Kevin Song is a young entrepreneur who created a way to save small business without having landlords or real estate get in the way. As a young kid in Brookland he say his parents store get taken down and sold all because of a landlord hassling them to much. Watching his parents have to pack up the small grocery store that they spend 20 years operating was too much for him. That was the switch for Song and what drove him to start looking out for the little guys in the economy.
At the age of 26 he started WithCo. The companies goal was to reach out and help small businesses keep their stores by enabling them to by their properties. He did this by giving local businesses that qualified zero interest loans to buy their property to make the land and the building theirs. This may seem like a pricey endeavor, which it was, but Kevin Songs was able to surround himself with good and hardworking people. People like Taylor Savage, his cofounder. They together were able to make a positive change.
With the team now working they were able to reach out to big investors to help them along their journey. The company is still in stealth but has raised 4 million dollars from investors like Founders Fund to help give small businesses what they need to protect themselves. They enable small business to purchase their property to combat gentrification and from there keep small Business America alive. During this years pandemic alone Kevin Songs has been able to save countless businesses up and down the east coast.
This seems like a great business that is much needed in general, but especially in the last year with the pandemic, like you mentioned. Is this a for-profit business, or do they rely on money from investors? Do the small businesses have to pay WithCo back?