#1 - Funding Main Street & Bagels with Ben Lozano

RBFN Podcast

Today’s Guest
I’m excited to welcome to our show Ben Lozano, CEO and Co-Founder of SMBX. I asked Ben to join The RBFN Podcast because we wanted to explore the landscape of innovative funders who are providing capital to traditional small businesses - what I often call Main Street businesses - which is a market that hasn't seen much innovation in recent years. Ben built SMBX to solve this problem and to help traditional small businesses get the capital they need to thrive and grow. We talk about his background, why he built SMBX and how, and what the future of small business funding looks like.

Key Takeaways
Ben’s Start in Finance [1:50]

Why Ben Launched SMBX and the Problems It Solves [3:39]

SMBX Customer Examples and Stories [7:38]

Happy Customers Lead to New Customers [12:44]

How the Small Business Bond Works [15:46]

How Ben Funded the SMBX at the Earliest Stages [32:57]

Raising Venture Capital [34:33]

What’s Next for SMBX [39:30]

Resources:
Revenue Based Financing Network
Novel Capital
SBA
Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator
Group 11 Venture Fund

Guest:
Ben Lozano
Email Ben at: [e-mail]
TheSMBX.com
Of Synthetic Finance: Three Essays of Speculative Materialism, by Benjamin Lozano

Other Links
Emily Winston’s Boichik Bagels

Humphrey Slocombe Ice Cream

Vegetarian taco restaurant Chaia