is the fifth part in a series of 10 in which Nancy shares the key components to making a successful pitch using creativity and critical thinking. Find out what she has to say:

As an entrepreneur and founder of a startup, you already know you can do a lot of things well. You’re the head under many hats; the go-to guy or gal for a plethora of issues.

Nancy agrees with you. Entrepreneurial-minded people see n...

Putting a value on your business can be a tricky enterprise, but it’s not as puzzling as some would have you believe.

The real hurdles come as you attempt to increase that value. What improvements should you make? Where should your priorities lie?

Steady, dependable growth relies on four interrelated factors: earnings, risk, growth prospects, and transferability.

Earnings

Buyers make purchases to see returns on their investments; existing earnings are the most concrete predictors of potential ROI.

If you’re not making money, your value will generally be lower. Potential money is good, but money in hand goes a long way in proving the viability of your business model.

Risk

The less risk in your business’s future, the higher its value.

A few y...

Interest in content marketing has exploded over the past decade, with good reason. It works.

A study from Conductor showed that education content makes consumers 131% more likely to buy. But it’s not just for B2C, with B2B brands seeing value, too. And it works, for less. One estimate claims content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing, while generating approximately 3 times as many leads.

Sounds like an easy decision to get on board with.

What is content marketing?

Before we dive into how to do content marketing, let’s take a step back to rehash what it is. We’ve heard all about content marketing and how awesome it can be for your business (see above!). But let’s be clear on what we are talking about.

Content marketing is st...

According to research from Kaufman, 40% of first-time entrepreneurs in the United States are women.

Even more impressive? The number of women-run businesses in the US is growing at twice the rate of men-owned businesses. The rate of women starting businesses and startups throughout the country is at an all-time high.

Let’s take a closer look at women-owned businesses, including certification and funding opportunities.

What it is a woman-owned business?

In its simplest form, a women-owned business is a business owned by at least one woman.

But when it comes to qualifying for certain grants, loans, and contracts, a women-owned business is at least 51% owned by controlled, operated, and managed by a woman or women.

What is WBENC Certificatio...

Startups often adopt a sprinter’s mentality. They want to get as far ahead as possible in as little time as necessary. Progress is measured in terms of growth, profitability, and revenue, but there’s a big difference between generating revenue and driving actual value. Just because a company is growing doesn’t mean it’s actually becoming a greater asset. It’s just a larger version of its previous self.

To boost your company’s value, I recommend creating a startup exit strategy as part of your startup’s overall business plan. You may be thinking, “I’m not ready to sell!” But hear me out.

All business owners should be taking steps from day one that will determine how profitable their creation will be on the day of the sale. And the exit stra...

It’s hard to overestimate the importance of a startup name — which is why naming a business can feel so harrowing. A great name can help push your company to the next level, but a terrible one can sink you before you even started. So how do you find a great business name?

While there probably are as many approaches to coming up with a company name as there are failed startups, one great place to start is with idea generators. These quick, handy online tools spit out word combinations that can be a great jumping off point for you and your team.

Once you’ve found a company name you like, you can use the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) to find out whether or not a business name has been trademarked. You should also use ICANN WHOIS to...

If you'd like to see some samples - we've got 4 awesome business plans for you here.

Marc Andreessen isn’t just an industry legend, because he helped the modern Web browser. He’s not just an industry legend because he’s one the only folks who’ve co-founded two companies that exited for north of $1 billion each. Nor is he renowned simply for throwing a grenade into the cozy way venture capital had worked for decades, when he co-founded Andreessen Horowitz in 2009.

You get where I’m going with this… Andreessen might be “famous” for you for different reasons, depending on how old you are or when you first started paying attention to startups.

Plenty of conferences and magazines feature interviews with Andreessen where he talks about the future. What’s difficult is getting a man so excited about the future to talk about the pas...