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Opinion: You shouldn’t have to bet your home on your start-up

28 0
14.07.2026

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Opinion: You shouldn’t have to bet your home on your start-up

Founders of small businesses often have to mortgage everything to get the funding they need to get going. There has to be a better way

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I signed my first personal guarantee at the age of 19. I was starting a digital marketing company and needed to secure a lease and a line of credit from a major Canadian bank. Luckily, I owned a small condo. I was 19, but I was “bankable.”

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Since then, I have personally guaranteed millions in business debt over more than 30 years as a Canadian........

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