My Small Business Family And Ned
The year 2022 marks 16 years of my family living in the United States. It feels like yesterday, when my dad decided to uproot himself from India and move to the US, to follow the American dream. While I took the traditional Silicon Valley route of becoming a startup founder, my dad decided to pursue small business ownership.
I come from a family that has owned and managed businesses for more than 4 generations. My great grandfather was the owner of a gas station and a retail store, while India was still under the British rule. While I was growing up, I saw my aunt(dad’s sister) own and operate a cafeteria in a medical college in Belagavi, a city in Karnataka. I spent a lot of summers at the cafeteria, watching my aunt effortlessly manage the business.
After moving to the US, my dad met a retired Indian army officer, who was running multiple successful businesses. He became my dad’s mentor and helped him understand the fundamentals of running such businesses. Within no time my dad was ready to run his own business. But his biggest challenge was finding capital. With very little credit history and most of his assets still in India, he had little chance of getting a fair loan from a financial institution. With the help and support of his brother, he was able to secure capital required to start his business. He went on to break all sales records in his region and acquired multiple stores in the years to come.
As he ramps down his business and plans to retire in the next couple of years, he can’t imagine how different things would have played out if he didn’t have the support of his family and friends. He continues to be an inspiration, as more of my family members venture into this world of business ownership. His is just one of the many stories where the support of friends and family was critical in the success of the business owner.
In fact, 83% of the business owners in US have relied on their personal network for support. Business borrowers are facing a rejection rate of 80%. The two main reasons rejection are poor credit score and lack of collateral.
We’re building Ned to reduce that failure rate by helping business owners get qualified based on their cash flow.
Read more about how we help lenders qualify more businesses on https://www.nedhelps.com/.
We want to hear from you. Know a lender that can benefit from using Ned? Email me directly at mayur@nedhelps.com.
