Forums Search

What is a small business startup loan?

A startup business loan is any type of loan that helps businesses with little to no business history. It's one of many financing options for founders who are looking to either get started or improve their young companies.

Can Startups get a business loan?

Yes, it is possible for startups to get business loans.

However, startups may face more challenges in obtaining financing than established businesses because they often have limited credit history and may not have a track record of profitability.

Startups should carefully research and compare the various financing options available to them and choose the one that best meets their needs and goals.

It's also a good idea for startups to work with a financial a...

It’s hard to think of an innovation that has had a more transformative impact on the business landscape than the rise of crowdfunding.

Once upon a time, the only people who could bring new products to market were the ones who already had the capital and connections to make it happen. Now, thanks to crowdfunding, anyone with an idea and an Internet connection can mount the next big crowdfunding campaign – and the next must-have product can come from anywhere.

Crowdfunding is a great way to raise the funds you need to make your vision a reality. It can also be an awesome way to test a pricing strategy or validate demand for your product.

But crowdfunding campaigns aren’t (just) a fast track to capital or product validation. A successful crow...

I think it’s really important to have someone who can complement you and balance you, and we’ve definitely found that in each other.

It’s a good thing that there’s a lot of outdoor space next to Mike Koranda and Aaron May’s office, because their actual office is basically a closet.

“You don’t even want to know,” says Mike when I ask exactly how much square footage they have. “Twelve-by-five?” he estimates. “Six-by-ten?” Aaron offers.

So, yeah. It’s small.

Working in that close of quarters has its virtues, though. When you work, as Mike puts it, “literally on top of each other,” it’s hard not to check in with what the other person is doing.

And checking in is important for Mike and Aaron. A little over eighteen months ago, they co-founded a ...

Let’s stop work shaming people that like to work hard and using “work/life balance” as an easy expression to do so.

“I work to live, I don’t live to work”

“I really need a work/life balance”

Whenever someone says this or any variation of this as though it is a new idea I can’t help but roll my eyes and think “Duh”. People say it as though there is someone in the room that feels differently or will argue with them…as though someone is going to stand up and challenge them to say “I put work above my family — you should too!”… Please.

The truth? The conversation isn’t about family at all. These conversations tend to come up when someone is feeling like they aren’t doing well at work or aren’t doing well at home, though somehow it get’s twist...

Imagine stumbling across a Glassdoor review of your company filled with damaging declarations and seemingly unfounded statements. You’d be shocked, right? I know I was.

Our former employee’s description seemed so foreign, I didn’t recognize the company being described. According to the review, we were growing too fast, too furiously; we were operating in a knee-jerk manner.

It was clear the past employee wasn’t aware that we look to hyper-vet everything we do. Decisions are hardly made on whims; they’re quite nuanced. Of course, none of that matters to employees if they’re not hearing the truth.

What had happened? To make a long story short, complete miscommunication on our part.

We’re not the only business that’s dealt with miscommunicati...

How much should a startup Founder pay themselves?

Should we show our commitment and work for nothing? Or should we try to at least match how much we made at our last jobs? How do we have a salary discussion with ourselves? What about our co-founders or investors?

The problem with negotiating a startup salary, even if it's with ourselves, is that we often compare this discussion to how we've thought about salaries in the past. We use the false comparison of a traditional company salary, or we go to the other extreme and assume we have to work for nothing but high fives.

Neither is true.

Startup Founders and their teams simply need to calibrate compensation to how startups themselves grow: dynamically and based on milestones.

Startups Don...

Have you ever had a desire to have total control, make an impact on the world, and establish something that will last for generations?

If so, then entrepreneurship is likely your ticket. But what does it actually mean to become an entrepreneur? The journey for entrepreneurs can be both exciting and gratifying, yet at times challenging and risky. There are plenty of possibilities if done correctly.

Here we'll discuss in depth the concept of becoming successful as an entrepreneur — from gaining insight into crucial entrepreneurial thinking required all the way through to how one may navigate running their own business — offering practical guidance specifically tailored towards early-stage entrepreneurs.

In conclusion, you'll be far more prepa...

“Would you like a receipt?” We hear this question so often in daily life, we almost just tune it out with an automatic “No thanks.” But, keeping track of your receipts is actually very important, especially for small business owners and entrepreneurs. This is because if your tax returns are audited they need to be able to meet the strict substantiation requirements of the IRS.

Mark J. Kohler, author of The Business Owner’s Guide to Financial Freedom, notes “It’s true that you could argue what’s called “the Cohen Rule,” that you can use “other credible evidence,” or rely on IRS Publication 463 which says that you don’t need to keep receipts for expenses under $75, but why get into a fight? Arguing with the IRS can cost you a lot more time a...

Yes, there are Founders who take personal money off the table during funding rounds, and no, you probably won't be one of them.

For the unfamiliar, there is in fact a practice whereby investors are sometimes willing to directly purchase shares from existing stockholders (like the Founders) in order to create some liquidity for them personally. It's called a "Secondary Sale" and it simply means the proceeds go to the Founder, not to the company proper.

The problem is most Founders just hear "investors will give me money personally" and assume it's a regular practice. It's not, at all, but it's also not something that's very well explained to Founders either. So, here's how this actually works.

When to Ask

A few things have to happen for us t...

Just because it's our startup doesn't mean we still have upside in it.

Anyone who's taken on a single round of capital and has suffered the painful dilution that comes with has had the first taste of "reduced upside." We accept it though, like taking awful medicine because we know it'll make things better in the end. But at some point that medicine stops working.

At some point, we look around and realize that our startup no longer provides the kind of upside for us we thought it would. It was easy to overlook when we could see us "making billions" but now reality has set in and we realize we just have a really stressful job that pays us way below market.

Call it What it is

First off, we have to call it what it is — a shitty deal. Is it a sh...