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Graeme Donaldson, Policy Advisor at Able

In the early 90s Yellowstone National Park had a problem. The deer population had gotten out of hand and they were beginning to have a detrimental effect on the park. In one specific valley the deer had practically grazed the landscape down to the topsoil making the land somewhat barren. No shrubs, no grass, and as a result weak and unhealthy trees. The winds were eroding the topsoil, slowing the flow of the river, and severely impacting the quality of wetlands with this stagnant water.

The park did one small thing in hopes to keep the deer population under control. In January of 1995 the park brought in 14 wolves. Previously the park had had a policy of reducing (and eventually eliminating) the wolf population in the park citing them as a “undesirable predator”— a policy that was more or less in place for 100 years. They changed course and the effect these 14 wolves had was remarkable.

First they began to kill deer. But more importantly they radically changed the behavior of the deer. The deer were no longer free to eat the valley bare, but they had to hide in the forest and more secluded sites. With the deer removed the valley floor exploded in growth. The grass grew back and shrubs filled the barren lands. This new soil health meant the trees began to renew. In some cases they quintupled in size in six years. Shrubs and healthy trees meant birds, mice, and rabbits. Predatory animals and carrion birds returned to valley. Bears came back because of the berries on the shrubs and the bears helped reinforce the behavior of the deer.

The newly vibrant valley floor had an effect on the water as well. Less erosion meant that the river meandered less. A more powerful current and less stagnant water created a habitat for fish and fowl. Beavers began to dam up the river creating an even stronger ecosystem.

The valley flourished because 14 wolves changed the behavior of one group of animals.

So what does this have to do with small business and the economy? One lesson we learn is that removing one element of a system can have unintended consequences. Previously the wolves had been thought to be a nuisance or even a hindrance to the growth of animals in the park. There were actively hunted and allowed to die out. However removing one part of the system meant that over time the whole health of the park was threatened. Small businesses have been slowly dying in America. At Able we are not advocating for artificially allowing small businesses to succeed if the market does not call for it. But the lack of affordable debt has meant that we are not trying to keep this small section of the economy alive. Thinking small businesses as quaint or unimportant parts of the economy is similar to saying that wolves were a nuisance and an “undesirable predator.” If they are totally allowed to die out it cannot help the system as a whole.

The second lesson we learn is that a small number of different players in a system can radically change the behavior of bigger groups in the system. Look at how small microbrews have changed the behavior of some of the big beer companies. Or how a small group of online fashion bloggers can alter the entire landscape of the fashion industry. A “pack” of small businesses can drastically alter the culture of a city. Austin is the perfect example of this.

So far at Able we have loaned money to a relatively small number of companies. But they are our 14 wolves. And together, we are doing our part to keep the economy flourishing.

Able helps entrepreneurs grow their small business through a collaborative loan involving Backers— those friends and family who are willing to help fund your Able loan. Three to five Backers fund 25% of the total loan amount, which unlocks the remaining 75% from Able, and lets us lend to you at lower rates than other lenders.

Asking friends and family for money is awkward for most, especially if you have asked before to get your business off the ground. But with Able, the pitch to ask for money from people in your community dramatically changes. Why? Because when Backers contribute to your Able loan they automatically begin earning interest as you make loan payments that equates to a 10x better return than your average savings account. Not only is their investment helping you unlock three times more money from Able, but we manage the loan on everyone’s behalf so that loan terms are clear. This avoids the clunkiness that comes with typical friends and family lending (read more about that here.)

Tips to Identify Your Backers:

• Distinguish at least three Backers (a maximum of five) to collectively fund 25% of your loan. 
• Is there someone who has asked to get involved in your business, or that you want to get involved? Backers can be a mix of close friends, family members, previous investors, customers or fans of you and your business. Non-family members have to equal or exceed the number of family members.
• The minimum individual Backer contribution is $1,000 and there is a 50% threshold — no single Backer can give more than 50% of total Backer capital.

