^{The Small Business Dilemma:}
When Ambition Outpaces Cash Flow

Introduction | Chapter 1: Growth | Chapter 2: Resilience | Chapter 3: Expansion

The small business dilemma:
When ambition outpaces cash flow

Small businesses are often built with passion — the dream to bring an old family recipe to thousands of diners, to provide goods that aren’t available in a neighborhood, or to solve a pressing need at scale. And as the business grows, those aspirations only get bigger. You may find yourself imagining larger spaces, new product lines, or more ways to delight customers.

But growth almost always costs money before it makes money. To capture demand, you often have to buy inventory in advance. To retain good employees, you need to cover payroll during leaner months. All of it requires reliable access to capital.

The problem is that cash flow doesn’t always line up with opportunity. Maybe your cafe sees strong demand in the summer, but you need funds in the spring to buy new equipment. Or your boutique is ready to expand into a second location, but you can’t move forward without upfront investment. These are the everyday realities where access to capital can be the difference between seizing opportunities, standing still — or worse, shutting your doors altogether.

Introduction | Chapter 1: Growth | Chapter 2: Resilience | Chapter 3: Expansion

An alternative to traditional financing

The first time many owners need capital, they often turn to traditional banks. And many end up disappointed. These banks usually want years of operating history, a pristine credit profile, and piles of paperwork before they even consider an application. And time isn’t something most business owners have.

Delays in securing financing can stall growth and put a business at risk. A shop waiting weeks for approval might miss its busiest season. A restaurant could delay a renovation because financing takes too long, leaving money on the table. In some cases, slow or inaccessible financing forces business owners to scale back, cut staff, or close entirely.

A Goldman Sachs survey of nearly 1,500 business owners found that 79% struggled to access affordable capital, and only 40% received the full amount of funding they requested. That gap highlights a major missed opportunity: research from the U.S. Small Business Administration shows that if the supply of small loans under $100,000 were doubled, employment growth could climb 7% within just one year.

Small businesses collectively generate over

43%

of U.S. GDP and

40%

of private-sector payroll.

Source: The U.S. Small Business Administration

Introduction | Chapter 1: Growth | Chapter 2: Resilience | Chapter 3: Expansion

The smarter alternative: Square Banking

Square Banking¹puts money management directly inside the tools you already use to run your business, it allows you to bypass disconnected systems and what can be slow-paced traditional banks. It’s banking embedded in your business, giving you instant access to your funds and a clear picture of your cash flow — all in one place.

With Square Banking, you can pay bills, manage expenses, and even set aside savings automatically as your sales come in. Think of it as putting your finances on autopilot, so you can focus on running the business instead of running to the bank.

Introduction | Chapter 1: Growth | Chapter 2: Resilience | Chapter 3: Expansion

Loans that move at your speed

At the heart of Square Banking is Square Loans², a financing option built to move as fast as your business. Instead of being based on credit scores or long applications, Square Loans are tailored to your actual sales. Offers appear right in your Square Dashboard, based on your processing history. You can pick your loan size from a given range, and repayment happens automatically through a percentage of your daily sales, flexing up or down with your sales volume.

For small business owners, that flexibility can mean the difference between missing an opportunity and seizing it. Square Loans can support everyday expenses like inventory to big moves such as opening a new location.

To date, Square has extended more than $26.5 billion in loans globally, with 3.1 million loans issued to over 900,000 sellers. More than one million businesses trust Square Banking to handle their financial needs.

But the real success of Square Loans isn’t found in the numbers alone — it’s in the stories of the businesses that have used it to fuel growth, stay resilient, and expand with confidence. In this ebook, you’ll hear six stories from entrepreneurs across industries who turned timely access to capital into lasting impact. From seizing opportunities, navigating setbacks, to expanding into new markets, their journeys show what’s possible when your financing moves at the pace of your business.

$26.5B+

loans extended globally.

Source: Internal Square Data, 2025

3.1M

loans extended to 900K+ Sellers.

Source: Internal Square Data, 2025

Over

1M

business owners trust Square Banking for their financial needs.

Source: Internal Square Data, 2025