Press Release – SharpShooter 20/20 Funds launched in Canada by Paul Pitcher within SharpShooter Funding

May 30th 2020 at 8:50pm Published by sharpshooteradmin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

20/20 Funds: The Funding Guide Supporting Canadian Business, and Seeking a Way Out of Recession

Toronto, Ontario Canada – May 30, 2020 – At the beginning of May 2020, the worst fears of many Canadians were confirmed. The country had entered recession, the announcement coming 11 years, almost to the day, after Canada exited its last recession in 2009.

The story is not a unique one. In these troubled times, nations around the globe are seriously struggling. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc across the world, claiming countless lives and pushing economies to the brink. Here in Canada, however, the situation is a little different, if no less severe. The arrival of the coronavirus has brought new problems, while also making the country’s pre-existing problems much more serious. 

Experts have been warning about the possibility of a recession in 2020 since last year, and the fragile economy was simply unable to weather the storm of COVID-19. To put it plainly, there are underlying issues within the economic structure. Now the question is: Where do we go from here?

For one business funding provider, the answer lies in the country’s SMEs. SharpShooter Funding connects small and medium-sized Canadian enterprises with the capital they need to grow their businesses, making it possible for hundreds of organizations to achieve and surpass their objectives each and every year. Now, SharpShooter is going a step further with the launch of 20/20: a funding guide designed to provide a fair deal to Canadian businesses, and to the economy at large.

The team behind 20/20 hopes that this guide will make a real difference to Canada’s small and medium-sized businesses at a critical point in its history.

SharpShooter’s Guide to Business Funding: What 20/20 Means for Businesses

20/20 was born out of a desire to do things differently. The SharpShooter team, headed by company founder Paul Pitcher, has years of experience working with Canadian businesses. They recognized a severe shortcoming in the market: a lack of accessible funding for SMEs.

As increasing numbers of small and medium-sized businesses began to turn their backs on the big banks and other traditional funding providers following the economic crisis of 2008, an alternative funding market emerged. This provided a lifeline for business owners who were finding themselves excluded from traditional sources of capital. However, this market is far from perfect.

Jargon, misinformation, and a lack of clarity are making life difficult for businesses. Often, business owners may find themselves making the wrong decision for themselves and for their organizations, based on the confusing info out there in the market. In these already testing times, this is an unnecessary obstacle for businesses, and one that could be a significant hindrance to economic growth.

SharpShooter’s 20/20 guide is designed to be an antidote to this situation. When business owners search for funding products online, they are met with a maelstrom of often conflicting information. This conflict makes deciding on funding product very difficult indeed. It also makes it hard for businesses to act decisively and with agility in the market.

20/20 cuts straight through the jargon, providing immediate insight that business owners can use to compare the different funding products available to them. With this insight, businesses can:

• Gain access to the capital they need 
• Expand and make investments in infrastructure and equipment 
• Hire new staff and create jobs 
• Launch new products and services that will improve the lives of all Canadians, as well as help boost the economy at this critical time

Paul and his team are proud of the advantages they provide to businesses across the country. They are committed to enhancing these advantages still further as we move through this time of COVID-19 and recession, and look towards a brighter future.

SharpShooter’s Guide to Business Funding: How 20/20 Works

There is no reason why business funding can’t be simple — and this is the ethos of the SharpShooter team. However, many funding providers advertise their offerings in different ways, either to make their products sound better for business than they are or simply to set themselves apart from their competitors.

In these situations, it is the business owner that loses out time and time again. All they need is a clear set of facts and figures that they can use to compare and contrast different products, and they are denied this.

With 20/20, all the terms and details are explained and defined, allowing for swift and effective comparison. Let’s take a look at an example.

• The owner of a business needs funding, and they settle on funding amount of $75,000.
• The disbursement amount is then agreed at $72,125.
• The repayment amount is set at $82,500.
• This is to be repaid over a period of 12 months.

This is all very simple. But, in reality, the terms and conditions of funding are far more complex than this. This complexity is made even more troubling by the way that funding providers advertise and express the conditions. Fortunately, the 20/20 guide provides a series of metrics that business owners can apply to the funding products they encounter, enabling like-for-like comparisons.

One example of a metric is:

The total cost of the capital

This is the total amount you pay to access the capital. Basically, this is the full repayment amount, minus the stake itself and any avoidable fees, such as late penalties.

The guide helps you to break down this metric further.

• The total interest payable might be $7,500.
• The origination fee might be $1,875.
• If the terms of repayment are met, there will be no other fees.
• The total cost of the capital will be $9,375.

This gives business owners an easy way to compare costs between the funding products they are considering. Of course, there are other metrics that can be taken into account.

