Comments on: Hack Your Startup Credit Rating

By: 10 Tips for Founders to Improve Their FICO Score -- bub.blicio.us

10 Tips for Founders to Improve Their FICO Score -- bub.blicio.us — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:57:51 +0000

[...] and Hack Your Startup Credit Rating. [...]

By: St. Pat’s Day Special: 12 Steps to Finding Founder’s Gold « FoundRead

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:36:05 +0000

[...] 9. Treasure is a tool for war, too. When you get big enough to threaten another business, their gloves will come off. I’ve done battle with Oak Brook Bank (for not paying commission), Fair Isaac (for threatening to sue because my company, duck9 credit educates people about FICO), and others. Founders with no treasure war chest will cow-tow to every legal threat. Me? I’m 9 for 9 in court. I plan on batting 1.000 thanks to my “treasure management.” 10. Pull some treasure off the table when you can. Every Friday is a mini-liquidity event for me and Baxter. I take $, and eat it somewhere yummy, like Madison and 5th (in Palo Alto, Calif.) and Baxter gets a treat. We celebrate right in the Bank of America lobby. 11. Manage your cost of treasure. In the U.S.A., cost of funds is directly dependent on a 1970 technology called FICO. The higher your FICO score, the lower your interest. Read this post for more on how to manage your startup Credit rating: Hack Your Startup Credit Rating. [...]

By: Nerds’ Hack for Valentine’s Day: 10 Ways to SGFM « FoundRead

Nerds’ Hack for Valentine’s Day: 10 Ways to SGFM « FoundRead — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:12:05 +0000

[...] Chiang is the founder of Duck9, and UCMS. He is an expert at FICO scores, how to Hack Your Startup Credit Rating, revenue generation, cash flow … oh and: dating. Read more about Larry in the Oct. 15, 2007 [...]

By: 9 Things Stanford B-School Won’t Teach You « FoundRead

9 Things Stanford B-School Won’t Teach You « FoundRead — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:12:56 +0000

[...] much makes me the guy on manipulating FICO. This applies to you, believe me. See my earlier post, Hack Your Startup Credit Rating. The threatened lawsuit with Fair Isaac is here. In short, good credit is good for [...]

By: Larry Chiang

Larry Chiang — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:46:06 +0000

@ Advice Network…
Q: How does a new company get it’s own credit card (let alone two?)
A: companies have a tax ID number which is the business’ social security number. Your goal is to build credit in your Tax ID number.
Here are some thoughts/tips:
- Get a credit card from the bank that does your business checking account
- Leverage the vehicle lease as a way to build credit in your business name
- Start with asking for small lines of credit for your business
- Get some revenue in the door (something you should spend 80% of your time doing) and borrow against those receivables
- Get lines of credit at office supply, printer, cell phone company to get your D&B
- Opt - In for D&B info base by setting up an interview and showing audited (or even unaudited!) sales figures / income statements
- Borrow against assets to get D&B lines of credit. One method that used to work was borrowing $1000 against a company car that the company owned outright. Make the term of loan to be 12 months and your start-up company is on the credit grid
- Get some VC financing and similtaneously establish a line of credit at Peninsula Bank or Silicon Valley Bank
- Spend less of your time figuring out how to scam the system and more time bringing revenue in the door. When you get to about $100k in revenue a month, bankers will call you to give you lines of credit. This should be what your mind is focused on.

By: Card Credit Student

Card Credit Student — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:03:43 +0000

I was searching for ‘card credit student’ at google and got this your post (’ur Startup Credit Rating « FoundRead’) in search results. Not very relevant result, but still interesting to read :)

By: Zeesh

Zeesh — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:34:54 +0000

Wallah : in Arabic means “I swear by God” … ::) .. In your case , I’ll take your word for it .. Your last and best hack is no doubt a tried and true one .. Thanks for the neat list .

By: Credit - Bad Credit Advice | hostmultidomain.com

Credit - Bad Credit Advice | hostmultidomain.com — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:05:30 +0000

[...] Hack Your Startup Credit RatingDumbest man in Babylon said, Once I get rich, I ll get good credit. This puts donkey before cart. You ll never get rich if you have bad credit because the pressure of solving short term money problems clouds good business judgment. … [...]

By: Advice Network

Advice Network — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:12:06 +0000

How does a new company get it’s own credit card (let alone two?)

By: George Black

George Black — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:32:32 +0000

Very interesting article, thanks!