STRATiCOM

 

The U.S. Small Business Administration has added the Neighborhood Development Center Inc., based in St. Paul, to its roster of microloan lenders, the SBA announced Wednesday.

The SBA added eight microlenders to the program nationwide, including the Neighborhood Development Center. The SBA is expanding its microloan program as part of the federal stimulus package, which allocated to the SBA $50 million for loans and $24 million for technical assistance. The SBA is using the funds to add new lenders to the microloan program.
(August 19, 2009 - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal)

Minnesota employers helped lower the state's unemployment rate to 8.1 percent in July by adding 10,300 jobs.  The gains were the first Minnesota has experienced since August 2008, according to figures released Thursday by the state's Department of Employment and Economic Development. Unemployment in the state was 8.4 percent in July.
(August 20, 2009 - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal)

Lending standards will remain tight until the second half of 2010, according to senior loan officers at large banks. The Federal Reserve Board's survey of bank lending practices over the past three months found that domestic banks continued to tighten standards and terms on all major types of loans to businesses and consumers. Demand weakened for all types of loans except prime residential mortgages.
(August 21, 2009 - Phoenix Business Journal)

After two months of declining consumer confidence, a new survey from the Conference Board shows consumers' views of the economy and expectations for the future improved in August.

The New York research firm, which has been tracking consumer confidence for more than four decades, said Tuesday its monthly index grew to 54.1 from 47.4 in July. Views on current economic conditions improved slightly, but the outlook on the next six months registered a comparably large gain to reach its highest level since December 2007, the Conference Board said.
(August 25, 2009 - Business First of Columbus)

 

Thinking about "friending" your boss on Facebook? You may want to reconsider.  Nearly half of executives have some degree of discomfort being friended by the employees they manage or their bosses, according to a survey released Thursday by OfficeTeam.  The survey was based on telephone interviews with randomly selected senior executives at the nation's 1,000 largest companies.
(August 20, 2009 - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal)

 

The Obama Administration today reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that minority-owned and small businesses, including women- and veteran-owned businesses, have greater access to federal government contracting opportunities.
(August 19, 2009 - MnSBDC)

It's often said that the first five years in business are a real test of survival but those who work in small business say it's actually the first three years that show whether they will survive and the owner has what it takes.
(August 24, 2009 - theage.com)

The advice I gave to my sales execs is the same advice I would give to you:  smiling, nodding heads are normally not a great sign.  In the best case they might prefer to ask you questions but you didn't prompt them and they're being polite (although this is less likely in VC who are not known for being wallflowers!).

The VC might have tried a few times to prompt a discussion and you didn't take the cue but instead reverted back to slides.  This happens often and I bet most presenters never realize it.  Most worryingly, many times it means that they have decided that they are not interested in your product (or investing in your company) so why bother having a debate / discussion with you.