How to Promote Your Raise to Over 10,000 Potential Funders Automatically

Upgrade to a “Promoted Raise” to extend your reach to a broader audience of potential funders and investors. Let us promote your raise (i.e., fundraising project for your business) to amplify your fundraising project with targeting options to reach likely funders who may be interested in funding your project.

We’ll promote your Raise automatically to over 10,000 followers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, on our blog, and via individual emails to members with similar interests (using our Funding Probability tool). We don’t promote using pay-per-click or search engine optimization, but instead utilize social media impressions and email marketing which produce more affordable, proven results.

A Promoted Raise is promoted daily (at least once per day) to followers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, on our blog, and via individual emails to members with similar interests. 40Billion has over 10,000 followers and over 200,000 members who are potential funders for each project. At this time, you can select either 1 day, 7 days, 14 days, or 28 days for your promotion period. Your Raise will be promoted every day including weekends during the promotion period. The service fee for a Promoted Raise starts at only $10.

To upgrade your Raise to a Promoted Raise, please follow these steps:

  1. Sign in to My Account at http://www.40billion.com/my-account.asp now;
  2. Click PROMOTE next to your Raise (you must have created a Raise already, so start a Raise first);
  3. Use the dropdown box to select the number of days (from 1 to 28);
  4. Click CONTINUE;
  5. Click PAY NOW, and complete your transaction;
  6. We will start promoting your Raise on the next business day.

 

 

Who Really Invented the Lightbulb? Really?

Did you know that Thomas Edison did NOT invent the light bulb? Really, he was just the first to successfully bring it to market and raise awareness of it.

Successful entrepreneurs don’t focus on the fear of someone stealing their idea (especially if you have a patent). They focus on executing on the opportunity by bringing their idea to market.

This is what the 22 inventors of the incandescent light bulb before Thomas Edison FAILED to do.

That’s right. Twenty-two inventors had the idea before Edison, and Edison didn’t necessarily steal their idea. He just did a better job of taking it to market, and this is where the value is.

If you have an idea, protect it, and then you can just focus on executing and bringing your product or service to market successfully.

Did you know that 40Billion provides an informative business startup guide for protecting your ideas and intellectual property through patents, trademarks, copyrights, and NDA’s?

Download the short MP3’s and listen to them on your computer or in your iPod, while at home, in the office, or on-the-go. Then, download the easy-to-use templates that come with each startup guide.

Go to http://www.40billion.com/startupguides/ today.

Is the “American dream” dead?

Is the idea of achieving the “American dream” a dying fantasy that is becoming impossible for more and more people? Yes, unfortunately, it is true. There is no doubt that the economy is suffering, and suffering with it is the American dream.

Entrepreneurs can’t afford to start businesses, families can’t afford to buy homes, and students can’t afford to go to college. Banks don’t seem to care, and the government seems to be paralyzed from the waist down.

But the fact is you don’t need a bank loan in order to build and grow a successful business, just like you don’t need an Ivy League college degree in order to be a successful entrepreneur and businessperson (though, it can help). We have to help ourselves and save our own economy, our own businesses, our American dream.

Raise money. Build dreams. 40Billion.com … Let’s start here!

40Billion.com logo

What is the #1 cause of business failure?

According to the SBA, the #1 reason why entrepreneurs fail to launch and grow successful businesses is simple: LACK OF FUNDING

So what happens if you can’t get funding? Well, if you don’t have any money, you can’t even start your business in the first place. And even if you do start it, if you have too little funding, chances are good you’ll go out of business!

Here’s the GOOD NEWS: You can avoid business failure by learning how to successfully raise money from everyday investors and funders in your social network and on 40Billion.com.

Think about it… if you knew how to quickly and easily raise $20,000 or $200,000, most of your problems would disappear, wouldn’t they?

www.40billion.com

Want to know which of your friends are most likely to invest in your business (or someone else’s business)?

Ever wondered which of your friends is most likely to invest in your business? Want to know which potential funders you should pursue and invite to participate in your Raise?

Use our amazing new Funding Probability BETA feature to find out the likelihood that each of your contacts will fund your Raise (or even someone else’s Raise).  Just click the “Invite Your Friends” button at the top of any Raise to find out more and make your social network start working for you!

 Add contacts to your network and find out which ones are most likely to fund your business.

40Billion.com Launches Audio Startup Guides To Help Entrepreneurs Start New Businesses

Five downloadable guides help entrepreneurs start new businesses quickly with tips for raising money, writing business plans, incorporating, managing cash flow, and protecting ideas.

