Several different international trade financing options are available including export working capital, term loans and export credit insurance.
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Traditional banks and credit unions typically serve both consumer and commercial customers providing a full-suite of personal and business banking solutions including consumer and business credit, equipment loans, working capital, lines of credit, conventional and guaranteed term loans, merchant services, checking and savings deposit accounts.
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Consumer and business credit cards are unsecured (uncollateralized) debt with interest rates from 0% (usually short-term introductory) to 28% (usually a penalty rate). Average rates are typically around 15%. Credit applications based on credit scores, payment history, income and existing balances.
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Lines of Credit obtained from banks and credit unions for covering short-term working capital needs such as employee payroll, labor, materials and inventory. Access to adequate working capital can be a critical factor for operating or growing a business.
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Hundreds of direct loan and finance programs exist from city, county, state and federal agencies. Many loan programs are setup to fund specific types of projects while others are more general.
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Several government loan guarantee programs exist through state and federally funded programs. These programs provide lenders loan guarantees, similar to insurance coverage, from 75%-90% of the total loan amount. Loan guarantee programs help to reduce the risk of losses to lenders, making it possible for them to approve loans they may not otherwise do.
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Home Equity Lines of Credit leverage personal home equity built up over time on residential property. Using home equity as an asset, homeowners with personal income may qualify for a second mortgage that frees up working capital for other uses like home improvement projects or personal working capital. Interest rates on HELOC loans tend to be quite low.
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Sometimes leasing can be an option for gaining access to new (and used) vehicles and other capital equipment. Leasing can often be done through specialty leasing companies, banks and credit unions, as well as directly by some equipment manufacturers and distributors. Rates vary depending on the type and condition of equipment, years in business, owner credit and business financial performance.
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Equipment Financing are loan programs specifically designed for borrowing to purchase different equipment, where the equipment is also collateral for the loan. Interest rates vary depending on the type and condition of equipment, years in business, owner credit and business financial performance.
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With vendor terms a company benefits from the generosity of its suppliers to “finance” the purchasing of goods or services with a promise to repay within a given timeframe as agreed. Vendor terms vary depending on leverage of the purchaser. Typical vendor terms are 15-30 days. Extended vendor terms may go beyond that into 45-90-120 days.
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One of the most common forms of debt capital are loans from friends and family. Whether used for startup or expansion capital, it's best to treat this source of capital with the same diligence and reverence as any other loan. One way to ensure against any misunderstandings it to have a promissory note in place that clearly delineates the terms of the loan between the two parties.
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Owner equity is the cash founders put into the business anytime, whether starting or growing the business, or investing personal cash into the business to bolster slow periods of low cashflow. Typically the initial owner equity contribution is the capital that establishes the company’s opening shares and in the case of multiple owners or business partners, it establishes a percentage of ownership for each partner. Owner equity contributions are also required as a portion of most loan deals, minimum contributions tend to be between 10-20%.
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When friends and family make equity contributions to help start or grow a business in the form of cash or business assets, it makes them investors and part owners in the company.
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Business partners are another potential source of equity funding that can bring startup or expansion capital into a business. Capital contributions can be in the form of cash or business assets. These equity investments equate to an ownership equity interest.
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Angel Investors, Angel Conferences and Private Equity firms are other sources of equity funding that can bring startup or growth capital into a business. Investors typicaly seek a 5-10x return on their money within 5-7 years. Typical investments range from $50K to $5M. Angels and Private Equity investors are looking for both start-up and growth companies that can quickly and easily scale in size and market share, but also have a clear pathway towards a future exit.
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Venture Capital is equity capital from professional VC firms focused on particular growth industry sectors where they have expertise. VC capital tends to come in during the later stages of a growth company in amounts from $1M-100’s of millions of dollars.
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Seller Carry also know “Owner Carry” or a “Seller Carry Contract” is when the owner/seller of an asset (equipment, real estate, business acquisition) self-finances, via direct loan with interest to the buyer. It is not uncommon for a portion of the purchase price from the sale of a business to be carried by the seller, especially if the buyer is an employee who needs assistance gathering enough capital to meet the seller’s price.
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Certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and non-traditional lenders fill the gaps where traditional lenders leave off. There is a whole category of lenders to fill the gaps when entrepreneurs don’t qualify for access to traditional (bank or credit union) debt programs due to issues with: (1) low credit scores; (2) lack of collateral; (3) lack of industry experience; (4) tight cashflow or other reasons. Non-traditional lenders and CDFIs tend to be mission-based and provide a wide range of small business capital solutions (including in some cases having access to SBA loan guarantee programs) for: micro-loans (less than $50K), equipment loans, term loans, permanent working capital and sometimes even credit lines.
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New administrative rules established by the Oregon  Division of Financial Regulation in Jan 2015 allow small business’ registered in Oregon to raise up to $250K from Oregon residents (unaccredited investors) using either debt or equity. Specifically known as the “Oregon Interstate Offering Rules”, allow creative entrepreneurs to establish their own offering or deal terms in the form of an “offering document”.