Tips When Asking Your Backers:

• Determine how much money you’re going to request from each Backer before you begin the conversation.
• Schedule time to speak with your Backers in-person, or schedule a phone call.
• Share the personal reasons why you’re asking him or her to contribute: Did they inspire you to start your business? Do they love the product/service you have to offer, or act as a referral source? Do you turn to them for business advice?
• Explain how their investment will be used in your business.
• Communicate to your Backers that for every $1 they contribute to your loan, Able will match with $3.
• Depending on the rate of your Able loan, let your Backers know that they will earn anywhere from 8-16%, and that monthly interest payments will be automatically deposited into their account. See a sample repayment schedule here.
• Explain that Able brings transparency to friends and family investing. Assure Backers that as long as you don’t default, they will be paid back in full with interest.

Be sure to take a moment to reflect on how awesome it is to not be in the middle of a consuming bank loan process and how you have a pool of people in your life that are rooting for your success. We want to change how friends and family collaboratively help your business succeed. When you lend and borrow in a community, everyone wins.

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” —Tim Brown, president and CEO of IDEO

Design thinking is also known as a unified framework for innovation — one of those practices that is easy to say, but extremely hard to put into practice. And a number of frameworks have been designed over the past 40 years to help create a better process to innovation. What are the core elements of these frameworks? Most begin with user research, then ideation (remember this IBM commercial), prototyping, followed by testing. The process itself evolves and is not necessarily linear in nature — it is collaborative, just like an Able loan.

So, how can design thinking help a business? One word: innovation. Design thinking helps companies strip away normal ways of thinking and tackle problems to create a better product. Different points of view; new ways of seeing the world. Rapid prototyping and seeing if these things work. It is the creative studio, the atelier.

Able is proud to share that we are partnering with The Wharton Innovation & Design Club to help reimagine how entrepreneurs access capital. The challenge? University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) graduate students will help design an innovative user experience that guides borrowers and Backers from loan funding to the end of the loan term. Watch more here:

The Penn Design Challenge is a six-week program that provides students a structured environment to design new solutions to real world challenges. Last year, the The Wharton Innovation & Design Club worked with well-known fashion designer Michael Kors to explore how mobile and social technologies can transform customer engagement, excitement, and loyalty for the brand.

This year, graduate students across disciplines of design, business, and engineering will help us build a transformative user experience that creates an effective and meaningful way to connect borrowers and Backers through the Able loan platform. Students will build this customer experience through a series of interactive workshops, where students will learn best practices from design thinking. The Wharton Innovation & Design Club approaches innovation through user-centric research, ideation, prototyping, and storytelling. And, we can’t wait to see how their design thinking helps us create innovation.

Key lessons from behavioral economics and microfinance suggest that borrowers are much more successful when they know and have the full support of their lenders. Yet friends and family lending often carries a lackluster reputation when it comes to financing a small business, but only because it occurs without structure and clarity. We are setting out to make friends and family lending easier for both the borrower and the family members who simply want to help. We believe that when you lend and borrow in a community, everyone wins.

The Majority of Businesses Are Funded by Friends and Family

According to The Hartford’s 2014 Small Business Success Study, small business owners are finding commercial loans more attainable, yet a less desirable funding choice. In fact, personal sources of funding now rival traditional commercial loans, a 39% increase from 2012.

For startups, this holds even more true. According to the Center of Venture Research and Angel Resource Institute:

• Personal savings and credit fund 57% of startups with an average investment of $48,000.
• Second to this, friends and family invest the most in startups, funding over $60BB per year, at an average investment of $23,000. This accounts for funding for 38% of startups, and is not all that surprising considering friends and family are some of an entrepreneur’s biggest supporters.
• Then, after venture capital and angel investors, the SBA funds 1.43% of startups with an average loan size of $143,899.

Because friends and family lending is already taking place and the lack of credit available to deserving entrepreneurs, we created a platform that gives structure to friends and family lending. This structure allows us fund what banks would classify as ‘riskier businesses’ at lower rates compared to other alternative lenders. In an Able loan, friends and family fund 25% of the loan, and we fund the rest. Bringing in outside investors into the loan unlocks matching funds from Able that otherwise the entrepreneur could not obtain otherwise.

