You can’t start up your start-up anywhere. You need access to talent, capital, and infrastructure. Ideally, you’ll be in city with a public and private sector that cooperates with and supports entrepreneurs. What you don’t need are astronomical rental, living, and other costs that can be a serious drag on your business’ ability to gain […] Read more “3 Reasons Why Nashville is a Booming Hub for Startups”
Start-up Blog
2016 is in the books, which means your start-up’s books are about to take center stage as tax season begins. If you launched your business in 2016, this may be your growing enterprise’s first go `round with tax preparation. As much as you would rather be focusing your attention elsewhere, spending some time getting organized […] Read more “4 Simple Ways to Prepare Your Start-Up for Tax Season”
Early stage and start-up companies can invest in crucial research and development activities while pocketing significant – and now permanent – tax credits to offset the costs of those investments. The PATH (“Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes”) Act of 2015 allows entrepreneurs to commit significant resources to innovation and receive huge tax benefits even if […] Read more “The PATH Act is a Great Step Forward for Start-Up R&D Costs”
Ask any long-suffering, die-hard Chicago Cubs fan what it meant to them to see their beloved team win the National League pennant and appear in their first World Series in 71 years and you may hear words that transcend the game of baseball and enter the realm of the spiritual. A lifetime of faith, hope, […] Read more “5 Things Start-Ups Can Learn From the World Series Champion Chicago Cubs”
Board rooms these days are still predominantly male, but when a female exec graces the table, she’s typically reporting higher company earnings, data shows. As women climb not just the corporate ladder but are increasingly starting companies all of their own – Birchbox, Tory Birch and Flickr were all started by women, to name a […] Read more “4 Key Ways Women Business Leaders Are Reshaping the World”
On Oct. 30th, 2015, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules around equity crowdfunding, signifying one of the final steps in fully enacting the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which was signed into law in 2012. The rules went into effect in May 2016. Today, we’re here to give startup and small […] Read more “The Pros and Cons of the SEC’s New Equity Crowdfunding Regulation”
As a small business or startup, you have the challenge of spending as little as possible to bring in (ideally) exponentially more – not a simple feat given that your time and energy is by definition split in multiple directions. Thus, the age-old debate: How should you fund your vision? Do you bootstrap, funding everything […] Read more “5 Reasons You Should Bootstrap Your Business Instead of Raising Capital Meta: As a startup, you have the challenge of spending as little as possible to scale your business. How should you fund your vision—bootstrap, or raising capital?”
As you may have heard by now, the Department of Labor (DoL) recently revised its overtime regulations in a move that will impact 4.2 million American workers[1] and countless employers. As of December 1, 2016, more workers will qualify for overtime pay. While the new rule stretches over 160 pages, as a business owner it’s […] Read more “4 Key Facts About the New Department of Labor Overtime Regulations”
As a mom, let’s be real: you already have at least one full-time job! But given many factors—including the affordability of new online marketing technologies, job instability, desire for flexibility, and general passion—you may have considered starting a business of your own. The kind of business that pays in cash. There’s never been a better […] Read more “Attention Mompreneurs: The Advantages and Challenges to Starting a Business”
The Chicago business scene is reeling from a new cloud tax law that requires some cloud-based businesses to pay a 5.25% fee on top of taxes already owed. As you can imagine, this is painful news to business owners and executives who haven’t accounted for such a commitment — and find themselves scrambling to reckon […] Read more “3 Facts Small Businesses Need to Know About Chicago’s Cloud Tax”
With the Oscars ceremony this Sunday, we wanted to highlight one of favorite movies from 2015, “Joy” – a movie that all start-ups and entrepreneurs should watch. “Joy” tells the story of a young woman with an unstoppable entrepreneur spirit who believes in her good ideas, no matter how much bad advice she gets. Just […] Read more “Five Things Start-ups Can Learn From “Joy””
If you’re new in business, we don’t have to remind you that securing investment is the name of the game. Luckily for our Illinois-based small business clients, there’s a helpful tax credit program, which you might qualify for, that makes investing in early-stage, innovative companies advantageous for investors. The impact for you (if your company […] Read more “Investor Tax Credit – Do You Qualify?”