40Billion.com (http://www.40billion.com), an online micro-funding and social networking platform for entrepreneurs and business professionals, has announced the release of 5 new Startup Guides to aid new business owners. The downloadable audio guides and templates provide quick access to information about raising money, funding options, business plans, company formation, cash flow management, and intellectual property protection.

In these Startup Guides, users can discover useful tips on 5 of the most important topics for new businesses:

On the website, users can download the short audio files and listen to them on any MP3 compatible player, including iPod and other portable music players, personal computers, iPhone and other smart phones, and many cars equipped with MP3 players.

Furthermore, users can download easy-to-use templates that come with each audio guide. For example, the startup guide on how to write a business plan comes with a 13-slide business plan template that users can fill out while listening to the audio instructions.

There is no charge for the first Startup Guide, and additional Startup Guides are $0.99 each. For more information, go to http://www.40billion.com/startupguides or click Startup Guides on the 40Billion.com site.

About 40Billion.com

40Billion.com is the social funding network for small businesses and startup entrepreneurs. 40Billion.com, Inc. is the first Internet-based microfinance company serving American small businesses. 40Billion.com’s scalable platform helps entrepreneurs raise funding more affordably through friends and family than through banks or other traditional financial institutions. Using proprietary online tools, entrepreneurs build social networks – including friends, relatives, colleagues, customers, and other contacts – and use these connections to raise capital through small business loans and gifts. Entrepreneurs create fundraising profiles and invite their connections to offer funding in exchange for discounts or potential returns. In business since 2008, the company aims to address a $40 billion funding gap. 40Billion.com, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

40Billion.com Small Business Funding to Explode to over $100 Million in 2011

40Billion.com continues to grow rapidly by incorporating online social networking to raise money for business ventures. New features have boosted entrepreneurial fundraising activity to over $30 Million, which is expected to triple to $100 Million this year.

40Billion.com, an online micro-funding and social networking platform for entrepreneurs and business professionals, is growing rapidly by incorporating online social networking to help raise money for small businesses and startup ideas. 40Billion.com logoNew fundraising tools and social networking features have boosted entrepreneurial fundraising activity to over $30 Million, which is expected to triple to over $100 Million in 2011.

Many businesses get started with financing from the entrepreneur’s friends and family, but it is often difficult to manage these relationships. 40Billion.com allows many people to donate or lend small amounts of money and spread the risk. Furthermore, the service provides its own unique rating mechanism, called Social Business Rating System (or SBRS), as well as communication tools to increase transparency between the entrepreneur and investors.

To request funding, an entrepreneur uses 40Billion.com to start a fundraising profile, known as a Raise, and invites their friends, family and others in their social network to invest and contribute towards the funding target. 40Billion.com makes it easier for entrepreneurs to share their business ideas with friends and relatives, who may want to invest or otherwise support ventures, and it offers easy ways to formalize and track funding agreements such as direct loans and commercial paper.
 
“We’ve facilitated over $30 Million in Raises, and we’re seeing a huge increase in demand, where more entrepreneurs are using our online micro-funding platform to get business loans and other types of financing because their communities and networks of friends and relatives will believe in them when banks will not,” said Cornelius Colin McNab, founder and chief executive at 40Billion.com. “Tough economic times have led to a credit crunch, where banks have tightened up, and this has increased the funding gap and made things worse for entrepreneurs chasing the American dream. 40Billion offers new and innovative alternatives to gain access to affordable financing through the power of the Internet. Our goal is to help all those hardworking entrepreneurs that have good ideas but don’t have the money or resources to get started.”

40Billion.com predicts that adoption of online crowdfunding, small-business microfinance, and professional social networking services by mainstream users will catapult its growth to over $100 Million in fundraising activity by the end of 2011.

About 40Billion.com

40Billion.com is the social funding network for small businesses and startup entrepreneurs. 40Billion.com, Inc. is the first Internet-based microfinance company serving American small businesses. 40Billion.com’s scalable platform helps entrepreneurs raise funding more affordably through friends and family than through banks or other traditional financial institutions. Using proprietary online tools, entrepreneurs build social networks – including friends, relatives, colleagues, customers, and other contacts – and use these connections to raise capital through small business loans and gifts. Entrepreneurs create fundraising profiles and invite their connections to offer funding in exchange for discounts or potential returns. In business since 2008, the company aims to address a $40 billion funding gap. 40Billion.com, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. For more information, go to http://www.40billion.com on the Web.

 

40Billion.com Extends Commercial Paper Short-Term Loan Product to Small and Medium Business Entrepreneurs

Enables existing Small and Medium Businesses to raise up to $1 million in short-term loans for 9 months using social networking

40Billion.com, an online micro-funding and social networking platform for entrepreneurs and business professionals, today announced new short-term loan options that enable small- and medium-sized businesses to raise up to $1 million in commercial paper for up to 9 months.

