TOUGH TIMES FOR STARTUPS
T AMPA - Launching a small business is never easy, but a combination of a weak economy, a depressed housing market and a drop in home equity may be preventing many small businesses from even opening.
In Hillsborough County, the number of newly opened businesses paying county business taxes - previously known as occupational license fees - is down by nearly 18 percent from a year ago and down 25 percent when compared with two years ago, according to Hillsborough County business tax receipts.
The fallout is that even promising young businesses may be struggling to get off the ground. Recently, Tim and Leisha Rider of Seffner sought startup capital from two banks for their new defense contracting business, Vykin Corp. They were optimistic because they had a contract worth nearly eight figures to provide IT services to a major military contractor in Iraq.
They were shocked when two banks offered them a total of $30,000, which is less than a third of the $100,000 they were seeking. They eventually got funding from a specialty finance company called AmeriFactors.
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