You Won’t Find a Better SBA Lending Platform

At SPARK, we’re obsessed with SBA. We’ve seen its inner workings. We’ve built a product centered around it. We understand the positive impact SBA lending can have on our communities, particularly in challenging times.  That’s why we challenge anyone to find a platform better suited to SBA than SP...

The True Cost of Digital Resistance? Opportunity

There’s a cost to everything. Sometimes, we’re willing to pay more for a greater reward. Other times, we don’t see the hidden costs until it’s too late.  As an inherently risk-averse industry, banking has held out on digital transformation far longer than other sectors. The potential costs a...

The Benefits of a Nimbler Lending Partner

Adaptability isn’t something we take for granted anymore, especially after the pandemic. Companies were made or broken based on their ability to quickly scale and conduct business digitally. Lending was one of the most impacted industries — not only because of the millions of business loans it st...

Lending in a Post-COVID World

Life is a little different now than it was just two years ago. Perhaps you do more shopping online or you have to wear a mask when you go to the doctor.  Lending has changed too. But was it for the better? And if we continue down a more digital path, can regulators even keep…

Most Lovable Product (MLP) is the New MVP

If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably heard the term “most valuable player” or “MVP” before. In software development, MVP stands for “minimum viable product,” signifying a version of a product with just enough features for early customers to test it out and provide feedback for future developme...

This Year, Budget for Innovation

Budgeting is typically the same in every industry. It runs on a 12-month cycle and begins to take shape around Q3. By Q4, budgets are finalized, and in the first half of the year, everyone executes, making small adjustments along the way.  Banks generally follow the same model with an emphas...

4 Industry Changes to Look for in the Coming Years

The past two years have been a whirlwind for the lending industry. 2020 gave us overworked systems caused by droves of PPP applications, while 2021 was filled with forgiveness applications to process while managing a “new normal” of remote work and digital transformation. But the change isn’t ove...