Capital Feed

Business Loan Calculators are a great way to determine how much a business loan will cost your company as well as to ensure that the benefits (the added revenue or cost savings a business loans can provide) are worth the additional expense of the business loan.

Check out the business loan calculators go to Business Money Today.

Shortly after launching ROC Brewery in February 2010, we needed to start raising some capital. But when we approached angel investors and banks, we quickly discovered how hard it is to raise capital in today’s shaky economy.

What’s worse, a microbrewery in the heart of downtownRochesterisn’t exactly an easy sell when it comes to securing a loan. Many microbreweries go under within the first few years so not too many investors are eager to jump on board. Then we found out about Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream.

Interesting and inspiring.  Innovative in business then use that innovation to find capital. Keep on reading at CNN Money.

The “seed” financing scene boomed acrossSilicon Valleylast year, with numerous young companies scoring early rounds of funding at healthy valuations. But that boom didn’t necessarily carry on later on down the line when the seed-funded companies tried to raise additional sums.

Those are the findings of a new survey fromSilicon Valleylaw firm Fenwick & West, which just completed its second annual seed financing report. The report is based on 56 transactions of West Coast companies last year and 52 deals in 2010.

According to Fenwick’s report, less than half of the seed-funded companies that were surveyed in 2010—about 45%–went on to receive venture-capital financing last year. Another 12% garnered additional seed financing last year, the report found. The rest were either acquired, shut down, operating without raising additional capital, or information wasn’t available on them.

Seed funding is starting to come into its own – but, will it have a greater impact? Keep reading at The Wall Street Journal.

Traverse City State Bank is among the state lenders recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration for making business loans.

The bank was named Community Lender of the Year for approving 46 SBA loans for more than $13 million. TCSB also was ranked among the SBA’s Top 10 2011 Lender of the Year rankings, placing seventh in the state.

“The program does work, and it is truly helping local businesses expand, diversify and grow their business,” TCSB President and CEO Connie Deneweth said.

Should be all SBA approved lenders.  The program is there – use it! Keep on reading at Record-Eagle.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the JOBS Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at supporting small businesses by making it easier for them to access capital. A key feature of the bill enables crowdfunding, the process by which small companies raise growth capital from a large number of individual investors.

While many people are debating the impact of the bill on investors, what seems lost in the debate is what types of businesses are likely to benefit, and how crowdfunding can change the way we all think about early stage investing.

 Slowly we get closer to what should be. Keep on reading at TechCrunch.

The startup world is getting excited about crowdfunding, the prospect of raising money through lots of small investments from supporters online. While creative entrepreneurs have been getting donations for years on Kickstarter, a White House-backed plan to loosen securities laws and let companies sell equity to crowdfunding investors passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives last year. The Senate banking committee is looking at the proposal on Tuesday.

Such supporters of crowdfunding as Nick Tommarello say it will give businesses—from neighborhood restaurants to high-growth tech companies—a fresh source of capital. Tommarello is co-founder of Wefunder a site he hopes to turn into a crowdfunding platform in the event the law is changed. “If this happens, what we can do is fill that funding gap in between angel [investors] and first round venture capital,” he says.

The good and bad of crowdfunding. Keep reading this article at Bloomberg.

I have said it over and over again that when all is said and done – money is just money. It does not matter where it comes from as long as you (or your business) can use it as it needs to be used – to add additional value.

Money does not matter. What matters is what you can buy with that money – which is related to price, not money itself.

Thus, money is just money. Money is just another asset to a small, growing business; an asset that should be used to its greatest potential.

Having said that and the reason why has to do with, not money itself, but how you get it; how you get money and use it in your business.

Money can be expensive if you let it – meaning that you use it improperly or get it for the wrong things.

Keep on reading this article at Business Money Today.

Looking to get a business loan for your small, growing business but not sure if your business will qualify for that financing?

On the surface, underwriting a business loan is pretty simple:

The bottom line is that any bank or lender just wants to get repaid. And, that repayment usually comes from your business’s ability to generate positive cash flow over the life of the loan.

All that other stuff like collateral, time in business, debt ratios, credit reports, bank policies standards, etc. all take a back seat to cash flow when it comes to getting your business loan approved.

In fact, these other factors, while seeming to protect the bank’s or lender’s investment in your business, in my opinion, do nothing but gum up the works.

I am sure that they justify these other items to ensure their regulators, their investors, boards of directors and stockholders all feel better protected should a loan default.

But, when underwriting a business loan, the bottom line is all about getting that principal amount back with interest (the interest is their revenue – the reason they make loans in the first place).

What really matters when seeking business financing? Keep on reading at Business Money Today.

One of the universal truths is this: When you don’t need something, you can get it. When you do need something, you can’t.

That’s true of financing, too. The times where you need financing most desperately may be the times when it is hardest to get, thanks to some jerk named Murphy and his stupid law. If your credit was floundering already, your efforts are probably torpedoed before they even begin.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, as Entrepreneur explained in a recent article. The to getting financing is ensuring your business and personal credit is not in shambles, something you can do if you put a little effort and follow some of the smart advice out there on the Interwebs.

Two things matter, credit and cash flow.  If you want financing, work on both.  Here is a way to get started. Keep on reading this article at Biz Engine.

The credit crunch for small businesses is expected to ease this year, but entrepreneurs may still need to be creative in their search for financing.

“The lending market for small business in 2012 is going to be much better — the best year after the recession,” according to Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, an online credit marketplace in New York that connects small and midsize businesses with lenders.

Securing loans with a good rate won’t be easy, however. “It is going to continue to be a fight and a struggle to get small-business owners capital at fair prices,” says Ami Kassar, CEO of MultiFunding, a small-business lending consulting firm in Broad Axe,Pa.“It is going to take a long time for us to work our way through this situation.”

Many entrepreneurs will have to do what they do best: Be resourceful and find new solutions to their funding problems. Already, a few alternative funding sources are becoming increasingly popular and likely will gain more traction in 2012.

Where will your business find funding this year?  What do you think will be available? To keep reading this article go to Entrepreneur.