Thank you, Pat, it is my honor to join the 2021 Angel Capital Association Summit – especially at such an unprecedented time for small businesses and innovative startups.
And thank you Tony Shipley, Linda Smith and Angela Jackson for your leadership at the ACA, and for all that you do to support our nation’s entrepreneurs as they pursue their dreams, particularly our Small Business Innovation Research funded companies.
Angel investors are truly the guardian angels of our nation’s economy, nurturing and supporting the small business startups that create 2/3 of net new jobs, invent the products and services we depend on, and innovate to solve the world’s most pressing problems.
It’s your persistence and skill in finding and investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs that will help retain America’s global competitiveness.
Over the past year, our nation’s small businesses and startups have faced enormous challenges threatening their survival.
As California’s Small Business Advocate and now, as the voice for America’s 30 million small businesses and innovative startups, I’ve seen the best of entrepreneurial ingenuity.
Adapting to a fast-changing marketplace with shifting consumer trends. Discovering new tech to improve operations and create virtual connections. Navigating supply chain disruptions that have impacted a range of industries.
America’s small businesses and startups have confronted those challenges head on.
I’ve been inspired by their agility and pure grit and determination.
Yet our small businesses are still facing a huge crisis. And the federal government and the U.S. Small Business Administration are here to help them recover and rebuild.
Our priority at the SBA is to bring back businesses, create jobs and build an equitable economy that works for all of us.
Thanks to the leadership of President Biden and our champions in Congress, billions of dollars in targeted relief for our small businesses and startups has been allocated through the American Rescue Plan.
We’re focused on getting this relief to those who need it the most – especially our smallest and underserved businesses owned by women, people of color and veterans, who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
These entrepreneurs have faced historic gaps and barriers to capital, markets and networks, which has made coming back from this crisis that much more difficult.
Promoting equity and eliminating barriers that limit job creation and economic output will bring our economy back and, ultimately, help all of us. As President Biden and Vice President Harris have said, equity is essential for building a stronger country for us all.
Over the past year, the SBA has scaled dramatically -- growing from a $40 billion dollar portfolio to over a trillion. We’re working with more partners than ever before, engaging with more distribution networks, and creating more awareness about our programs and services.
Under my leadership, I have challenged this newly scaled SBA to be entrepreneurial as the small businesses we serve – adapting and pivoting as they have done.
I’ve directed my mission-driven staff to integrate a customer-first approach, leverage technology and create equity across every one of our program offerings. And I’m proud of how we’ve been doing this as we’ve implemented the grants and relief programs that were included in the American Rescue Plan to help stabilize our businesses.
We expanded funding in the Paycheck Protection Program and recently extended the PPP through the end of May to ensure we reach those left out of previous rounds of relief. We’ve increased reach to our smallest firms and those in rural and low-income areas – achieving greater equity and building new connections and partnerships. In total, we’ve issued over 10 million loans helping businesses survive this pandemic.
We funded an additional $15 billion dollars in Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advances for low-income and smaller entities with negative revenue impacts and Supplemental Targeted EIDL Advances for those who’ve been hardest hit.
And one of the first things I did as Administrator less than 2 months ago was to increase the limit on EIDL loans so businesses can now borrow up to 500k for 24 months of injury – more than tripling the available low-cost capital to many who had been shut out from this funding.
We launched industry specific grant programs starting with the Shuttered Venues Operators Grants, which allocates $16.2 billion in funding for our hardest hit stages, movie theaters, museums and other cultural institutions.
And yesterday, we successfully launched the Restaurant Revitalization Fund with 28.6 billion dollars in funding for grants – not loans – to the hard-hit food and beverage businesses.
We designed this program to focus on the customer first, and meet our restaurants where they’re already doing business in this new marketplace.
After two weeks of extensive industry and community outreach, and development of ecosystem partnerships with point-of-sale vendors, we’ve already had an overwhelming number of businesses successfully submit their applications.
And one final American Rescue Plan initiative I would like to share with you that will help us better connect to our SBs. We will soon be launching the Community Navigator Pilot Program – a $100 million grant program to fund and launch a hub and spoke model of support for targeted outreach to entrepreneurs with an emphasis on reaching the underserved.
