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The SBA helps small businesses that may not be eligible for traditional bank loans by guaranteeing large portions of the loan on the entrepreneur’s behalf.

These loans are generally available through your local bank who relies on the SBA to back the loan in order to make it easier for them to take the risk of lending a new business without a significant amount of collateral.

Who’s eligible for a SBA loan?

Although the loans are backed by the SBA, they still require some basic underwriting by the bank to make sure the borrower can manage the loan similar to a standard bank loan.

What about poor credit?

The SBA may be underwriting the loan, but they still want to make sure it can be paid back. Standard credit risk factors (such as...

If a company could receive Vitamin C, what form would it take? Coordination, collaboration, communication. Startup Collabe offers the three in one multipack, bundled together in the form of a “team communication platform designed to streamline internal communication for modern teams spread across the globe.”

Recently launched, Collabe aims to deliver that elusive, perfect mix of flexibility and organization that lets teams get work done with optimal efficiency. Availability across all platforms and devices starts Collabe off on the right foot.

Slack users will find noticeable similarities, which isn’t a bad thing – many of us have adopted Slack as our preferred communication tool. For Collabe’s part, it allows users to form teams, public a...

When beginning a crowdfunding campaign, it’s important to evaluate your network and establish exactly who will make up your base of support. The success of your crowdfunding campaign will largely rest on how effectively you communicate your launch within your various networks. Once you’ve identified a group of potential backers, take into account what is most interesting to your group and structure your rewards tiers in the most compelling way possible.

Your network can be divided into five main groups: friends, family, customers, professional contacts, and audience.

Friends

Your friends include those you see on a regular basis. You can reach out to this group in a variety of ways. Try a combination of social media updates, emai...

Thelonious Monk was a fantastic jazz musician, and an amazing band leader. Did he run a tech startup? No. But he could have with all these words of wisdom.

It’s a no B.S. manifesto. Each gig, each song, and each band mate was mission critical to Monk. And our startups need to be treated the same way. It’s easy to get caught up in the busyness. But as founders we have to gather, support, and grow great teams or risk losing the whole endeavor.

Below is Monk’s complete, original list of advice for band members. But let me break it down for you and swap a few musical references with the proper modern startup terminology.

JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT A [JOB TITLE], DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND IT.

So many of us founders debate ov...

Without a doubt, reading and learning is one of the most essential ingredients to becoming a stronger entrepreneur. As a learning enthusiast who travels everywhere with a paperback, I’ve recently joined the ranks of Blinkist downloaders. Unfamiliar with the name?

Blinkist allows you to quickly digest books by offering condensed versions of hot sellers in the form of voiceover narratives. It’s great for entrepreneurs who can’t seem to keep up with Bill Gates’ penchant for reading 50 books a year. I prefer the feel of a traditional book, but it’s a nice stopgap when I’m short on time.

When I do have a few hours over the weekend, I turn on my meditation app and block out some “chill” time. (Thank you to my loving wife who und...

In a world where business moves at the speed of the IOT, and where data and passwords are more readily available online, entrepreneurs have a new obstacle to address: the protection of their intellectual property.

While corporations have the resources to hire top cyber security teams and implement software solutions that protect their collateral, criminals are increasingly taking an interest in small and medium sized businesses. The new targets have equally marketable data, designs and digital information that have value for criminals, and for foreign governments.

The question to ask: Is your business at risk?

The technology industry and foreign policy

In 1986, China began a program that has been loosely referred to as “shadow innovation”...

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 ninth 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:

Nancy Duarte’s First 3 Clients

In 1987, after working and saving money for a whole summer, Nancy Duarte”s husband bought a Mac. He had a vision: he was going to get behind the technological movement and use his newly acqu...

Working with virtual assistants has become increasingly popular over the past several years, as small business owners, entrepreneurs, and busy people everywhere have acknowledged the need for additional help but wanted to avoid the cost and hassle of hiring in-house.

In his book The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss outlines the benefits of passing off the repetitive tasks that you don’t have time for- or simply don’t enjoy to a virtual assistant.

But, there are several factors to consider in order to find the virtual assistant that’s best for you.

1. Define Your Specific Needs

So, you know that you have too much on your plate and you need help. That’s great, but if you had an amazing assistant start today, what exactly would you delegate to th...

The rise of the Growth Hacker
The new job title of “Growth Hacker” is integrating itself into Silicon Valley’s culture, emphasizing that coding and technical chops are now an essential part of being a great marketer. Growth hackers are a hybrid of marketer and coder, one who looks at the traditional question of “How do I get customers for my product?” and answers with A/B tests, landing pages, viral factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph. On top of this, they layer the discipline of direct marketing, with its emphasis on quantitative measurement, scenario modeling via spreadsheets, and a lot of database queries. If a startup is pre-product/market fit, growth hackers can make sure virality is embedded at the core of a product. After pr...

Crowdfunding is an incredible tool for entrepreneurs seeking capital at any stage of their business. Startup businesses can validate their idea through a rewards crowdfund, giving them great traction to share with potential investors through a follow-on equity crowdfund.

A successful rewards crowdfunding raise (typically offering pre-orders of a product), is becoming a common precursor to raising equity investments from prominent angel investors seeking an equity stake in the company.

Angel Investors and Equity Crowdfunding

Before crowdfunding, angel investments were often found within an entrepreneur’s own network. Family, friends, and close business associates were all pivotal in an entrepreneur’s search for capital, due to a ban on the p...