After catching up on some news this evening, I was appalled to learn how lacking the oversight is on the Government stimulus money that I feel like we were duped into in the first place. CNN reports how a company in Tennessee was given $16 million of this federal warchest to do something useful, yet did not create one single job. In fact, the money was used to do some soil remediation in Ohio – not even in Tennessee! CNN also reports a bunch of money was given to Massachusetts company Aggregate Industries, who happens to be the same company who allegedly provided sub-par concrete to the Big Dig project (the largest civil project in the history of the U.S.) – so after the lies, cover up and lawsuit from the State, a big fat stimulus check arrives in the mail.
More capital needs to be accessed easier for the start-ups and small businesses to dramatically improve the economy.
Where is the funding for the start-ups?
I firmly believe that what will get us out of this economic slump is the start-ups and small businesses in this Country, not bailouts to companies who are “too big to fail” and prove over and over again that they can not manage their money properly. The problem is that I don’t see any programs devoted to funding some of the small start-upst to develop new products, software or other intellectual property. Sure, in Texas we have the ETF, or the Emerging Technology Fund, and I’ve even looked pretty closely at that program, but there’s enough red tape in that thing to go around the Equator. It’s really not an attractive option for smaller start-ups like Pear Analytics. The SBA program also has it’s limitations and hurdles. Not too long ago I read in the local newspaper that a cap had been reached on the amount of loans available for small business. That’s enlightening. No more money there. Small start-ups like us can really only turn to friends and family, or angels for cash. A bank probably won’t give us a line of credit, so they’re useless (even though I thought that’s why they were given bailout money in the first place).
What I could do with just $1 million in Government stimulus money
If I could get just a small fraction of what these other sheisters got, I know I could do some serious stimulating. For instance, I could easily hire an additional 2-3 web developers, 1 or 2 customer support staff, additional search engine experts and even an administrative assistant. I would also hire a community manager, and I’m already looking for a content syndication specialist for a full-time position. That’s easily 10 people I could hire to help stimulate our business to grow our user base and increase sales. With more sales and more people, I would need to employ folks like Sales By 5 to handle our marketing and events, and I would need a larger office space in our building, which means Magi would be getting more money from us as well. Of course, the 10 people I would hire would need to rent or purchase homes, eat out at restaurants and purchase cars and put money into the local economy here in San Antonio. Think of multiplying this effect by 10 or 20 other start-ups, and look what it would do to the economy to a city like San Antonio with about 1.3 million people.
I don’t even mind if the Government stimulus money was a loan, and it worked just like any other angel deal (where they are typically treated as a convertible note) – unlike the other beneficiaries of these stimulus funds. I would even report quarterly how the money was used and what kind of ROI (Return on Investment) I am getting for our taxpayer’s money. I would repay the loan after five years with an 8% interest rate, just so the taxpayers gain interest on their money – unlike how it seems to be working currently. Is any of this oversight in place now? The best thing for me as the owner is that I don’t have to give up any more equity in exchange for the capital.
Other options?
OK, so the Government doesn’t exactly have the resources to oversee all of this and give out $1 million here and $1 million there. But they can outsource it – they seem to be pretty good at that. They should give a mere $1 billion to folks like Y Combinator or Capital Factory in Austin, Texas to come up with the process to screen candidates and dole out the $1 million chunks. Sure, there would be some requirements, but these guys can process it out and streamline better than anybody. What do we have to lose, President Obama? We’ve already blown way more than $1 billion, and probably don’t even know where it went or what happened to it.
If you know of any programs where small businesses or start-ups can access cash a little easier, please let us know.
