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Accepting credit cards is a crucial part of running a business—but it is only one part. Buying new equipment, expanding to a new space, and hiring more employees pose exciting and often expensive challenges. That’s why today we announced Square Loans, a program designed to make it quick and easy for independent businesses to get capital they need to grow.
In building the program, we spoke with hundreds of businesses about the challenges they’ve faced getting and investing new capital.
Here’s what we heard and how it helped us build the program we launched today:
You think in terms of dollars, not interest
When it comes to getting capital, the important questions are: how much money will I get, how much will it actually cost, and will it help me grow? For example, Follicle Hair Salon is a popular salon in San Francisco who were looking for ways to help their business grow. They assessed their salon costs and used Square Loans to move into a larger space and add 12 new salon chairs. They knew the total amount of the offer and the exact cost upfront, and since that cost never changed, the math was easy. With each salon chair bringing in between $5,000 to $8,000 a month, the new cash flow ensured the advance quickly paid for itself.
You have big ideas—but need money to get started
One of our first Square Loans businesses, art and clothing store Zero Friends, was rejected by a loan officer because the company “just puts monster art on t-shirts.” They knew there was demand for their product—they just needed the initial cash to get going. With Square Loans, Zero Friends was able to double the inventory they brought to a recent comic book convention, which let them double their sales. We believe in independent businesses like Zero Friends and their “monster art on t-shirts.”
Your Time = Money
We heard it over and over: For growing businesses, every hour counts. Caroline Bell, owner of Cafe Grumpy in New York, said they spent more than six months applying for a loan. With Square Loans, there’s no application process and Cafe Grumpy got their money the next business day. They used the money to open a sixth cafe. (If you’re in Grand Central station, you should stop by!) Because payments are automatic, business owners like Caroline can spend time—and money—on more important things, like chatting with customers, training employees, and growing their business.
We’re extending new Square Loans offers every week to sellers already running their business with Square. The first step to becoming eligible for Square Loans is to download Square Point of Sale for either iOS or Android and start running your business with Square today.
We’re excited by the success of some of the earliest uses of Square Loans and can’t wait to see what the future holds as we expand the program.
Learn more about the program—including eligibility—in our Support Center.
