Quote:


What do you think banks and investors are for?


I believe I included investors as a major source of funding, but banks, not so much any more. All the reports I've heard are that banks aren't all that willing to give out loans unless it's a 100% surefire guarantee, and that they are sitting on huge reserves. Further, banks are great (even before the crash) IF you are already a well-established company with a guaranteed product, but if you are a greenfield company or launching a new product that is untested, they're not so quick to hand out loans. There is some truth to the old complaint that banks are always willing to give out loans to people who already have money. As pointed out, the life of a company that requires the most amount of money, effort and time is that point where you are going from research to production. A company at this point most likely selling a product upon which to draw from profits for their equipment, their financials probably aren't very good from a banks perspective, and yet they have to buy expensive equipment, tooling, dies, etc..., and go through testing. A case in point is the pharmaceutical industry, where even established companies have to buy the equipment for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, hire engineers and hourly workers, and then sit on all of that investment for 2, 3 or 5 years while the FDA does it's approval thing. IF you've got that many people investing, or big bank loans, great, that's not always the case, and that's where groups like the Small Business Administration or gov't investment funds are great. Besides, what exactly is the difference if a company gets a loan to get it over that hurdle and into production, where jobs are actually created, or if it's just research. As long as the taxpayer gets their money back, that should be the key goal.