Traditional Friends and Family Lending Lacks Clarity

The most popular argument you will hear against friends and family lending you money for your business is the risk associated with possibility of ruining the relationship. Let’s look at how can this happen:

• Terms are loose or nonexistent: Repayment dates were not established upfront, and if there was an interest rate it might have been unclear
• There is no loan ceiling: Often business owners find that they need more money than they originally thought, and asking again can cause friction
• There is no legal structure: Perhaps the conversation took place over the dinner table or during a social gathering, and no official loan documents came together
• Roles and risk were not discussed: All of the sudden your savvy friend now thinks he manages the business, or your mom did not realize she might not get paid back

We took these common pitfalls and created a friends and family loan platform that is financially and legally sound. Three to five outside friends and family, who we call Backers, fund at least 25% of your loan. Each person signs a legally binding loan agreement with you, and a legally binding loan agreement with Able. Repayment terms are clear, and Able services the loan on the borrower’s behalf.

Able is a New Platform for Collaborative Friends and Family Lending

The majority of the small businesses we work with have already taken funding from friends and family, and are hesitant to make the ask again. Here’s how Able is different:

• Able is a debt investment: Friends and family Backers earn interest payments over the life of the loan.
• Able manages the loan and repayment: Able collects payments from borrowers each month, and automatically deposits interest payments to Backers throughout the life of the loan. Backers receive their principal back at the end of the loan’s term.
• Able matches Backer funds: Friends and family participation in the loan unlocks three times more capital from Able.

"My experience as an Able Backer was simple and straightforward. I’m now more likely to ask a business if they need funding. I highly recommend Able and have nowhere better to point a business than to Able." Nelson M. - Backer to Able customer Branch Basics

Our goal here at Able is to bring the missing structure to friends and family lending, while funding more deserving entrepreneurs. Learn more about growing your business with an Able loan here, or investing in an entrepreneur you believe in here.

Graeme Donaldson, Policy Advisor at Able

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility! ― Soren Kierkegaard Either/Or

We’ve talked about the psychology of why we work and the satisfaction there is when work gives you opportunities of mastery, autonomy and purpose. We’ve also talked about how our society has set up an arena of freedom and permission in order to foster good work. At Able we strongly believe in these two things and it is why we are lending money to small businesses.

But work in the modern age has fundamentally changed. Gone are the days of one job, 30 years, and a gold watch. Soon the days of cubicle-drone may be over too.¹ It is the internet’s fault. And the internet is awesome.

In September of 2014 a report commissioned by research firm Edelman Berland concluded that 53 million Americans are now freelancing.

53 million people. And these are just solo enterprises.

Thirty-four percent of the workforce in our society are their own solopreneurs, contributing their work and talents to the marketplace. Little autonomous units pursuing their own work. The report concludes that the driver of this has, unsurprisingly, been the explosion in technology in the past 15 years. And this makes sense. This is not something that could have been possible 50 years ago. It was difficult for that many people to find clients. But that’s not the case anymore. Simply put: it is now easier for people to find each other and for markets to be formed between buyers and producers. The internet is has been, and continues to be, the biggest revolution in human history.

I know I may sound overly optimistic. But I caution you in dismissing that big claim. We humans have a weird cognitive ability to deemphasize the ubiquitous and central drivers of a situation (the signal) and overemphasize small (and ultimately unimportant) factors (the noise.) We are penny-wise and pound-foolish.² But the fact of the matter is never before in human history has the potential for personal autonomy been this accessible. We can monetize our hobbies. If we have enough interesting things to say and a blog to say it, people will pay advertising dollars to have access to our audience. We can quickly have access to a global market from our kitchen table (for a story on this check out Branch Basics, a member of the Able family). All of us have stories of people we know who are doing this, in varying degrees of success.

And the stats are already bearing this out. Explosions in freelance numbers. Deeply entrenched industries totally being rocked to their core (Zillow in real estate. Uber and Lyft in transportation. AirBnB in hospitality.) The rise of boutique-everything. These individual companies may succeed or fail, but the big picture is assured: the passionate sense of the potential is alive and well.

At Able we try to make loans for people who understand the age of potential they live in, and people who have the will to turn that potential into business. We see potential in this age of potential.