The annual percentage rate, or APR, is another example of metrics that business owners can explore with 20/20.

Also, with this example, the 20/20 guide provides a concise but effective description of what the metric actually means for business owners. In this case, the APR refers to the total cost of the funding borne by the business. This will include any added interest and unavoidable fees, just like the total cost metric discussed above. However, in this instance, the cost is divided across the full funding term, and is expressed as an annual percentage rate of the full funding amount.

Taking the data from the above example, the 20/20 guide shows us that the APR will be 24.2%.

This provides crucial insight that may make all the difference for business owners pursuing the right funding package. If a particular funder expresses their terms one way, and another funder expresses theirs another way, the business owner has a direct line to the comparable metrics, and understands immediately what they can expect.

The two metrics discussed above are just the tip of the iceberg. The 20/20 guide offers insight across a broad range of metrics to give business owners as much insight as possible in their search for funding.

The Crucial Role of Small Business in Canada

So, why is all this important? Of course, SMEs need funding, but how will this help us to drive the economy out of recession? The answer lies in the role that these SMEs play in supporting our economy. These small and medium-sized enterprises form the backbone of Canada’s industry. 

According to government figures, small businesses (between one and 99 paid employees) and medium-sized businesses (between 100 and 499 paid employees) employed 8.3 million and 2.4 million people, respectively, in 2017. This represents a combined 89.6% of the total private labor force in the country. Studies from the first half of the last decade demonstrate that, on average, small and medium-sized business contributed a combined 50.2% to Canada’s gross domestic product each year. To put it simply, Canada cannot do without these businesses.  

And yet, Canada’s SMEs, and the people they employ, consistently find themselves in peril. On average, over half of businesses employing 19 people or less do not survive the first ten years of operation. For businesses employing 20 to 49 people and 50 to 99 people, 42.7% and 40.8%, respectively, will have folded within the same time period.

There are many reasons for this precarious situation, but one important factor is funding. Without funding, businesses not only cannot grow — they also cannot survive. When we consider how much these small enterprises contribute to the economy, and how many jobs they create across the country, this situation is very worrying indeed.

This is what drove the team at SharpShooter to create 20/20, and to work to protect the interests of business owners across Canada.

Small Enterprise Bearing the Brunt of the Coronavirus

But these figures represent a traditional set of obstacles and dangers for Canadian businesses. The year 2020 has brought with it a new hazard and a new risk — that of COVID-19 — and the harsh reality is our SMEs are simply not prepared.

While the virus itself has put many businesses in danger, and has tragically cost many lives, the rules that have been put in place to protect public health have also not been kind to SMEs. Many businesses are finding themselves in a very awkward position. They are desperate to get back to business as normal, yet they recognize the need to support the government and health services in fighting this pandemic.

Fortunately, the government has stepped in and unveiled a number of different concessions for businesses who may be affected. Measures such as temporary and long-term income support, as well as extended income support for those who need it most, have gone someway to ease the burden for our beleaguered workforce. Meanwhile, flexibility with regard to taxation and the introduction of the Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) have given small and medium-sized businesses a little breathing space.

Paul Pitcher and the SharpShooter team support these efforts. They are also committed to doing their own part to keep our society safe during this pandemic. However, they also understand the long-term changes that need to be implemented if we are to weather this storm currently battering the economy and our nation as a whole.

It is with this in mind that the team launched 20/20. If businesses can be confident about the funding market, and can navigate the often tricky landscape of business funding, they can do more than just survive. This way, they can thrive, grow, create more jobs, and increasingly contribute to our GDP. This is a dream, yes, but it is a dream that can be realistically achieved with the right approach to business funding. 

About SharpShooter

SharpShooter was formed back in 2015, and has been providing alternative funding to businesses ever since. The company was formed with a view to making it easier and simpler for Canada’s businesses to achieve the funding they so desperately need, and this continues to be SharpShooter’s primary aim. 

SharpShooter founder Paul Pitcher also founded First Down Funding, which provides similar alternative finance packages to businesses south of the border in the United States. Following on from the success of First Down in the US, Paul began to think about how the same model could be applied here in Canada. Spurred on by a partnership with his childhood hero, the wrestling superstar Bret “the Hitman” Hart, Paul opened SharpShooter, and has never looked back. The name SharpShooter is a tribute to the signature move made famous by the Hitman himself in the ring.

Today, Paul and his team continue to provide much-needed support, guidance, and funding to businesses on both sides of the border. After some very uncertain years for businesses following the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, the SharpShooter team adopts a forward-thinking attitude, and is always on the lookout for new ways to support the enterprises that so many of us rely upon.

