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I am surprised they managed to get the loan via the Small Firms Enterprise Loan Guarentee scheme. I don't know any web based business that has succeeded yet, mo
by mcdowall 15y ago
I am surprised they managed to get the loan via the Small Firms Enterprise Loan Guarentee scheme. I don't know any web based business that has succeeded yet, most bank managers authorise the loan as the guarantor provided you have enough equity yet in experience lack little web experience and equity in a property.
I am citing from previous experience, when pitching a travel startup to a Natwest 'business' manager his response when I expressed a point about Expedia was.. "who are they?". Enough said.
- ryancarson 15y agoWe had the same experience with Natwest. Our events business was doing over £1m in revenue with them, for over three years - and they still turned us down. They seemed completely aware of a recurring revenue model. Insanely frustrating. I just hopped on the web and Googled 'small business loan' and came across Lloyds. I filled out a random contact form and amazingly they got in touch. I had to prepare a traditional biz plan and present it. Because we bootstrapped the startup and revenues showed constant growth, and I was confident in my pitch, they got back to me next day and said they'd do it. Wasn't easy but it worked.
- mcdowall 15y agoCongrats! It does irritate me that the UK government bleat on about making business finance readily available then you end up face to face with the likes of Natwest!. Reading articles about the startup program in Chile and the building of a tech hub in Portugal I do wonder what happened to the innovation in the UK business sector, if the Startup UK website was anything to go by it's gone.