Commercial paper is an unsecured promissory note to meet the short-term financing and cash flow needs of businesses and can be a more affordable alternative to a traditional bank line-of-credit. Most commonly used by large corporations to raise quick and low-cost working capital, commercial paper has been in existence for over a century.

This reputable financing option is now available to small- and medium-sized businesses seeking to borrow $5,000 to $1,000,000 for up to 270 days, as well as investors seeking to diversify their investments and potentially earn a quick return while supporting U.S. small and medium businesses.

 “Our short-term loan option using commercial paper offers a revolutionary solution to the problems faced by millions of existing small- and mid-sized business entrepreneurs trying to find affordable working capital,” said Harendra Jani, VP of strategy and planning at 40Billion.com.

According to Jani, there are several advantages over traditional bank loans: “It is unsecured and does not create any lien on the business’ assets; the discount rate is negotiated between the entrepreneurs and investors online, so ventures with high SBRS scores or good relationships may get better rates; the wide range of maturity, from 15 days to 270 days, offers a lot of flexibility; and, it can be used frequently for a variety of short-term cash needs such as payroll, inventory, and marketing.”

Since 2008, the company has facilitated over $30 million in business fundraising projects and aims to address a $40 billion funding gap with innovative small-business financing tools enhanced by the power of online social networking.

About 40Billion.com
40Billion.com is the social funding network for small businesses and startup entrepreneurs. 40Billion.com, Inc. is the first Internet-based microfinance company serving American small businesses. 40Billion.com’s scalable platform helps entrepreneurs raise funding more affordably through friends and family than through banks or other traditional financial institutions. Using proprietary online tools, entrepreneurs build social networks – including friends, relatives, colleagues, customers, and other contacts – and use these connections to raise capital through small business loans and gifts. Entrepreneurs create fundraising profiles and invite their connections to offer funding in exchange for discounts or potential returns. 40Billion.com, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

 

40Billion.com Lets Small Businesses Turn LinkedIn And Facebook Social Networks Into Funding Networks

Online social networking and finance tools help entrepreneurs share business plans, raise money, and launch businesses with friends and contacts

40Billion.com, an online micro-funding and social networking platform for entrepreneurs and business professionals, has announced new integrated social networking tools that enable members to use their existing LinkedIn or Facebook accounts to help raise money for small businesses.

Using the Internet service, visitors connected by existing social networks – such as friends, relatives, co-workers, classmates, and other contacts – can sign up and sign in quickly and easily with their existing LinkedIn or Facebook accounts. The user simply clicks the “Sign in with LinkedIn” or “Sign in with Facebook” button and then enters their email address and password. 40Billion.com instantly logs in and automatically creates the user’s profile, including photo, summary, education, interests, honors, or other relevant information.

“Social networking sites are extremely popular with 90 million users on LinkedIn and 500 million users on Facebook, and many of the people using those sites for professional and personal social networking could use 40Billion also to raise money and grow businesses by leveraging their existing social networks,” said Cornelius McNab, 40Billion’s founder and chief executive.

“That’s why we’ve made it easy to log in on 40Billion with the same email address and password you use on those other sites. Your profile is automatically updated with relevant information about you, and you can invite your contacts from those other sites to join your network on 40Billion. This saves a lot of time and lowers the hurdle for entrepreneurs, investors, and friends who want to help build businesses, realize the American dream, and grow the economy.”

After signing in, each member can add people to their network easily by finding other members they know on 40Billion.com, inviting friends to join, importing their existing contacts from an email program (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, or Outlook) or from a social networking site (e.g., LinkedIn or Facebook), and sharing their profile on their LinkedIn or Facebook page. Furthermore, the service automatically suggests new contacts that the member may know.

Members use their profiles and contacts on 40Billion.com to help raise funding for a business, support businesses seeking funding and resources, and acquire new customers.

About 40Billion.com
40Billion.com is the social funding network for small businesses and startup entrepreneurs. 40Billion.com, Inc. is the first Internet-based microfinance company serving American small businesses. 40Billion.com’s scalable platform helps entrepreneurs raise funding more affordably through friends and family than through banks or other traditional financial institutions. Using proprietary online tools, entrepreneurs build social networks – including friends, relatives, colleagues, customers, and other contacts – and use these connections to raise capital through small business loans and gifts. Entrepreneurs create fundraising profiles and invite their connections to offer funding in exchange for discounts or potential returns. Since 2008, the company has facilitated over $30 million in Raises and aims to address a $40 billion funding gap. 40Billion.com, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

40Billion.com Creates Social Business Rating System as Alternative to Credit Scores

SBRS score offers businesses and investors an alternative to personal credit scores when evaluating funding and loan requests

Atlanta, GA, January 24, 2011 – 40Billion.com, a micro-funding platform that facilitates business capital fundraising through gifts and loans from an entrepreneur’s network of friends and family online, recently announced the launch of the Social Business Rating System, a novel approach to rating businesses based on social and financial criteria other than personal credit scores.

