Archives: October 2009

Obama Courts Small Business on Health Care

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 29

President Obama pushed hard today to convince small business owners that they would gain from health care reform. His speech to small business owners in Washington came as House Democrats...

Rock & Republic: Recessionistas Will Still Be Wearing Fashion Denim

Posted by: Stacy Perman on October 29

Last November, right around the time when the economy took a nose-dove, I spoke with Rock & Republic founder Michael Ball who had made a name and a fortune selling...

Icahn Outlines His Plans for CIT

Posted by: Stacy Perman on October 28

After announcing a $6 billion loan offer to ailing CIT, Carl Icahn, one of the firm’s bondholders and a longtime corporate rattler, has begun putting a fine point on his...

Business Bankruptcies Revisited

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 26

Back in June we published a story about the rising number of commercial bankruptcies. One of the big questions raised was how long the rate of bankruptcies will remain elevated....

How an Art Gallery Raised Venture Capital

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 26

Earlier this year we wrote about online art gallery 20x200 in our series profiling some of America's Most Promising Startups. Founder Jen Bekman bootstrapped the site, which sells fine art...

Will Congress Simplify the Home Office Deduction?

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 23

One of the most baffling tax tasks many entrepreneurs face is claiming the home-office deduction. It involves calculating how much of the residence is used for exclusively for business, how...

Avis Franchisee Awarded $16 Million in Damages

Posted by: Nick Leiber on October 21

This is a post by guest blogger Janet Sparks. It is cross-posted on Blue MauMau. After seven years of legal wrangling with conglomerate Cendant Corporation, a jury has awarded Robert...

Small Business Health Reform Roundup

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 20

Several news items today on health reform and small business: The Senate Small Business Committee this morning heard from small business stakeholders about what kind of health reform they want...

Can Carl Icahn's $6 Billion Offer Save CIT?

Posted by: Stacy Perman on October 19

Here comes another turn in the ongoing saga of embattled CIT Group: billionaire investor and corporate rattler Carl Icahn, a CIT bondholder, sent a letter to the company’s board of...

Looking for a Few Good Retailers...

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 19

Small retailers, get ready. Forecasters say holiday sales will drop for the second year in a row. The shock of last fall's financial crisis may have dissipated, but the consequences...

Introducing: The Small Business Policy Ticker

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 17

We’re testing an idea we hope will help you follow the policy news that matters to small business owners. We call it the Small Business Policy Ticker. The feed below...

Why Most Franchising Firms Aren't Targeting New College Grads

Posted by: Nick Leiber on October 16

This is a post by guest blogger Don Sniegowski, the founding editor of the daily franchise news site BlueMauMau. "There's a youth movement brewing in the franchising world," a recent...

Do Small Businesses Need Consumer Financial Protections?

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 16

In the aftermath of the crisis spawned by subprime mortgages, Congress is trying to create an agency to police consumer financial products. The latest reports sound like lawmakers are pulling...

An Update from one of BW's America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneur Finalists

Posted by: Stacy Perman on October 15

Last spring, when we first wrote about Sam Goldman and Ned Tozun, founders of D.Light Design, they were one of BusinessWeek’s America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneur finalists. Goldman and Tozun,...

CIT’s Peek Steps Down

Posted by: Stacy Perman on October 13

Barely a month ago embattled CIT Group, a New York commercial lender that provides funding to some 1 million small and medium-sized businesses astonished many when it announced that it...

The Book On A Small Business Merger

Posted by: Stacy Perman on October 12

What do you get when you pair one independent bookselling legend with another venerable institution? The answer comes in the form of the recent announcement that 115-year-old Vroman’s (based in...

The State of Play on Health Care

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 12

In time for the Senate Finance Committee's expected vote on a health care bill Tuesday, small business advocacy group Main Street Alliance is planning events in 11 states to support...

Negotiating Interchange Fees: One Merchant's Story

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 12

We asked for tips last week on how your business deals with high interchange fees on accepting credit card payments. Opponents of laws to regulate interchange fees say, among other...

Angel Funds on the Rise

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 09

Entrepreneurs who want to raise angel funding can approach three types of potential investors: individuals, angel networks, and angel funds. Individual angels are wealthy people looking to invest in private...

Small Merchants Attempt to Hold Down Interchange Fees

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 09

Some small business owners shared their suggestions for minimizing credit card interchange fees, after yesterday's hearing on a bill to restrict some fees and increase transparency. (Interchange fees are what...

Attorneys Criticize Dunkin' Donuts' Litigious Behavior

Posted by: Nick Leiber on October 08

This is a post by guest blogger Janet Sparks. Following Dunkin’ Donuts Independent Franchise Owners’ (DDIFO) twentieth annual meeting in September, president Jim Coen issued a letter to members stating...

Merchants Seek Lower Credit Card Interchange Fees

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 07

Are American shoppers and businesses paying billions of dollars more than they should be to use credit cards? That's the big question that the House Financial Services Committee will look...

How a Smart Grid Will Spur Energy Entrepreneurship

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 06

BW's Rachael King explains the details behind a buzzword we hear a lot now, the smart grid. In essence, the smart grid would do for power what the Internet did...

The VC Gender Gap: Are VCs Sexist?

Posted by: Nick Leiber on October 06

This is a post by guest blogger Jeff Bussgang. I find the preponderance of males in VC an annoying and stubborn phenomenon. When I first entered the start-up game as...

7-Eleven Store Owners Ask Congress to Reduce Credit Card Fees

Posted by: Nick Leiber on October 05

This is a post by guest blogger Don Sniegowski, the founding editor of the daily franchise news site BlueMauMau. 7-Eleven franchise owners stormed Washington on Sept. 30 to deliver 15,000...

7-Eleven Franchisees Get a Taste of Japan

Posted by: Nick Leiber on October 02

This is a post by guest blogger Don Sniegowski, the founding editor of the daily franchise news site BlueMauMau. Domo, the brown lump that is the mascot of Japan's giant...

Advanta Customers' Next Option: Small Claims Court

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 02

Small business owners who feel they have been charged improper interest or fees by Advanta can consider seeking remedy in small claims court. I want to be clear that we're...

Government Pushes Exports for Small Business

Posted by: Amy Barrett on October 01

Fred Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States wants to get small business to think globally. Ex-Im, along with the Small Business Administration, Commerce Department...

Job Losses and Gains Visualized

Posted by: John Tozzi on October 01

Ahead of Friday's unemployment report, I wanted to take a look at how the job gains and losses of small firms compares to midsize and large firms. Using data from...