President Barack Obama delivers remarks to small business owners, community lenders and members of Congress in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner has his back to the camera. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I thought I’d try something new on the blog this week… I’ve been posting some interesting articles that I’ve found on other blogs, websites, etc. that I think are particularly relevant to small businesses (especially breweries, which are near and dear to my heart). So, today, I thought I’d recap the “best of” for this past week. Let’s get started with…
Mark Sperling blogs about decisions by the NC Business Court
Ok, so this is a little dry for most business owners, but it’s occasionally worth a read or search. NC is one of the few states in the country that has a specialized Business Court specifically to hear business issues and cases, particularly complex ones. This is a great blog to check out from time to time, especially if you’re a business attorney. http://www.ncbusinesslitigationreport.com/
Peer to Peer Business Lending
There’s been a lot of discussion about Crowdfunding lately, here’s an additional twist: Peer2Peer lending. Businesses use other businesses as investment opportunities, cutting out the bank altogether. If you’re thinking about starting a business and need startup money, it’s worth a read. http://under30ceo.com/consider-peertopeer-p2p-lending-business/
Debt v Equity
Another great topic for startup businesses. I advise clients everyday on the difference between debt and equity and what that means to you as a business owner. Read this over before you finalize your business plan. http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/09/debt-vs-equity-which-is-right-for-your-startup/
USPTO Offers IP Awareness Assessment
This is more of a press release than an article, but it’s a great tool for small businesses to make sure they know what their Intellectual Property (IP) issues are. Need copyright? Trademark? What’s a “trade secret,” anyway? The USPTO has some great resources. Check out the press release at
http://www.iplawalert.com/2012/06/articles/patent-1/uspto-offers-ip-awareness-assessment/ and their main page at http://www.uspto.gov
Let’s start there for this installment. I’ll post more next week as things come up that are pertinent to small businesses and the craft beer industry.
Thanks for reading and please, let me know what you think in the comments!
Related articles
- America Invents Act – Patent Office Funding (tacticalip.com)
- Peer-to-peer lending at encash provides a new way of financing between friends and family (prweb.com)
- USPTO and NIST Unveil New IP Awareness Assessment Tool (ipwatchdog.com)
- Small Business Lending Demand Drives Five Point Capital’s Addition of 13 New … – PR Web (press release) (prweb.com)
- Government to invest in startups through P2P lending platforms (wired.co.uk)