- Hey everyone, I'm Scott Shigeoka.
I'm GoDaddy's Entrepreneur-In-Residence
and I am here at my home sheltering in place.
And with government grants like the
Paycheck Protection Program I've been thinking a lot
about how small businesses can think
about funding and cash flow.
So we're bringing together a group of experts
who come from the world of financing,
the world of payment processing
and the world of grant making to small businesses
to share a little bit of insight
on how we as small business owners
can think about this issue.
So first up I'm talking to David,
who is a Senior Director of Global Partner Development
at PayPal and they're thinking a lot
about how businesses can go online
and how they can do their payment processing there as well.
Awesome, well thanks so much for joining David.
Thank for your time.
Right now in the landscape across the US
small businesses are really struggling right now
and I was wondering if you could
talk about the funding or the capital landscape right now.
What does it look like?
- And a lot of small businesses
really don't have the cash flow to remain closed
even for a couple of days let alone for weeks,
two weeks or months.
And so funding is challenging around that.
It's always challenging in any economic downturn
and we saw that in the prior one,
which was the 2008 financial crisis.
The good news is I think that the governments
around the world and in particular
the United States they've learned from that crisis
and they've really acted to help small businesses this time
and the key driver for United States economy
and very specifically through the Cares Act.
- Yeah and is the Cares Act the only thing
that cash strapped businesses can look towards
or do you think that there's other opportunities
out there for funding?
Outside of the Cares Act and PPP
and some of the things we've all been hearing about.
- What we're seeing is that a lot of small businesses,
particularly those that have physical presence
are reacting and adapting to the way
that commerce is changing and so
the first and most obvious thing
is to accelerate what you're doing online
from a commerce perspective.
But we're also seeing an explosion of virtual services.
So even things like yoga classes,
other consultancy type products
that businesses can deliver through video conferencing
and new forms of communication.
Selling gift cards is a great way
to consider getting cash right now.
Where the customers have online
financing options like PayPal credit,
the business gets the full amount
of the purchase and the shoppers pay
for the qualifying purchase over time.
- I'm wondering what's your advice
that you would give to small businesses
who are thinking about cash flow right now
and are there any dos or don'ts related to that?
- There's also an opportunity here as well.
Particularly for businesses that can adapt quickly
to basically what's happening is an emergence
of a new model for commerce.
And so accelerating that migration to online
that is I would argue the number one thing
you should think about doing.
And so at some point we will reopen
and when we do there's gonna be a different type
of buying behavior that happens.
Regardless of the regulations individuals
are going to have taken something away
from this COVID crisis and they're gonna still have
some anxiety about being close to one another,
being in crowded environments.
And in particular touching cash registers
and things like that and so you need
to start preparing for that now.
It's a contactless delivery, curbside pickup
and touch free payments.
And so start thinking about investing
in those types of things now so that you're ready
for when businesses open up.
- Thank you so much for your time.
Really appreciate it.
- Yep, thank you so much.
- So next up I'm speaking with Carolyn from Hello Alice
and they're a technology company
that connects entrepreneurs and small business owners
to a curated list of resources
and opportunities that grow their businesses.
Hi, thanks for joining me.
Really excited to talk.
Could you tell me a bit more about Hello Alice
and what it is that you do?
- Our goal at Hello Alice is to make sure
that every business owner, regardless
of who you are, where you live,
where you come from has the knowledge
of the funding resources that are available to them.
And so we're making sure that you're able
to navigate through the grant opportunities
that are out there, the federal funding opportunities
that are out there, venture capital,
bank loans, all of this world of financing.
How can you make sure that you know what's available,
that you know what's right for you
and that you actually know how to access it.
- And what do you think the landscape
around funding is right now?
- Funding is tough regardless of the size of your company,
but particularly for small business owners.
So we're seeing things like the Cares Act
and the PPP program coming through.
It sort of put everything else on hold with the banks
and you're fully focused on how do we deploy
this federal funding, everything from lines of credit
to alternative financing that we were seeing
from a lot of the credit markets
has certainly slowed down a little bit as a result.
I think the general advice for everyone
is conserve every dollar you can
because you don't know where that next bit
is gonna come from.
