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Echoing Green – Social Impact Talent Report
We’re proud to announce that our founders Cat Berman and Yuliya Tarasava have been selected for consideration for the Echoing Green Fellowship. Each year Echoing Green evaluates thousands of applicants and roughly only 1% of applicants are selected. Congratulations are in order for Cat and Yuliya, who are working to democratize and simplify finance through CNote.…
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Maria Cruz – Heavenly Flowers – How a loan can fund a dream
Keeping The Florist Business Local Who knew the flower business was so competitive? Most of your revenues come from just a few days out of the year and it is a supply chain and logistics nightmare. Not only that, but with online ordering and distribution networks, it takes real dedication and talent to separate yourself…
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CNote Wins Payment and FinTech group at the 2017 SXSW Accelerator
We are beyond excited to announce that CNote was selected as the winner out of a group of five great finalists in the Payment and FinTech Technologies group at SXSW. Every company deserved such a high recognition, but we are thrilled that our that our message resonated with the audience at SXSW and we are the…
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Why haven’t I heard of CDFIs before?
CDFIs are a tough acronym to remember. We get it. It stands for Community Development Financial Institutions – yet another mouthful. We think the easiest way to describe them is – lenders for the community. So..say you have a dream of opening up your own business. You have the drive, a great idea, and all…
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CNote selected to be SXSW Accelerator Finalist
We’re proud to announce that CNote has been selected as a finalist for this year’s South by Southwest Accelerator Pitch event. CNote is one of five payment and FinTech companies selected for the pitch event. We’re excited to share our vision for creating accessible financial products that maximize individual and societal wealth with the “future curious”…
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Coverage from TechCrunch
Today marks the day when the first financial product based on Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) is brought by CNote to individuals for the first time in history. The coverage from TechCrunch perfectly captures the nature of CDFIs and their social impact mission: Community development financial institutions are an integral part of economic development in the United…
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#WHATWENEEDTOSUCCEED
30 billion, 90%, 5 times, 27 dollars, 7%…what’s behind these numbers? On one hand, a grim picture of missed opportunity, on another – a light of hope for our future. Consider the facts: If women scaled as entrepreneurs, $30 billion can be added to our country GDP. Women put 90% of their income into their…
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Reflections post-CDFI conference
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the national conference of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in Atlanta. CDFIs, as you’ve read in previous posts are the “good guys and gals of finance.” They provide fair capital and coaching to underserved segments like women and minorities in a high integrity, transparent and personal way.…
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Are you an over-saver?
Nearly 1/3 of Americans are over-saving, amounting to over $300B in “extra” savings sitting in banks earning nothing. So why do we do it? CNote interviewed 100+ over-savers to find out. Here’s what we learned. I know, it sounds like a funny term. Over-saver? But if you are one of the millions of Americans that…
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The Good Guys of Finance. (Yes, they exist)
Having worked in both venture capital and financial services, I have seen some of the best and worst faces of finance. But there is one financial segment that is largely ignored and vastly under-celebrated. I call them “the good guys and girls of finance” for many reasons, but also because it’s easier than their name:…

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