November 30, 2015

By Bob Coleman
Editor, Main Street Monday

Main Street Monday -- Leading the Fight for Transparency in Small Business Marketplace Lending

In 2009 Jim mortgaged nearly everything his family owned to join The Business Backer, and launch its mission to expand access to a much lower cost of capital for American small business owners. Appalled by the egregious rates and shady practices of too many small business lenders, The Business Backer has become an industry leader in driving transparency and ethics back into small business finance.

Under Jim’s direction, The Business Backer has grown from 5 to 75 employees and generated 20x growth in revenue. The company has been featured on the INC 500|5000 list for three consecutive years and received the Better Business Bureau's Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics - the only company in the small business lending industry to have received this award. The company has also been recognized as a Best Places to Work, and won numerous Business of the Year awards including being named twice as a US Chamber of Commerce Top 100 Small Business.

Jim’s leadership has been recognized both locally and nationally, with awards such as The Business Courier's Top 40 under 40, and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.