- Are there ways that small businesses
can tap into new sources of funding
outside of the PPP and the Cares Act?
- We have aggregated over 500 different funding resources
through our COVID-19 business center,
which are definitely worth checking out.
But there are a lot that are available
specific to restaurant owners.
We've seen them pop up for artists.
We've seen them pop up for entertainers,
any kind of gig economy workers.
Lot's of different pieces of the puzzle
and so they're continuing to pop up
all the time I think as communities
are becoming more aware of how specific businesses
are starting to be affected by this.
Alternatively looking at things like crowd funding,
you see companies get $20 or $30,000
or more that way.
- Is there any advice you have
for small business owners during this time?
- Shelter in place obviously has been
a massive upheaval for lots of different businesses,
but what's happening after I think companies
need to have their heads kind of focused on that piece
'cause that's the longer term.
Stay on top of what's happening in your area,
but really stay on top of what are the trends
for places where that's already been lifted
to see what's happening.
And so starting to think through
the remainder of 2020 and even into 2021,
what is the strategy that's gonna help
bridge your company through.
Say number one how are you scaling back
in every possible way and hopefully
that's already a conversation that you've had
with your company and have looked at.
Number two is is there gonna be demand
for your products or services right now
and if not how can you pivot and adapt your company
towards something that might be
a little bit higher in demand.
- Thanks so much for your time.
I really appreciate it.
- Thank you so much.
- So next up I'm gonna speak to Kryistyna
from the Better Business Bureau
in the Pacific Southwest region
and they're offering grants right now
and she's gonna give us some perspective
as a funder in this space on what
small business owners can do.
Thanks so much Kryistyna for joining
and taking time and I heard you are offering grants
and other forms of releif.
Could you talk about that?
- During the crisis we just went into full gear
and we created the Main Street Matters grant program
to help some of these businesses
stay afloat during this crisis.
So when you think about Main Street
you think about those small mom and pop shops,
the barbers and the restaurants and the unique little shops.
Maybe they applied for the PPP loan
and didn't get it or their business size
just didn't qualify for any type
of other grant or funding.
Being an accredited business with
the Better Business Bureau isn't one of the criteria,
but we do vet the businesses as if
they were going to be accredited,
so ensuring they follow our eight standards trust
which essentially just comes down to
advertising honestly, following proper licensing,
maintaining a positive reputation, things like that.
- What advice do you have in terms of
how businesses can present themselves to you?
- Some of our suggestions are to really show us
how you stand out in the community.
Let us know your story that's really something
that we're looking at you know.
Everyone needs support right now,
but show us how you've gone above and beyond
in your community to really make a difference.
- And are you experiencing any struggles right now
as a funder?
- Definitely, I mean there's always a struggles,
for one we received within 48 hours
over 600 applications and they definitely exceed
our amount of funding available right now.
And then additionally just making those choices
on who to fund.
You know you can't help but have your heartstrings pulled
at every single one of these businesses.
Every one is in need so that's why
those stories are really important for us
to understand the depth of your business
and why it matters so much to you.
- Do you have any advice for small businesses
regarding cash flow?
- Just be very fiscally conscious,
watch where your cash flow is going,
try to stay educated on what's coming up next
and try to be prepared and be ahead of the curve
if you can.
- I was wondering what advice do you have
to small businesses who might not fall in your jurisdiction.
What would you tell them in terms of
other opportunities they can look for?
- We're seeing new grants pop up
all over the place right now, which is fantastic.
Some of the cities are coordinating efforts.
Some of the chambers are coordinating efforts.
So just kind of research in your local area
to see what funding is available,
but definitely be cautious on where you're going
and keep your information very secure.
Coming from the Better Business Bureau
we want to make sure that everyone
is staying very protected.
- I hope you stay safe and well.
- Thank you so much for having me.
- So this is a really challenging time
for many small business owners
and we're all looking for new ways
to think about funding, to think about our cash flow
and I hope that this has provided
some insight, some inspiration for you
as you move on this journey.
I want to let you know that there is a number
of free resources for you like this available
at OpenWeStand.org.
You can also subscribe to this channel
to stay up to date and you can comment
on the video below.
Thank you so much for your time
and I hope you stay safe and I hope you stay well.
And I hope to see you next time.
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