One of the most daunting tasks of an entrepreneur is how you go about raising capital, whether you are starting or expanding your business. Debt often gets a bad reputation due to hidden fees, high rates, or horror stories of over borrowing. Equity meanwhile is scary because you are inviting outside ownership into your business. There is no right or wrong answer when choosing debt or equity, but you should know the benefits and drawbacks of each when entering the financing arena. At Able, we believe in choosing what aligns with the entrepreneur’s ultimate vision for the business.

Demystifying Equity

Equity is a less common form of financing for business, yet the perception is that equity will make your business destined to succeed. News headlines amplify this sentiment that equity should be celebrated. Can it pay off? Absolutely. And full disclosure is that Able is backed by some savvy outside investors. But does it make sense for every small business?

What is equity? For those familiar with Shark Tank, equity financing works similar to what you’ve seen on the show. Investors and partners will provide capital to you because they are confident in the earnings potential of your business. In return, they get a stake in your company. Equity investors could be friends and family, angel investors, or venture capital firms.

Why would I choose equity?

• No structured payments: You are only obligated to pay your investors once your company starts making money with equity, which frees up additional money that your business may not have otherwise. Then when your business starts to generate profit, the amount your investors receive is dependent on their percent of ownership in your business.
• A sounding board: With equity financing, most strategic decisions are vetted by investors. You’ll have an additional set of minds to help navigate and guide your venture, but you’ll also lose having full control of your business.
• Disproportionately high capital needed: Equity makes sense if you need to raise a lot of funds or your business has a wide moat it needs to cross in order to be successful. This is needed in industries with potential exponential growth, and high upfront costs, like a technology startup.

Drawbacks to equity:

• Lengthy processing time: Equity financing generally incurs higher legal costs than debt financing. Because equity financing requires bringing partners into your business, they essentially become part of your team. This generally means there are more legal documents required to execute the relationship and the process can take longer to close.
• Losing full ownership: Equity financing is a bit of a gamble in that you are trading the future upside of your business for financing now. It is attractive to not have debt payments in the present, but you are selling part of your business for that luxury. In the long term you may be paying a lot more than you may have intended to.
• Being in a partnership: Having equity ownership means that you now have two groups to please: your customers and your investors. This can sometimes create unfavorable tensions and a lack of focus.

Understanding Debt

Debt is the most common form of financing and can be used by businesses of all size. It is ironic that debt is less costly for the majority of businesses, but rarely does debt get the ‘credit’ it deserves as this Entrepreneur article points out.

What is debt? Debt financing involves borrowing money from a third party (asking friends and family are also an option for some), usually from a bank or alternative lender, and a promise to return the principal and interest. There are many advantages to debt that favor small businesses when planned out thoughtfully. Even the healthiest companies have some level of debt.

Why would I choose debt?

• Retain full control: Debt allows you to retain the most flexibility to execute the business decisions you want. Lenders have no control over the decisions you make in your business and they are not entitled to your profits — their main concern is that you make repayments on time.
• Build your business credit: Taking on a business loan will build your business credit, which will beneficial if you choose to borrow more capital in the future. The future lenders can see that your prior debt was well-managed, which gives you an advantage for lower interest rates.
• Tax deductible interest payments: In most cases, the interest you pay on loans is tax deductible as a business expense, which is a big advantage for businesses that choose debt financing.
• Forces financial discipline: Debt payments are an expense that you have to pay every month. Successful business owners learn the discipline needed in order to pay off this debt and keep the business profitable. Their discipline is rewarded when they pay off the debt (and can now roll those monthly payments back into the business) without sacrificing any ownership stake.

At Able we are trying to blend the best of debt and equity. When you take on debt, you are often on your own, losing the insight of investors. When you choose equity financing, you sell a portion of your business. We offer debt financing but similar to equity, our loans include outside investors yet without the borrower having to give up ownership. Entrepreneurs raise 25% of the loan from friends and family, and Able funds the rest. This allows people who believe in the entrepreneur to make an investment in the business through Able, while simultaneously helping unlock 3x more funds from Able. In the end, our vision is to create a new lending ecosystem for The Fortune 5 Million and create a better way to measure risk so that more entrepreneurs can grow their businesses.

