Help me flatten the unemployment curve and save small businesses through a platform to access the new stimulus loans

laurabilazarian·Mar 27, 2020

Hey, my startup team has stood up a platform over the past 72 hours to help small businesses access the new "paycheck protection" loans which provide 2.5 months of payroll, rent and other expenses and are forgiven in 8 weeks (if you use the funds to keep employees, pay rent, etc) - effectively a grant if you comply which our platform enables. Women and minority owned businesses have priority so it's an amazing source of capital for us in these challenging times. I'm looking for engineers and businesspeople who want to help and those who want access first. Megan Smith, CTO during Obama administration, is helping us cut through the noise as time is of the essence. The SBA and lenders are not setup to adjust quickly so this is how we as tech people can help stave off longer term shocks like unemployment and commercial real estate crashing. And also how we can delay the hard decision of laying off key employees. Email me at [email protected] to help.

ellenflanagan·Mar 28, 2020

Laura. This is extraordinary. I’m a seasoned physician and if there is a role for me doing anything, happy to help. Also, if there is any way that I can contribute as an educable human, put me to work.

laurabilazarian·Mar 31, 2020

Hey I dont think I had reply notifications turned on. Happy to discuss how you can help. We've got a lot of momentum now with awesome people jumping in every day and will phased launch starting tomorrow. I'd love to see how you could jump in and help. Speed is of the essence. Email me and reference this. [email protected]

ellenflanagan·Apr 03, 2020

Hope all is going well! Must be exhilarating and exhausting!

Shanea·Mar 29, 2020

I emailed you!

laurabilazarian·Mar 31, 2020

Sent you back a step by step guide to accessing the new $10k grants (or loan advances depending on who you talk to) which just dropped last night. Spent all night making it. Want you and others like the people in this community to be first in line.

MarianaMoon·May 19, 2020

Hi @laurabilazarian, we have received $2000 as part of the $10 000 EIDL from SBA. Are we talking about the same thing here? And if yes, do you know anything about the rest of the money and how is it gonna be distributed. We have also applied to PPP with Bluevine (but as pre-revenue) we havent received any resolution yet. Would be happy to ocnnect and share my experience: my email [email protected]