We’ve wanted to buy new chairs and tables for egg for years–tables that aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t scarred by 10 years of abuse, chairs that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t squeak and sway even before you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve eaten your grits. We’ve just had a hard time gathering together the money to do it. It’s a problem thousands of small businesses face, and usually they solve it by resorting to credit cards or bank loans.<\/p>\n
A group of entrepreneurs in New York have started a new way for small businesses to raise capital by turning to their communities and customers. a vehicle for companies and their customers to work together through “social loans.” Like other small-scale financing vehicles (e.g. Kickstarter), Smallknot<\/a> helps businesses raise money through small contributions from many people. Unlike Kickstarter, Smallknot<\/a> pledgers are paid back<\/em>–so they get a 3-fold return. They get their money back, they get the option of incentives at various pledge levels, and they get the satisfaction of helping to support a business they already belong to and believe in.<\/p>\n