Graeme Donaldson, Policy Advisor at Able

The American Dream is an organizing principle — it is a simple story that we use to give a compact answer to the more complicated reality: the interplay between self, society, money, leisure, and work.

The American Dream is an arena. It is a space; a framework. In essence it says that an individual ought to be able to direct him/herself insofar as their self-direction does not harm the ability for others to self-direct. Or in other words: do your stuff, but don’t hinder other people doing theirs. Therefore we are able to test our products in the market. We can organize ourselves with like-minded individuals to solve complex problems. We can learn by doing and failing (and importantly, that failure is not permanent failure.) We can employ our resources to our own ends and create systems that have purpose. In short: the American Dream is an arena of freedom and permission; it is the healthy soil that allows us to flourish. When the arena is calibrated in a way that helps maximize freedom and permission we say that the system is healthy.

Now, the big idea is inspiring: “an arena where I can strive, try, fail, try again, and reap the rewards of my success!” Who wouldn’t get inspired by this? I think that this system works so well because it is in accordance to our nature: it resonates with our human heart and taps into what truly motivates us. But when you look under the hood of this system, it isn’t all that sexy — it’s actually kind of boring. Things like bankruptcy laws mean that we don’t have to live in a Charles Dickens-esque poor-house if our business fails. A just legal system that means we don’t have to rely on bribes or kickbacks to make businesses happen (for a fascinating look at how this destroys the flourishing of a society check this out). Even though we complain about taxes, we still live in a society that believes that you should keep the majority of what you earn. These are not givens everywhere in the world or at all times throughout history. But even though the particulars aren’t all that sexy, the implications are massive. You live in this time in history in a civilization that believes that the free man is the greatest force of good in the world. The American Dream is an inheritance; you live in an arena that was carved out for you from earlier generations. The Dream is in fact their dream for you—a place of freedom and permission. An arena for human flourishing.

However, all ideas are subject to erosion or drift over time; this is especially true for big, central ideas such as the American Dream. One way that it has drifted is in saying that the American Dream is the acquisition of stuff. The argument goes that the American Dream is an affordable house, available land, or easy access to the hallmarks of a middle class life. These hallmarks are actually the byproduct, not the prime product of a healthy arena. Individual wealth (houses, cars, land, investment etc) is a symptom of a healthy system. So when you look at charts of savings rates, home ownership, equity ownership and see that they are up, one conclusion you can draw is “this is a healthy system of wealth creation.” Yet you would be wrong to say “if we add more houses and cars and stocks we’d be even more healthy!” An abundance of byproduct does not mean the American Dream is working. A good analogy to think about this is grades in school. Grades are a byproduct. Good grades indicate that a student has achieved some level of mastery of a given subject over a given period of time. But we would be fools to say that we have smarter students if we tinker with the system to create higher grades. In reality by artificially amplifying byproduct we run the risk of killing the whole system (give every kid an A, and you have a system that says absolutely nothing about the student.). When it comes to home ownership, this is one of the lessons we learned in the Great Recession. We can’t just have more home ownership and then claim that we are healthier (it is fascinating to watch this video clip with the Great Recession ringing in our ears). If we as a society want to ensure that the American Dream is available to all, we need to focus on protecting this arena of freedom and permission.

This is what we are trying to do at Able. The whole thrust of our business is to make this arena available to everyone who wants to take part in it. There are a whole host of players needed in order for the American Dream to function. We have touched upon the legal and legislative ones above. But a healthy system needs everyone taking part and playing a part. Our small part is twofold. The first is that we are a financier: we are lending money to help businesses flourish. The second is that we are bringing investors a new platform so that they can invest in businesses they love and relationships they have. To continue our agriculture metaphor: we are doing all we can to make the soil the healthiest that it can be for small businesses, so that all parties who want to work and grow in this arena can. Since 2008 the small business loan process has begun to show symptoms of illness. At Able we are doing everything we can to promote health in this system. Because in the end the American Dream is our dream as well. We don’t take on old ways of lending just to be innovative; we don’t lend money just so that we can make money. We do it because we are part of the system too. It’s health is our health. We do this because we believe that this is what it means to be good citizens.  