Apply Now

SharpShooter 20/20 Funds

SharpShooter 20/20 Funds: Your Simple Guide to Small Business Funding

Get the insight, get the knowledge, get 20/20 clarity on small business funding approvals.

Introducing SharpShooter 20/20 Funds. This is your easy-to-use, highly effective guide to small business funding, and the key by which you unlock the potential of your business.

With 20/20 Funds, we are making the search for small business funding…

• Simple
• Honest
• Transparent
• Reliable
• Flexible
• Easy to understand

We invite you to take a look at all of that lovely insight in our 20/20 Funds guide. Don’t forget to reach out to our team for any questions.

To learn more about how the whole thing works, read on for a breakdown of how to use our guide.

Apply for Canadian Business Funding

Using the SharpShooter 20/20 Funds Guide

Many business owners find it difficult to access the fund they need. Here at SharpShooter, we believe that this does not have to be the case. This is why we actively strive to make life easier for everyone who is seeking funding, supporting Canadian businesses as they move towards their own goals and objectives.

But how exactly do business owners use the 20/20 Funds guide? Read on to discover more.

1. Let’s say you are looking for a funding product. There are many providers out there, and you find a few options that will give you the capital you require.
2. You open up a browser tab with a website for each provider. Then, you begin comparing the two offerings.
3. The problem? The two providers express their terms differently. It is suddenly very difficult to make the right choice when presented with these confusing figures.
4. The answer? Open up the SharpShooter 20/20 Funds guide. Scan the guide to find the terms listed on the provider’s website. There you will find an easy and succinct explanation of the term, as well as details on how this breaks down.

Let’s examine an example to help you understand more about what you are dealing with.

• Let’s say that Provider 1 advertises their funding product with the metric TCC or Total Cost of Capital.
• Let’s say that Provider 2 advertises their funding product with the metric APR or Annual Percentage Rate.
• Provider 1 advertises a full term interest expense of $7,500, and an origination fee of $1,875. This brings the Total Cost of Capital to $9,375.
• Provider 2 advertises their funding product as having 23.5% APR. 
• The SharpShooter 20/20 guide tells you that:

“The APR is the cost of the funding, including full term interest and any unavoidable fees, expressed as an annual percentage rate of the full funding amount.”

• If the payment periods are the same, then you can work out that Provider 1’s funding comes with an APR of 24.2%, so Provider 2’s funding package may be the better deal.

Of course, this is just a simple example to demonstrate how 20/20 can give you immediate insight and total perspective. With this information, business owners can be decisive when it comes to funding, and make the right decisions for their organization.

There are a large number of other metrics you can compare as well. The idea is to give you, the business owner, all the information you need in a manner that suits you.

SharpShooter 20/20 Funds: Solving the Problems that Plague the Funding Market

So, 20/20 Funds is a great guide for business owners seeking funding. But, it is far more than this. It is a key that business owners can use to unlock the funding they so badly need. It is also a tool they can utilize as they cut through the often confusing landscape of small business capital.

Let’s examine exactly why the guide makes such a difference to Canadian businesses.

• Full transparency: One problem that we encounter again and again in the small business funding market is a lack of transparency. This is because funding providers are businesses like any other, and they want their customers to choose their products over those of their competitors. This is understandable, but it is also problematic. When funding providers spin their products in a positive light, it often leaves business owners in the dark. The 20/20 Funds guide is designed to cut through this uncertainty and leave the way clear for a transparent experience. 
• The power and flexibility needed to act: Business moves quickly. Opportunities come and go. This means that business owners have to be able to act quickly in order to take full advantage. In the current funding market, this is difficult. This is why SharpShooter 20/20 is designed to give business owners this unprecedented flexibility. 
• No nasty surprises in the market: Yes, business owners need to be decisive, but they also need to know that they have made the right decisions. For instance, they land themselves a funding product that ends up unsuitable for their needs. But it’s too late. They are already locked into a repayment plan, with no means of escape. Our guide makes sure that this does not happen.
• A solid foundation for growth: With the proper funding, businesses find that the door is open to real growth. This benefits not only the small business but also the society at large. After all, Canada’s economy depends heavily on its SMEs.
• An effective antidote to an often stressful situation: Running a business can be great. The feelings of responsibility, pride, possibility and achievement are second to none. But it can also be stressful. This is especially true when you consider how confusing and annoying searching for funding can be. We have crafted our guide specifically to make life that little bit easier for business owners across the country.

Get started with our guide today, and get the funding that you and your business deserve. It all begins when you click on the SharpShooter 20/20 Funds guide.

The SharpShooter team provides some of the best small business funding approval rates and terms to be found anywhere in Canada. If you are looking for funding for your SME, don’t forget to check us out. Reach out today and find out more about what we can provide for you.