|
|
|
| ABOUT | ||
| ||
| ||
| SMALL BUSINESS TRENDS brings you daily updates on trends that influence the global small business market. | ||
|
||
 |
|
Anita Campbell, Editor |
|
||
| Past life: CEO, corporate executive, tech entrepreneur, retailer, general counsel, marketer, HR ... (more) | ||
| email me | |
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||
|
||
| FREE BUSINESS MAGAZINES | ||
|
||
|
||
| Trade publications FREE to qualified professionals. No hidden offers and no purchase necessary. | ||
|
||
| |
On Wall Street The Deal Computing Canada |
CIO Employee Benefit Oracle Magazine |
|
||
| 100+ additional titles. Click to browse. | ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ARCHIVES & SEARCH | |||
|
|||
|
|||
| |
Previous Small Business Trends articles can be found at the links below: | ||
|
|||
| |
October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 |
||
|
|||
| |
Or, use the search box below to find a specific post: |
||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
||
|
|
|
| NEWSLETTER |
|
|
|
| Sign up for our FREE Small Business Trends newsletter. (View Current)
We publish regularly and promise we won't share your email address with anyone. (Privacy Policy) |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| SMALL BIZ INFO & RESOURCES | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| BLOGS TO READ DAILY* | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * Don’t have time to read several dozen blogs a day? Pick two or three. Your brain will thank you for it. | |
|
|
|
|
| ONLINE COMMUNITIES | ||
|
||
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
| BLOG DIRECTORIES | ||
|
||
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
|
| THE BUZZ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SPECIAL RESOURCES | |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Small Business Trends Radio Tuesdays, 1:00 PM Eastern U.S. time on Voice America network Click to listen November 1st: Torsten Jacobi, CEO of Creative Weblogging, joins host Anita Campbell. Sponsored by Six Disciplines. Show details. |
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friday, November 26, 2004 | |
|||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Just Say No to Taxpayer Money for Venture Capital | |
||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|||||
|
|
In a previous article, I pointed out Guy Kawasaki's humorously blunt advice about venture capital. I stressed this point: very few companies are good candidates for venture capital funding.
This is precisely why I do not support the continuation of the U.S. Small Business Administration's SBIC program. The SBIC (Small Business Investment Companies) program uses federal money as venture capital. News reports make it sound like eliminating the program would hurt needy entrepreneurs. But few entrepreneurs qualify for venture money. Besides, it is not as if the government is giving money away directly to entrepreneurs. The money goes to special venture capital funds to help minimize their investors' risk and give them more money to play with. And their use of that money hasn't exactly had a stellar track record. The program is more than US$1.2 Billion in the hole. That's $1.2 Billion of taxpayer money lost. And it's likely the losses will approach US$2 Billion before all is said and done. The Office of the Inspector General of the SBA issued a report critical of the SBIC program in May 2004. The report concludes that too much risk is being taken on by taxpayers. There are wiser uses for taxpayer money. More small businesses can qualify for loans than for venture capital -- by far. More good can be done for more small businesses through the SBA's lending programs. Congress and President Bush should continue to fund the SBA loan programs. However, they should let the SBIC program die a natural death. Government should not be subsidizing the venture capital industry, which is what the SBIC program amounts to. Providing high risk venture capital is for private investors, not taxpayers. Unfortunately, it looks as if the Omnibus Appropriations bill that was passed this week in the U.S. Congress has given a reprieve to the SBIC program, at least insofar as Congress is concerned. U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe, Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, generally has been an excellent advocate for U.S. small business. However, she is off base on this one. |
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
| |||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
More news... more trends... more insight... | |
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|||||
|
Home | Privacy | Terms | SmallBizTrends |
|
|
|
|
|
(c) Copyright 2003 - 2005, Small Business Trends LLC. All rights reserved. |