Able is a financial technology company that serves the “Fortune 5 Million”— the millions of small businesses in the United States who together create two out of every three jobs — by offering low-interest term loans through novel underwriting and loan structures. Able is backed by Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate (the seed investor in Twitter) and Peter Thiel of Founders Fund (the seed investor in Facebook) and is headquartered downtown in Austin, TX. Learn more in this blog post.

Come work with an exceptional team of engineers and designers trying to fundamentally rethink how small businesses grow and get financed.  We’re building sophisticated applications using Python, Flask, SQLAlchemy and Angular.js.

Examples of projects you’ll be working on:
• Developing user-facing products and the underlying web services they will depend on
• Prototyping internal tools to aid market analysis and lead generation
• Experimenting and refining our data pipeline for managing customer credit risk

The following experience is relevant to us:
• Strong CS fundamentals including standard algorithms and data structures
• 1-3 years experience with backend platforms for Python, Ruby, JavaScript, or Java
• Experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

What we like to see:
• Experience with Python a plus
• Understanding of architectural patterns for large-scale web applications
• You enjoy spending each day dreaming up creative solutions to difficult problems
• You value good design and building high-quality products used by real people

Benefits:
• The latest Apple hardware
• Breakfast tacos
• A weekly company-paid lunch
• Fridge stocked with snacks and drinks
• Team outings: standup paddleboarding, karaoke, game nights.

Could this be you? Email us at apply@ablelending.com.

Graeme Donaldson, Policy Advisor at Able

Here at Able we make small business loans. But we’re not just all spreadsheets and risk analysis (although we do love that stuff). We’re also thinkers and want to contribute to the great American conversation of liberty, human potential, and good work. We believe that our relationship with ideas shapes our behavior. It is only through honestly engaging ideas, examining them, living with and testing them that we can incorporate them into our selves, relationships and businesses. It is our intent that this humble blog space can be a forum for this relationship with ideas.

In one sense, what we are doing at Able is a simple business and an old idea: we are providing credit in order for businesses to exist and grow. I like to think of this as a kind of time travel. We bring businesses the money they will make in the future to the present, so that their future can happen.

But when we strip away all of the technicalities of our business—credit scores, interest rate models, and other predictive tools—we come up to the fundamental question: why does man work?

What drives an individual to produce, to exchange their leisure hours for labor? What causes one to regulate their other human interactions of friendship and family in order to do something else—something that is often risky and not immediately beneficial? As creditors we need to have this question be a bit of a center of gravity for us. In so doing not only will we make good loans, but we will be helping grow the type of work that produce human flourishing, in all meanings of the word.

The first answer to this question as to why we work is easy: people work so that they can make money to survive. While making money is a necessary condition to why we work, it doesn’t seem like a sufficient answer. Mere survival isn’t (or, at least, ought not be) the sole function of work. It also doesn’t seem to account for the stunning examples of human flourishing in history: the Dutch weren’t just surviving when they stumbled on creating the stock market; Americans weren’t just surviving when they posited that a nation should exist that allowed mankind the freedom to make, take risks etc. Something more must be at play here to account for flourishing.

Dan Pink gets close to a good explanation on this in his great TED Talk on Human Motivation. His conclusion: human beings are fundamentally driven by a desire for mastery, autonomy, and purpose. When basic needs are taken care of, fulfilling these desires is what drives us. It then is a small step to link this description of the psychology of motivation to our discussion of work. What drives good work is when we act in accordance to these natural motivations.

First, mastery. It is in our nature to master things—we want to get better at the things we apply ourselves to, and a legacy of betterment is a fundamentally satisfying thing to the human heart. This idea is as old as western civilization itself. 

The Greeks referred to this concept of mastery as arete—an almost mythical description of excellence. For example, how many of you know a programmer that talks about “elegant” code vs “clunky” code? That qualitative difference is arete-­language and you can bet that that programmer is immensely satisfied with code that not only works, but is beautiful.

Secondly, we want autonomy. It is natural for us to want to chart our own course, make our own plans, and reap the consequences (positive and negative) of our planning. Autonomy is often the driver for starting a small business—the desire to be one’s own boss. Autonomy and freedom are so central to our natures that it is no coincidence that the nations that have understood this, and who have laid the groundwork for autonomy and freedom have been the most successful in human history.

