just a thought

Originally @ Early Growth Financial Services Starting your own business is tough. Whether launching the next big venture-backed startup or a corner store in your neighborhood, running a company requires entrepreneurs to take risks and make sacrifices. But those sacrifices shouldn’t include giving up outside funding and just trying to make do. Yet more and more, small business owners are finding themselves coming up short when they look for funds to build their ideas into a reality. Small businesses looking for modest loans are out of luck—and normally have to wait months to even find out they’re declined. For many banks, what it comes down to is that $75,000 loans just don’t generate enough interest revenue to make business sense. The average bank SBA loan in 2012 was $337,000—more appropriate for a well-established business with lots of employees than an entrepreneur looking to get his project off the ground. Even given the tight credit environment, there are steps that startup...

Originally @ Newfination Editor’s note: Nik Milanovic is the head of business development & marketing analytics at  Endurance Lending Network . He is also a Newfination Expert in crowdlending. Banking is changing for good. Unlike the sweeping changes and crashes the banking system underwent six years ago, though, this time things are changing for the better. Crowdlending is poised to reform borrowing, fixed-income investing, and consumer savings.

Originally @ Newfination Editor’s note: Nik Milanovic is the head of business development & marketing analytics at  Endurance Lending Network . He is also a Newfination Expert in crowdlending. A recent  blog post by  Lend Academy founder Peter Renton on Lending Club’s entrance into the small business lending market brought up a too-familiar question: do small business loans underperform consumer loans? The concept of small business loans generating abysmal returns is a common misconception among peer-to-peer investors. But where does this myth come from? And what evidence is there to the contrary? If you look only at peer-to-peer lenders focused on consumer loans, it’s easy to walk away thinking business loans are too risky to generate positive, reliable returns.  Nickel Steamroller , which provides analytics and insights on the ROI of peer-to-peer lenders  Lending Club and  Prosper , highlights this issue. Over Lending Club’s historical perfo...