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    SmarterLends
    Editorial team

    Real lending experts. Real bylines.

    Every guide, news brief, and research report on SmarterLends is written and reviewed by people with hands-on small business lending experience — not anonymous teams. Our coverage is overseen by Smarter Loans, operators of one of North America's largest loan discovery platforms, trusted by over 1 million users.

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    SmarterLends Editorial Team

    Editorial Team

    The SmarterLends Editorial Team is an in-house group of small business funding writers and analysts. We translate primary-source data from the SBA, Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury, BLS, and FDIC into plain-English guidance for U.S. small business owners evaluating their funding options.

    Credentials
    • • Sources verified against .gov primary data
    • • Reviewed by SmarterLends founder
    Small business lendingSBA programsWorking capitalEquipment financingMerchant cash advancesLines of credit
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    Vlad Sherbatov

    Founder & Editorial Reviewer
    10+ years U.S. small business lending experience

    Vlad Sherbatov is the founder of SmarterLends and reviews every guide on the site for accuracy, conservatism, and alignment with current SBA and Federal Reserve guidance. He has spent over a decade working with U.S. small business owners on funding strategy.

    Credentials
    • • Founder, SmarterLends
    • • 10+ years in U.S. small business finance
    Small business funding strategySBA loan structuringWorking capital planningLender comparison
    View LinkedIn profile

    Our editorial standards

    Every SmarterLends article is fact-checked against primary sources (SBA.gov, Federal Reserve, FDIC, U.S. Census Bureau, BLS), updated when material lending data changes, and reviewed by a second team member before publication. Funding products and rates referenced reflect publicly available information at the time of publication and are subject to change. Specific approvals, rates, and terms are determined by lenders based on individual applications.

    Primary sources we rely on

    • U.S. Small Business Administration (sba.gov)
    • Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey
    • U.S. Department of the Treasury
    • U.S. Census Bureau Annual Business Survey
    • FDIC Small Business Lending Survey
    • Bureau of Labor Statistics

    Have a question for the team?

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