Lastly, Pink posits that humans are motivated by purpose. We desire for our work to be more than just about the self. This drives us into vocations such as teaching or medicine. Even small businesses that are morally neutral—such as shoes or energy bars—are starting to tack on social causes to their business model. Buy a shoe, shod a child etc. We are not satisfied with expending energy into the void. Purpose resonates with us.

Pink’s conclusions regarding motivation helps begin to answer our original question. We work in order to develop mastery, exercise autonomy and seek purpose. With all good answers come more questions: how can we get credit into the hands of those who are undertaking projects of Good Work, seeking autonomy, mastery and purpose. This is Able’s present calling and one that we are very excited to help make happen.

Today we’re announcing Able’s Backers Council in partnership with our chair, Mike Maples, Jr. The Backers Council is an intimate network of select investors and entrepreneurs who pledge to Back local small businesses — starting here in Austin.

We are bringing this group of amazing people together because we want to help small business owners by connecting them to a strong network so that they can continue to make Austin shine and live out their dreams.

Each week we’re launching new Backer profile pages to learn more about these great Austin entrepreneurs and why they are choosing to invest and help local small businesses get funding.

You can view Josh Jones-Dilworth’s profile here, Robin Weekley Bruce’s here, and Joshua Baer’s here.

Get Backed by Mike Maples, Jr.

Mike Maples, Jr. has strong ties to Austin. He believes in Austin’s future, and wants to support main street businesses. Mike is pledging to financially Back five Austin small businesses that seek growth capital through Able.

This means if you’re seeking growth capital and have a solid social media following for your business, you are are well on your way to funding with an Able loan Backed by Mike Maples, Jr. — one of the greatest investors of our time.

Are you a small business owner who seeks capital? Do you know of a great entrepreneur in Austin? Sign up to be Backed by Mike, and we’ll respond within 24 hours.

If you’re a strong supporter of small businesses, and are interested in joining our Backers Council, send an email to email.

Join us in supporting the Fortune 5 Million.

Able is a financial technology company that serves the “Fortune 5 Million”— the millions of small businesses in the United States who together create two out of every three jobs — by offering low-interest term loans through novel underwriting and loan structures. Able is backed by Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate (the seed investor in Twitter) and Peter Thiel of Founders Fund (the seed investor in Facebook) and is headquartered in Austin, TX. Learn more in this blog post.

The Lead Business Advocate will conceive and build out the borrower-facing underwriting procedure and experience, entailing direct customer service of small businesses as well as broader team design, recruiting, and management. You will ensure the complete collection of accurate personal and business financial information, ensure that the Able credit team has what they need to process the underwriting, and then will work with the SMB owner to develop financing plan. You will work with the director of credit to approve all loans made. You will straddle external and internal roles: (1) external: you will be part of the community as Able scales getting to know SMB owners and networks of owners, including meeting with each individual borrowers during the early launch in new markets; (2) internal: you will be core to the underwriting/credit team both making decisions about individual loan approvals as well as contributing to the overall underwriting process.

Experience:

• experience in directly underwriting small business loans
• experience in working with SMBs to build financial models and plans
• fluent in building and manipulating SMB financial models
• strong knowledge of credit data sources and products
• knowledge and interest in social media data
• graduate work in business, finance, or accounting preferred
• desire to be part of a fast growing team, taking on many roles as necessary
• desire to grow into leadership / management position

Could this be you? Email us at apply@ablelending.com.

Wow! Thank you all for the amazing support of Able since our launch — we are so appreciative, and wanted to share a little more on what we’re up to right now. We’ve received credit requests all the way from Tacoma, WA to Springfield, VA totaling more than $16 million dollars — over $1 million requested every day! And, the number of Backers who pledge to support small businesses across the country is just as strong.

Starting this week, we’ll be issuing a limited number of loans in our hometown of Austin, TX. We’ve done extensive research analyzing the social footprint of businesses here in town, and we will be standing behind some of the most promising businesses in advance of our national launch. We’ve met so many great entrepreneurs and Backers, and we are excited to begin expanding our Able community.

