The Road Back to Residual Commissions
May 17, 2019Phil Dushey, President, Global Financial Services “We’re still getting resids from a company 14 years later.” That’s what Phil Dushey said about a factoring client he has at Global Financial Services, a New York-based financial brokerage firm he founded. He was speaking at deBanked’s “Broker Fair” to a room filled mostly with MCA brokers. Years […] |
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Small Business Finance Broker Wins Entrepreneur Of The Year
May 17, 2019Left: Latin Financial CEO Sonia Alvelo receives the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill Sonia Alvelo, CEO of Newington, CT-based Latin Financial LLC, has been awarded Entrepreneur of The Year by the Latinas & Power Symposium. The event, incubated in Hartford, Connecticut in 2004, is the largest of its […] |
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How To Scale Your Broker Shop
May 15, 2019Above: Will Murphy, Everlasting Capital When it comes to hiring, it’s quality over quantity. That’s what the co-founders of Everlasting Capital Josh Feinberg and Will Murphy told a packed room at deBanked’s Broker Fair last week. They presented a panel called “How to Scale Your Broker Shop,” where they shared tips on how to do […] |
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Merchant Relationship Status: It’s Complicated
May 14, 2019Brokers will often say that building strong relationships with their merchants is critical to their success. John Celifarco, Managing Partner at Horizon Financial Group, a five person ISO in Brooklyn, said that the advantage they have over larger competitors is the relationships they’ve developed with their merchants. Celifarco’s office is even in a streetfront store, […] |
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Broker Fair 2019 Makes Major Splash in the Heart of Manhattan
May 10, 2019
If a tiny ray of light were created from every conversation about small business financing, then the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan would have been tantamount to the sun on May 6th. It was the site of deBanked’s 2nd annual Broker Fair and the grand old lobby was abuzz with brokers, funders and vendors from […]
Broker Fair 2019 Photos
May 10, 2019
If you share any of these on social media, please remember to include #brokerfair Enjoy!
Shopify Capital Issued $87.8M in Merchant Cash Advances in Q1
April 30, 2019
Shopify’s small business funding division, Shopify Capital, issued $87.8 million in merchant cash advances in the first quarter of 2019, according to the company’s earnings report. The figure is a 45% increase over the same period last year. Overall, the company has funded more than $535 million in MCAs since inception. Shopify is primarily an […]
Does Your Merchant Cash Advance Company Pass The Scrutiny Test?
April 29, 2019
This story appeared in deBanked’s Mar/Apr 2019 magazine issue. To receive copies in print, SUBSCRIBE FREE The merchant cash advance business has come under repeated fire of late from regulators, legislators and customers. “Every aspect of the industry is under scrutiny right now. Syndication agreements, underwriting, and collections are the subject of bills in Congress […]
Has PayPal Eclipsed OnDeck in Small Business Loans?
April 26, 2019
It’s been said that Kabbage is on pace to surpass OnDeck in small business loan originations, but PayPal has already done it. When PayPal announced a working capital program in the Fall of 2013, few were predicting that the initiative would propel them to the top of the small business lending charts. Just two years […]
Merchant Cash Advances Surpass Leasing As Goto Financing Option for Small Businesses
April 16, 2019
Financing products sought (of those that applied for any kind of financing in 2018) More small business applied for merchant cash advances in 2018 than they did leasing, factoring, or equity investments. That’s according to a recent Federal Reserve study of small businesses with less than 500 employees. Nine percent of applicants applied for merchant […]
Learn From Josh Feinberg and Will Murphy in Person at Broker Fair
April 16, 2019
You’ve seen them on social media. Now you can see them in person. Josh Feinberg and Will Murphy of Everlasting Capital will be doing a joint presentation on how to scale your broker shop at Broker Fair on May 6th at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Limited tickets are still available. Register now […]
Give Up Equity In Your Business?! Try Alternative Funding Instead
April 4, 2019
One thing you can’t get back is your company. Clearbanc Co-founders Andrew D’Souza and Michele Romanow Michele Romanow, a judge on Dragon’s Den, Canada’s version of Shark Tank, realized from the show that a lot of companies should not be pursuing venture capital at all. She recalled a company that was willing to give an […]
Debt Settlement Mastermind of MCA Industry Finally Caves, Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charges
March 30, 2019
The mastermind that pioneered debt settlement in the merchant cash advance industry ended his career with a whimper last week. Sergiy Bezrukov pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering. Bezrukov has been in jail for two years awaiting trial, which had been repeatedly postponed because he kept on […]
Undercover in the Underwriting Room
March 22, 2019
Think of the stereotype of a high energy, high testosterone sales floor of men practically shouting on the phone. And then scale it down to a level of about 2 out of 10. That was the environment I stepped into on a recent visit to a room of small business finance underwriters. They let me […]
LinkedIn Posts Are Turning Into Deals & Dollars
March 14, 2019
On average, I sign up one ISO every time I post a message on LinkedIn, says Jennie Villano, VP of Business Development at Kalamata Capital Group. They don’t all end up submitting business, she adds, but overall it works. It costs her nothing more than her time and it produces results. Villano is among the […]
The Art of Moving The Deal – When it becomes too high risk for you
February 27, 2019
OakNorth, a small and medium sized business lender and online bank, has mastered a strategy to avoid merchants from defaulting 100% of the time, according to a story published in Quartz. The strategy: tell the merchants at risk of defaulting to refinance their loans at a competitor. “We’ve said [to merchants], ‘Go renegotiate with another […]
True Story: I Cold Called a Merchant
February 25, 2019
While visiting the office of Excel Capital in Manhattan on a reporting assignment, I saw a few open desks. They weren’t exactly empty, just available. There were phones, headsets, and computers all set up, just waiting for a salesperson to sit down and plug in. I pictured the salespeople I’ve previously profiled, smiling & dialing, […]
Deal Flow in the Heartland — From Mississippi and Beyond
February 23, 2019
This story appeared in deBanked’s Jan/Feb 2019 magazine issue. To receive copies in print, SUBSCRIBE FREE The political, cultural and economic abyss that separates the heartland from the coasts seems to grow deeper and wider with each passing day, and trying to reconcile the disparities can feel nearly hopeless. But differences among geographic locations aren’t […]
Shopify is Quickly Climbing the Ranks of the Largest Small Business Funders
February 12, 2019
Shopify originated $277 million in merchant cash advances in 2018, according to their quarterly earnings reports. That figure already places them among the largest small business funding providers nationwide. Below is a look of how they stack up thus far: Company Name 2018 Originations 2017 2016 2015 2014 OnDeck $2,484,000,000 $2,114,663,000 $2,400,000,000 $1,900,000,000 $1,200,000,000 Kabbage […]
New York Introduces Bill to Ban COJs in Financial Contracts
February 4, 2019
New York Assemblymembers Yuh-Line Niou and Crystal Peoples-Stokes have introduced a bill that would prohibit Confessions of Judgment (COJs) from being used in any contract or agreement for a financial product or service. Peoples-Stokes’ district was one of the first districts to boycott COJs originated by merchant cash advance companies after Erie County Clerk Michael […]