The Social Business Rating System (SBRS), is a proprietary system developed exclusively by 40Billion.com to rate businesses based on criteria that really matter for success, rather than traditional credit scores. A unique SBRS score is generated for each business venture’s fundraising profile, and the score is based on 17 or more criteria, including business-related success measures, entrepreneurial profile, peer ratings, and reviews.

The SBRS score helps investors and entrepreneurs to compare business ventures and assess their potential likelihood of success. The highest possible SBRS score is 850, and scores are updated weekly.

“Banks typically use personal credit scores to determine whether or not to lend money to a small business, and most startup ventures don’t qualify for bank loans. This is very unfair,” says Harendra Jani, Vice President of Finance at 40Billion.com.

“SBRS is an innovative system that differs significantly from FICO, which relies on numerical figures based on personal credit history. SBRS evaluates business success measures and takes social factors into account, so it’s a great alternative or supplement to personal credit history when rating businesses and assessing risk. The SBRS score helps investors assess the credit worthiness of the entrepreneur’s venture, and it provides an incentive for entrepreneurs to improve upon these success criteria in order to increase their scores and potentially raise more funding at more affordable rates.”

The company has generated SBRS scores for thousands of small businesses and facilitated over $30 million in business fundraising projects since 2008. It aims to address a $40 billion gap in small business and startup funding by providing an online platform for social funding so that more entrepreneurs can have access to affordable business financing, realize the American dream, and help grow the economy.

About 40Billion.com
40Billion.com is the first micro-funding platform that facilitates American small business capital fundraising through gifts and loans from an entrepreneur’s network of friends and family online. 40Billion.com’s scalable platform helps entrepreneurs raise funding more affordably through friends and family than through banks or other traditional financial institutions. Using proprietary online tools, entrepreneurs build social networks – including friends, relatives, colleagues, customers, and other contacts – and use these connections to raise capital through small business loans and gifts. Entrepreneurs create fundraising profiles and invite their connections to offer funding in exchange for discounts or potential returns. 40Billion.com, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. For more information, visit http://www.40Billion.com.

 

40Billion.com Launches Social Network for Student Entrepreneurs and Alumni

Social networking and finance tools to help college students and alumni share ideas, raise money, and start businesses

Atlanta, GA, January 12, 2011 – 40Billion.com, a micro-funding platform that facilitates business capital fundraising through gifts and loans from an entrepreneur’s network of friends and family online, today announced the launch of new social networking tools for students and alumni to raise money for businesses.

Using the free Internet service, college students and alumni can build their social networks of contacts, including classmates and friends from the same school and from different schools, and use these connections to raise money, resources, and support for entrepreneurial ventures. Members create personal profiles that include their education information, such as school name, degree, major, and graduation year. They can add one or multiple schools to their profiles and then invite people they know from each school to join their network. The service even suggests new contacts, automatically, based on their profiles.

“Many of the most innovative and successful businesses are started by college students and alumni, and now 40Billion.com makes it easier to launch a new venture with the support of your school. Whether you’re a Harvard dropout, a college graduate, an undergraduate, or a business school student, this is for you. If you’re starting a business, you have an idea for a new product, you want to help fund the ventures of entrepreneurs from your school, or you want to build your network, then this is for you. You probably already know someone using it,” said Cornelius McNab, founder of 40Billion.com and graduate of Yale University and MIT Sloan business school.

The company has facilitated over $30 million in business fundraising projects since 2008. It aims to address a $40 billion gap in small business and startup funding by providing an online platform for social funding so that more entrepreneurs can have access to affordable business financing, realize the American dream, and help grow the economy.

About 40Billion.com
40Billion.com is the first micro-funding platform that facilitates American small business capital fundraising through gifts and loans from an entrepreneur’s network of friends and family online. 40Billion.com’s scalable platform helps entrepreneurs raise funding more affordably through friends and family than through banks or other traditional financial institutions. Using proprietary online tools, entrepreneurs build social networks – including friends, relatives, colleagues, customers, and other contacts – and use these connections to raise capital through small business loans and gifts. Entrepreneurs create fundraising profiles and invite their connections to offer funding in exchange for discounts or potential returns. 40Billion.com, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. For more information, visit http://www.40Billion.com.