SurvivalWare 20,000 Small Businesses Initiative

It has been 24 months since Goldman Sachs announced its 10,000 small businesses initiative. We have chosen this date purposefully to announce the SurvivalWare 20,000 small business initiative. We're setting aside $10 Million, a significant proportion (multiple?) of our annual revenue to enlist students, the unemployed, and under-employed to become SurvivalWare Experts. And help us change the world, one small business at a time.

The $10 million covers 20,000 discount coupons worth $500 off the $695 purchase price for SurvivalWare Pro. In addition to the software discount, we are offering FREE online videos and webinars to teach people what they need to know about doing small business financial analysis and cash flow projections. We intend to pair each participant with at least one small business owner who could use some help.

In the November 17, 2009 press release announcing their program, Goldman called it "a $500 million initiative that will unlock the growth and job creation potential of 10,000 small businesses across the United States through greater access to business education, mentors and networks, and financial capital."

About a year later, the Economist magazine published an article in the November 6, 2010 issue entitled "Mutiny over the Bounty." Here is the opening paragraph:

"It is a year since the investment banking industry committed reputational suicide by paying bumper bonuses just a few months after the worst financial crisis in living memory. That move helped destroy investment bankers' credibility with the public and many politicians. Outside finance, even red-blooded capitalists cringed in embarrassment. Bonuses were paid from profits buoyed by public subsidies – either directly through bail-outs or by central-bank interventions and implicit government guarantees. They were also paid at the expense of rebuilding capital buffers. In 2009 the typical firm's wage bill was equivalent to between a quarter and half of its core capital. Investment banks, it seemed, were not being run in the interests of the economy or even of their owners, but for their staff. It was financial mutiny."

Perhaps the Goldman initiative was not entirely altruistic, but an attempt at reputational damage control.

With the small business credit crunch, and 9% unemployment, it is not just small business owners who are suffering, but anyone trying to get a job, especially young people.

My idea is to bring these two groups together with the SurvivalWare 20,000 small businesses initiative. (That's right – twice as many businesses as the Goldman Sachs initiative, and at a fraction of the cost!) We've proven the value of SurvivalWare in a small business setting, especially when there is someone to set things up and keep it updated for the business owner. FIf you are unemployed, under-employed, or disaffected, we offer to teach you how to become a SurvivalWare expert. The work is interesting and fulfilling. You learn a lot about business when you work with an owner to peek inside his operation using a financial model. For the business owner who lacks computer skills or financial skills, you become a lifesaver who works magic to give him the ability to manage his cash flow. And avoid running the thing into a ditch.

Our goal is to sign up 20,000 participants / interns over the next two years from the ranks of the unemployed, under-employed – and yes, students. To go along with the software, user guides, and reference works, we offer free webinars to teach them how to become a SurvivalWare Expert. And we intend to pair each participant with at least one small business owner who can use the help.

The SurvivalWare 20,000 small businesses initiative will unlock the growth and job creation potential of 20,000 small businesses around the world by giving them the tools they need to manage their cash flow aggressively and get by on the barest minimum of outside capital. Also, to free up their valuable time – by avoiding time wasted being mentored by know-it-all investment bankers, applying for government grants, or trying to borrow money from banks and being rejected with a charge of BWB – Borrowing While Broke.

The application process is simple. Send us an email confirming that you are unemployed, under-employed, or a student. That's all it takes. No hoops to jump through. No paperwork to fill out.

We'll email you a $500 discount coupon, and the latest webinar schedule.

Upgrade your skills, learn about business, then reach out and help someone. That's right: change the world – one small business at a time.

Posted by Raymund Flandez

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