We know connection is critical. We know that the best way to connect is often through local, trusted and culturally knowledgeable partners. Through this program, Hub organizations – such as nonprofits, municipalities, universities and tribal entities –will connect with spokes – local groups and community organizations directly connected to underserved entrepreneurs.
The SBA’s three-pronged focus on the customer-first, technology and equity goes beyond the American Rescue Plan’s relief programs. These priorities will drive us forward as we look beyond recovery and position the SBA to support our small businesses and innovative startups.
We are committed to ensuring all entrepreneurs have the funding they need to start up and grow, and the market access to build revenue. That means leveraging SBA’s lending, investments, technical assistance, contracting and international trade programs to lift up the dreams of American entrepreneurs.
As many of you already know, SBA powers the federal government’s SBIR program, also known as America’s Seed Fund, which is the largest single source of early stage, STEM focused funding for small businesses.
This non-dilutive capital can be a powerful tool to help small businesses grow and thrive – especially when leveraged with your angel investment and expert mentorship and support.
The Biden-Harris administration wants to be sure that the $4 billion dollars in SBIR funding that supports more than 5,000 projects each year provides our underserved entrepreneurs a fighting chance to create, innovate and inspire.
And we need your help.
Because while SBIR funds the earliest stages of an idea, we need angels to help us take it to the next step.
So, I encourage you to reach out to the companies that the eleven SBIR agencies invest in.
You can find incredible innovators positioned with seed capital from the government by looking them up through the SBIR.gov site … working with our agency leads such as NIH or NSF, which are both speaking to you here at this summit … or by working with the SBA’s Federal and State Technology Partnership Program or FAST program.
We also have our $4 million dollar Growth Accelerator Fund Competition, which opens in May and closes at the end of June. A total of 80 accelerators will be funded, and this year we’re focus on reaching underserved small businesses and startups.
I also encourage you to connect your accelerator and support networks to the SBA through FAST, Growth Accelerators and the Community Navigator Pilot Program.
SBA is committed to developing an ecosystem support network for science-based and high-tech and deep-tech startups – similar to what we already do for our small business firms -- from main streets to professional services to manufacturing – but targets the unique needs of pre-revenue R&D focused businesses.
The Biden-Harris administration understands the importance of supporting R&D funding – particularly for our underserved entrepreneurs.
President Biden’s $2 trillion-dollar American Jobs Plan offers a once-in-a-generation investment that will fuel our nation’s small businesses… and give them the tools and opportunities they need to grow and thrive by increasing capital access to support SBA’s core lending and investment vehicles … increasing opportunities through key investments in infrastructure, broadband, supply chains … and increasing R&D to help businesses grow.
The American Jobs Plan also proposes $5 billion dollars in funding to develop new programs to boost the percentage of R&D funding in underserved communities … and expand incubators and innovation hubs for our small businesses and startups.
Small businesses and startups are further supported in the recently unveiled $1.8 trillion American Family Plan … which invests in our future workforce needs with tuition-free community college as well as paid leave and universal prekindergarten.
Over the next few months, the SBA will be working diligently as the voice of America’s small businesses and startups to move forward key components of the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan.
And we will continue to eliminate barriers and build equity by meeting small businesses where they are – through targeted outreach and specialized training programs.
The next Qualcomm, Illumina, Biogen, 23andMe or Joby Aviation is out there. It’s on us to find it.
I know that equity is also a key priority at ACA.
We must engage the next generation of angel investors – particularly those from diverse backgrounds – while also making sure that we are opening doors and providing resources for entrepreneurs from all walks of life and every corner of our nation.
As President Biden once said: “America’s experience like many others teaches us that fostering entrepreneurship is not just about crafting the right economic policy or developing the best educated curricula. It’s about creating an entire climate in which innovation and ideas flourish.”
Working together, ACA and the SBA can continue to create this climate of innovation.
More than anything, this pandemic has shown me how the American entrepreneurial spirit is our most powerful force.
Even as businesses locked down and our economy slowed, our nation’s entrepreneurs didn’t stop finding new ways to do things better. They’re continuing to confront challenges and solve problems in the realms of healthcare, cybersecurity, national security, climate science, aviation and so much more.
At the SBA, I’m committed to doing everything I can to nurture that spirit and help it soar.
Thank you for all that you do for America’s entrepreneurs and the American dream. I look forward to continued partnership.