Small business still reeling from credit crunch [CNBC] “The data on small business lending paint a bleaker picture. FDIC data show a 19.1 percent decrease in small business loans ($1 million or less) outstanding since the start of the Great Recession… Even the $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund launched in 2010 as part of the Small Business Jobs Act was a nonstarter. It dispersed only $4 billion because many community banks found the program’s requirements too stringent, and the Treasury Department was slow to approve applications.”
Why The Next Steve Jobs Will Come From Kickstarter [Business Insider] The Kickstarter pitch video is the modern-day equivalent of two guys poking at a boxy computer in front of a crowd of bearded tech enthusiasts. It’s a 21st-century version of a 1975 meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club where the attendees have just gotten a walkthrough of the first Apple computer from two young Steves Jobs and Wozniak.
Genesis Rounds vs. Institutional Seed Rounds [RobGo] Over the past couple years, there has been an emerging bifurcation in the seed investing market. We’ve noticed this both in the industry broadly, as well as in the companies that we have invested in or seriously considered. Essentially, there are 2 flavors of seed rounds that are emerging (EXCLUDING seed extension rounds, which are a whole other story). We’ve come to describe these as “Genesis Rounds” and “Institutional Seed” rounds.