Don’t live in Austin? Not to worry. As written, we still plan to expand our lending operations later this year. Until then, business owners can continue to join our first-come, first-served waitlist by telling us how much credit they want, and Backers can continue to pledge their support of small businesses here.

Want to learn more about how Able works? Watch our new introductory video to learn more about why we believe in the Fortune 5 Million, and how Able helps small businesses get the credit they need to grow.

If you know of a business in Austin that we should be collaborating with, or if you think your business would be a perfect fit for Able, shoot us an email here. We’d love to hear about the business you’ve built and the ways you’re dreaming about growing it.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” – Teddy Roosevelt

We’ve dusted ourselves off, and we’re back in the arena. We announce today our new venture – Able – that sets out to fundamentally change how entrepreneurs receive financing to grow their business.

When we started Outbox, we had a vision of modernizing and bringing a fine institution - the US mail service - in step with the modern world. That attempt was unsuccessful. However, we still believe in this vision of aligning ourselves with the best of America and using technology to help us all flourish.

Introducing Able

Able serves the Fortune 5 Million – the 5.8 million small businesses that represent the backbone of the American economy. These companies generate trillions in revenues and employ 49% of our workforce, yet the majority of them cannot find reliable and affordable sources of credit.

Small Businesses Lack Necessary Credit

This systemic problem traces its origins to the historical pattern of growth, collapse, and consolidation within our banking system. As fewer banks control ever larger portions of the capital supply, they have become “too big to fail.” To prevent failure, government regulation has attempted to eliminate risk altogether, creating an environment where only the soundest businesses can receive credit. These are often the very ones who do not need it, making it nearly impossible for smaller and less established companies to receive credit when they need it most.

The basic question behind all credit decisions is simple: Will this person pay me back? The answer to this question is called the “price of risk,” which determines the interest rate, or the price, of the loan. Today, only big financial institutions - the voice of the critic - is answering this question, pricing entrepreneurs out of the market, or worse, compelling them to take on high interest debt that ironically makes them more risky. This is all because of their inability to adequately price risk.

A New Way to Measure Risk

We believe credit is owed to the entrepreneur in the arena. Instead of turning to the critic in the crowd, we turn to the wisdom of the crowd in order to price risk through what we call “collaborative underwriting.”

The power of collaboration has already swept over other industries, such as hotels with Airbnb and transportation with Uber and Lyft. But collaboration has yet to transform the lending market. Some lenders have taken the “peer-to-peer” phenomenon and applied it to raising capital, while still relying on traditional underwriting models to price their loans.

This is the wrong application of collaborative consumption, because sharing money among peers does not enable a lender to better determine the riskiness of a small business. If a lender cannot offer a lower price or increase the availability of loans, their innovation is merely optimization.

Helping Small Businesses Grow

This is where we break with tradition. With collaborative underwriting, we can better price the risk of a small business. We’re innovating on the information layer, not simply the capital layer. By unlocking the wisdom of the crowd, we have found that we can reduce the price of our loans, and make them available to more small businesses.

How do we do this? First, we examine data from a business’s customers through the collection of reviews, check-ins, and connections that have already been generated across social media. Traditional lenders might spend a few hours researching the product of a business; we can harness hundreds of hours of customer insights about the same product.

Next, we ask our borrowers to gather 3-5 Backers – family, friends, and customers – to fund the first 25% of the loan. We rely on the judgment and participation of the Backers to affirm the message: “We believe in this person.” Once Backers are secured, Able provides the remaining 75% of the loan to qualifying borrowers. Able collects regular payments from the borrower and then distributes the proceeds to the Backers. It’s that easy.

Join Us

Do not underestimate the power of Backers. At the end of Outbox, though marred by dust and sweat, we still had the unending support of our “Backers” – our investors, customers, friends, and most importantly, our families. Through this we found our worthy cause: standing behind the women and men who strive valiantly in the noble pursuit of building a business.

Later this summer we will expand our lending operations and will process requests from borrowers and Backers on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Will you join us in this effort? Today, you can reserve your place in line to give and get credit with Able.

Able: together, we believe.

Will and Evan
Able Co-founders