What Does the Merchant Cash Advance Industry say about America?
Last week, CNN Money ran an article about the merchant cash advance industry and riskier forms of financing.  While I applaud the reporter, Jose Pagilery, for his efforts to point out how many small business owners are turning to riskier forms of financing, I am not sure he went far enough to explain the implications of [...]

One Entrepreneur’s Quandary – Finding the Right Way to Grow
Two entrepreneurs (a husband and wife team) came to see me this week.  Their dream is to expand their personal training business that they’ve had for a couple of years, and they’re looking for a way to finance it.  They’ve been negotiating tenant improvements with a landlord, they have a business plan, and now all [...]

MultiFunding Releases Its Study About How Bank Size Impacts Small Business Lending
Findings prove that as banks get bigger and more bureaucratic, their small business loan balances decrease. There are a handful of pivotal moments in everyone’s life and career.  For a small business owner or entrepreneur a critical one is when they sit down with a loan officer at their bank to discuss their plans and [...]

The Beta of our New Banking Grades Tool is Up !!!
We’re thrilled to launch the new beta version of our bank search tool for small businesses today.  We have added functionality that allows small business owners to easily and quickly evaluate the small business lending records of all the banks (headquarters and branches) in their city.  We hope this will help them make informed decisions [...]

The Great SBA Myth
There is a great myth in America about the SBA program.  Small business owners think that the SBA is a lender and if they get turned down for an SBA loan they’re done.  This is not true, and the myth needs to be debunked. The SBA provides a government guarantee to a bank or a [...]

The Parodies of Washington DC
A quick note from Washington DC, where I am spending  two days with the National Credit United Association in their efforts to get legislation passed that will allow Credit Unions around the country to be able to lend more to small businesses. Like everything in Washington, there is a fight.  This one is between the [...]

Living In the Silicon Ivy Bubble
This past week StartUp America celebrated its first birthday with great fanfare and a lot of political hoopla.  My concern about the events of the week is that the “buzz and coolness” about tech startups will leave main street entrepreneurs in the dust. The differences between Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Main Street entrepreneurs are dramatic [...]

The Great Small Business Disconnect!!
It was a busy day in small business land today.  The Feds released a study that loan demand was up from small firms.  And the White House proposed new legislation that calls for small business tax cuts, and different incentives to make it more enticing for investors to invest in early stage tech-oriented start-ups. While [...]

J.P. Morgan and CitiBank Release Head-Scratching Press Releases About Their Small Business Lending Records
J.P. Morgan and Citibank, two of the nation’s largest banks, were out touting their small business lending records yesterday and patting themselves on the back.  In J.P Morgan’s release the headline shouted “Chase Lent $17 Billion to American Small Businesses in 2011, up 52% from 2010”  In Citi’s release they stated that “Citi Increases U.S. [...]

What Keeps Me Ticking ….
February 1st (just a few weeks away) will mark the second birthday of MultiFunding.  It is a time for celebration, and reflection. Lately, my blog has focused a lot on data and statistics.   I think we’ve done a lot of good work to help change the national conversation about what’s really happening in small business [...]