SlongDongWilly

After that, the Finnish government saw viability in our project, and threw us a little more funding.

This is what I don't understand. In the USA, I can go over $100K in debt with student loans. But I can't get a loan for a small business in the same manner. It's not even remotely easy unless you already have funding and collateral. Forget about grants, they're pretty much non-existent.

You would think that access to financing to create businesses would be something the USA would foster. With it's pledge to "create jobs". But from my experience in starting my own business here, that's not the case. The only easy financing I have is equipment leasing though a commercial bank. Getting a bank loan would have required 35-50% down and/or collateral. Neither of which I have. So essentially my only options are angel investments and/or venture capital. SBA suggests asking friends or family, but I grew up poor so none of my friends and family have money to invest.

I'm a Veteran too, aside from education I haven't found any benefits in the small business sector aside from free advice/workshops.

As I've said before, I'm a small business owner, and I've been to enough SBA office's and talked to enough consultants on the matter. But no one can give a good answer to why the government would risk $100K on a teen to go to school, but not $30K to start a business, that would most likely create jobs. You can't say all business loans are high risk, just because they are for a business. By that logic, all loans are high risk. You have to analyze the business plan.

An appropriate business plan should have plans for dissolution, including, but not limited to selling assets. So in the event your business fails, you would have a plan to repay some of your debt by liquidation. I'm working on a business plan for angel investing, so I know what investors in today's market consider high risk.

Compare that to a student loan, which the government gives out freely, no collateral, no down-payment. With no consideration on ability to repay in the future (not saying this is good or bad). There is no student plan, for all the government knows, I'm taking the money for a worthless degree where there are no high paying jobs.

What about a car loan (not a federal loan of course)? I can get a $30K loan easy, no down payment, and they don't go over a budget and determine if I have the ability to pay it back. But I can't get a $30K business loan in the same manner.

If my business fails, I will have assets to sale, including collateral. If I lose my job and can't pay my student loan or car loan, I won't have many assets.