One of the most frequently asked questions we get from entrepreneurs
is how to land that initial small business financing they need to
bootstrap their new business. Bank lending is unlikely, and credit
cards are expensive. The demand for answers to this question inspired
us to research the startup financing resources available to you. One
of the new alternatives to traditional bootstrap funding for your
business is Prosper.com, America's first people-to-people lending
marketplace.
We’ve invited Chris Larsen, co-founder
and CEO of Prosper, to introduce his revolutionary company, and the
infinite capital funding resources available to the StartupNation
Community. For over a decade Chris has focused on using the internet
to make consumer lending more efficient, fair, honest, open, and
trustworthy; such pioneering has paved a new path for people to get the
capital they’re seeking for their startup business.
Here’s how it works:
- Prosper works like eBay: peers list and bid on loans using Prosper's online auction platform.
- Lenders set the minimum interest rate they are willing to earn and bid in increments of $50 to $25,000 on loan listings they select.
- Borrowers set the maximum rate they are willing to pay a lender
and create loan listings for up to $25,000. Then the auction begins as
people who lend bid down the interest rate. Once the auction ends,
Prosper takes the bids with the lowest rates and combines them into one
simple loan.
- Prosper generates revenue by
collecting a one-time 1% fee on funded loans from borrowers, and
assessing a 0.5% annual loan servicing fee to lenders. Prosper handles
all on-going loan administration tasks, including loan repayment and
collections on behalf of the matched borrower and lenders.
Listen
in as StartupNation learns about the pros and cons of Prosper, our
latest find in our unending quest to find resources for entrepreneurs
to turn their business dreams into reality.
More details about Prosper
We have also created a Group for the StartupNation Community at Prosper – start borrowing and lending now!
Selected Q & A transcripts from this radio show
Q&A - Tax issues for an LLC
Q&A - Partnering to commercialize an idea
Q&A - Leveraging a brand endorsement
About Chris Larsen, CEO and Co-Founder of Prosper
Prior
to Prosper, Chris co-founded and served as Chairman and CEO of E-LOAN.
Under Chris’ leadership, E-LOAN closed over $27 billion in consumer
loans, and was consistently ranked as one of the nation’s most trusted
consumer brands. E-LOAN earned consumers’ trust by taking radically
pro-consumer actions such as being the first company to provide
consumers with access to their credit scores, and playing a critical
role in the passage of the strongest consumer financial privacy
protection law in the nation. Chris led E-LOAN through a successful
IPO in 1999, and oversaw the company’s acquisition by Popular, Inc. in
2005.
Chris holds an M.B.A. degree from Stanford
University and a B.S. degree from San Francisco State University, where
he was named the 2004 Alumnus of the Year.