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When lines of credit are not available, factoring may be a short-term cashflow management solution to explore. For small businesses that carry qualified receivables, factoring companies may be able to offer business owners 80-90% advances on an invoiced receivable in exchange for giving up a percentage of the payment. In exchange for this advance on a receivable, business owners may pay finance fees equal to 3-7% of the total receivables, in addition to transaction and account setup fees.
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Merchant Cash Advances or MCA is a type of upfront term loan for working capital typically repaid with high interest rates out of a merchant services account, often as either a percentage of future debit/credit sales or via regular daily/weekly automated clearing house (ACH) withdrawals. Repaying MCA cash-advances on a daily or weekly basis via ACH withdrawals can take a toll on small business cashflow.
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Several online non-traditional lenders serve small business capital needs with term loans and working capital lines of credit. These lenders require online applications, credit checks and promise rapid turnaround credit decisions. Most of this debt is unsecured meaning, there is no collateral, but due to the high credit risk of unsecured loans, interest rates generally reflect this with higher rates than traditional credit programs.
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Asset-based lenders (ABL) use business assets as collateral to provide entrepreneurs access to non-bank lines of credit or term loan products oftentimes to meet business cashflow or working capital requirements. Typical business assets include fixed assets like real estate and capital equipment, as well as current assets of inventory and receivables.
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Creative entrepreneurs sometimes use Certificate of Deposit Accounts (CDs) pledged by friends and family to fill much needed collateral gaps when their personal and business assets fall short of a bank’s collateral requirements to complete a loan request.
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The advent of  crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms like KivaZip.com, CommunitySourcedCapital.com, LendingTree.com and others  make it possible to access crowdfunded debt at interest rates from 0-15%. These unsecured small business loan proposals are typically evaluated based on applicant credit score, number of years in business, and uses for the loan request. In some cases, successfully accessing this kind of funding depends on  how well the prospective borrower can promote their crowdfunding campaign to friends, family, & followers through their networks.
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Prepaid sales, also know as unearned revenues, are sometimes used as a debt-based crowdfunding strategy. Crowdfunders prepay for goods and services to support crowdfunding campaigns with the understanding of future delivery (fulfillment) of goods or services. This strategy can help small businesses raise funding for startup or expansion projects by creating a secondary sales channel. Different online platforms tailored for different industries are aimed at simplifying this approach.
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Seed funds provide small start-up capital investments in exchange for a small amount of equity, mentoring and sometimes incubator space. These small equity investments tend to be less than $50K and are oftentimes made in the form of convertible notes that eventually covert from debt into equity. Different seed funds tend to target different industry sectors such as software, hardware, life sciences, medical etc.
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After readily accessible capital sources are exhausted, some entrepreneurs may be tempted to look at retirement funds as an option for shoring up small startup budgets, filling expansion capital needs, or adding working capital when cashflow is tight.  There are even specialized programs called ROBS (Rollovers as Business Start-Ups) that allow 401k account owners to roll over retirement investments without tax penalties, by purchasing founders stock in a startup C-Corporation.
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New administrative rules established by the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation in Jan 2015 allow small business’ registered in Oregon to raise up to $250K from Oregon resident (investors) using either debt or equity. Specifically known as the “Oregon Interstate Offering Rules”, allow creative entrepreneurs to establish their own offering or deal terms in the form of an “offering document”.
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While not technically equity, licensing pays the owner (usually) a one-time upfront fee in exchange for providing use of something or access to information, intellectual property, process or activity. This can be a creative way for some companies with intellectual property (IP) assets to license or assign to others to create new funding streams.
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While not technically equity, royalties are a type of licensing fees paid to owners based on asset usage often calculated as a percentage of sales revenue. Royalties can be a creative way for some companies with intellectual property (IP) assets or rights to license or assign to others as a way to create new funding streams.
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Grants are outside cash contributions sourced from different types of public, private and nonprofit organizations. Grant money tends to be earmarked for particular economic purposes and may oftentimes come with strict requirements such as: extensive applications, deadlines, matching funds and detailed reporting. Hundreds of grant programs exist and are setup to address different industries, needs and stages of business.
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The development of the global crowdfunding space and associated online platforms has resulted in a few domestic equity-based crowdfunding platforms for entrepreneurs to choose from. Most of these equity crowdfunding platforms are designed to attract accredited investors like Fundable.com, but after Title IV of the JOBS Act, was implemented in June of 2015, equity crowdfunding opportunities expanded to non-accredited investors.
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One of the most common forms of crowdfunding is reward-based, where crowdfunders provide monetary contributions,  oftentimes through an online platform like Kickstarter.com, in exchange for the promise of tangible and intangible rewards (typically of lesser value than their initial contribution).
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