Funding and Building your Business

Sure, you could build a spectacularly successful company despite having a lousy name – but why not stack the odds in your favor?

For many budding entrepreneurs, tapping the financial resources of friends and family may be the only option to obtain early business capital as banks have tightened lending standards since the economic downturn.

"We did not go about this in the right way," Marka Hansen, Gap brand president in North America, said in a statement Monday. "We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community."

The U.S. tends to be self-perpetuating because it is the country with the largest number of successful technology entrepreneurs and, even if they come from another country, they tend to continue to live and invest in the U.S.

Today, Business web sites are often responsible for originating a major share of their companies turnover.

According to Forrester Research retail sales rose 2.5% in 2009. While that is surprising enough, consider this: Online sales rose 11%.

The Small Business Administration has announced that it is raising the definition of a "small" business after the first "comprehensive review" in almost three decades. Retail, food service and other business categories formerly capped at $7 million in revenue will see those limits raised to as much as $35.5 million.

ChubbyBrain, a company that does a lot of valuable research in the technology industry, just released a "Funding Recommendation Engine" that helps you figure it out.

"What we’re selling to our clients is "scar tissue," said Greg Butterfield, managing partner of SageCreek Partners. "Based on our collective experience of working with a number of growing companies, we are helping our portfolio companies learn from our experiences so that they don’t have to be tripped up from the lessons we’ve already learned."

"Whether they’re in the start-up phase and could use a microloan or are looking to take advantage of lower real estate prices and interest rates to buy a new building to expand, SBA loans can now be an even greater resource to help entrepreneurs and small business owners get the capital they need."