Some interesting links we found across the web this week:

The Difference Between Debt and Equity Financing
Are you a small business owner trying to decide if debt or equity financing is best for your business? Check out this Business News Daily article which discusses the differences between the two, the types of each and the pros and cons to help you decide.

How Your Small Business Can Take Down Goliath 
As a small startup, it can be intimidating to compete against large established companies. This article from LMT Online provides four strategies a startup can use to increase their chance of success.

The 3 Biggest Legal Issues Facing American Entrepreneurs in 2021 
It’s no secret that the American political climate can carry large consequences for many entrepreneurs. However, it can be difficult to determine which legal issues personally affect your business. This article by Entrepreneur discusses three of the most relevant legal issues entrepreneurs are likely to face in 2021 as well as the consequences on certain industries including content creation, cryptocurrency and social media.

These Were the Largest Funding Rounds of 2020
Although many expected the worst and funding to come to a complete halt once the COVID-19 pandemic began, the markets picked back up after their initial hit and companies were still able to raise funding. This Crunchbase article discusses the several companies that were able to raise billion-dollar rounds in 2020 despite the pandemic.

SEC Approves NYSE Direct Listing Proposal 
Direct listings are an alternative method to the traditional initial public offering (IPO) for companies looking to go public. In a direct listing, a company is able to go public by allowing its existing private shareholders to sell their shares to public investors in an auction on the first day of trading on either the NYSE or Nasdaq, rather than through the traditional method of issuing new shares that are distributed by a syndicate of underwriters. The NYSE direct listing rules originally did not permit companies to sell shares into the opening auction, but the NYSE has just filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to let companies going public through a direct listing raise capital. Because the inability to raise any capital through a direct listing significantly limited the scope of companies for which a direct listing was an appealing approach to go public, this rule change could mean more direct listings in 2021. Read more in this article from Crunchbase.