At first glance, Skip seems like a really cool new way to get business funding. It’s nothing like your run-of-the-mill business loan marketplace. And, they seem legit. Naturally, had to learn more about them, so I dove in and analyzed the offer under my microscope.
Now, I want to share my findings with you. Discover what you can get with a Skip membership and whether or not it’s worth the monthly investment to get funding for your business.
This is what’s in store:
- What is Skip?
- Who Are Skip’s Funding Partners?
- What Does Skip Do?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion: Is Skip Legit?
Now, let’s bounce in!
What is Skip?
In a nutshell, Skip is a platform designed to help entrepreneurs and small businesses find funding and growth opportunities. Essentially, it serves as a marketplace where you can search for various funding options like grants, loans, and other financing opportunities in the US.
The platform advertises a large database of funding sources, which can help you discover opportunities you might not have known about otherwise.
One of the key features of Skip seems to be its ability to provide insights and tips on applying for funding quickly.
With a Skip membership, you can:
- Learn about funding opportunities for your business
- Get advice on how to apply
- Use AI to apply successfully
- See potential eligibility for loans or grants based on your business profile
And, Skip offers support through specialists who can assist you with questions about funding or business growth strategies—This combination of technology and human expertise seems like it could streamline the funding process for small business owners & entrepreneurs.
If you’re looking to start, fund, or grow your business and need help navigating the world of funding options, Skip might be a smart platform to consider.
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How Much Does Skip Cost?
The cost of a Skip membership varies depending on the level of service and support you choose.
Here’s a breakdown of the different membership options and their associated costs:
- Skip Free – With a free account, you can see funding opportunities, funding matches, save grant application answers, and test the AI.
- Skip Plus – Starts at $9.99/month (when billed annually) for access to funding insights, reminders, opportunities, and AI features.
- 30-minute call – Starts at $33.33 per call for personalized assistance on various business and funding topics.
- Skip VIP – Starts at $199/month, includes access to all funding opportunities, a dedicated client success manager, and business evaluation.
- Skip Platinum – Starts at $499/month, offers everything in Skip VIP plus hands-on funding assistance and customized grant help.
- Skip Diamond – Starts at $999/month, includes all features of Skip Platinum along with personalized funding and growth solutions, business coaching, and strategy discussions.
Each tier provides increasing levels of support to help with your funding and growth needs. Choose the membership that aligns best with your business goals and situation.
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Company Overview
Skip, aka YoGovernment Inc, is a San Francisco-based, seed-stage, for-profit company that was founded in 2016 by Ryder Pearce. According to the California Secretary of State, the listed agent is Walker Vanyos.
Pearce is sort of a serial entrepreneur – he’s founded a few companies since 2012, including Pogoride (commute app) and SherpaShare (rideshare app). Before this, he was a strategic planner at Translink and graduated from Harvard with a Master’s in Urban Planning & Design.
I wonder if Pearce didn’t discover all of these grant opportunities when founding the transportation apps, and decide to make them more accessible to other entrepreneurs.
Skip maintains a 4.6-star rating on the Trustpilot platform, and I noticed at least one of the negative reviews is likely a mix-up – they had something negative to say about ‘incompetent drivers?’ I mean, what’s not to love about a platform that shares how to get free money to grow your business?
As of today, Skip isn’t accredited with the BBB, and has an A- rating on the platform. But, with no user reviews, it’s too early to know if this is relevant.
Now, I did run across some DMV-related information about Skip and YoGov, which isn’t as delightful. If we’re being skeptical, we could say that this might be a red flag concerning the company leadership. But, it sounds like these offers are so different (transportation vs business funding), that I can’t speak confidently on the subject.
Unfortunately, the Reddit forums didn’t clear up any of my confusion.
It seems like Skip was originally a rebranded version of YoGov, some kind of driving platform, and has more recently shifted to focus on business funding. As far as trustworthiness, I’d say the company is at least ‘fair to middling,’ if not better.
Maybe the jury is still out? 🤷
Hopefully, learning more about the offer will help you decide for yourself.
Who Are Skip’s Funding Partners?
While Skip hasn’t updated the partner page on their website (yet), we do know who some of their funding partners are; I’m pretty familiar with a handful of them.
Here’s what I can tell you about Skip’s advertised funding partners:
- Funding Circle – A platform that connects small business owners with investors. Investors use the platform to invest in growing businesses, create portfolios, and negotiate equity in profits. It’s an alternative way to obtain business funding pretty quickly.
- Fora Financial – A reputable alternative lender (despite their high rates, which I typically wouldn’t recommend unless absolutely necessary). However, one advantage is that Fora doesn’t charge prepayment penalties, unlike many other online lenders.
- Newtek – A free business banking provider with interest-earning checking and savings accounts. They also offer term loans from $1,000 to $15 million and revolving lines of credit up to $5 million.
- Bluevine – I recommend their business checking for digital-focused businesses. Their line of credit, backed by Celtic Bank, uses personal FICO scores for credit evaluation, which I don’t prefer. But, I love that Bluevine reports to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B).
- Accion Opportunity Fund – They offer business loans with flexible payments and provide business coaching. Over 90% of their clients are underrepresented communities. And, they reinvest loan payments to support other small businesses, which is cool!
- LiftFund – Works with owners with limited credit, collateral, or experience. They can help you get various business loans for commercial real estate purchases, equipment, inventory, supplies, vehicles, and working capital. Their geographic scope is limited.
- Paintbrush – Provides up to $50K for early-stage business ideas with quick eligibility checks and applications. This loan doesn’t require ownership of your company and can convert to income-driven repayment if needed, based on earnings.
- Live Oak Bank – Digital bank without branches. They offer checking with Treasury Services, high-yield savings with a 4.00% APY, and high-yield CDs for predictable returns. Live Oak Bank’s funding includes SBA loans, USDA loans, and commercial loans.
What’s cool about Skip’s partners is that many of these financial brands don’t come up on my radar when looking at “barely-reputable” or unduly expensive business funding offers.
Plus, it seems like they’re building partnerships with government agencies, which probably means more business grant offers are coming.
Note, this is a lot different than your typical loan marketplace—there’s more to a Skip membership than the typical loan-matching platforms. I’m really digging it.
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What Does Skip Do?
So, if you decide to sign up and see what it’s all about, what can you expect? As far as whether or not you will qualify for funding, I can’t say – this will depend quite a bit on your business structure, ownership, and operations. Still, I can tell you all about what’s inside the platform.
1. Business Grant Opportunities
One of the first reasons you might want to explore Skip’s offer is to get free money – who wouldn’t want it, right? Well, I expected to see maybe a handful of grant opportunities because business grants are a needle in a haystack.
However, once I got in there, I saw that there were many listed opportunities. Of course, as you’d expect, they all have stipulations – it reminded me of applying for state college scholarships.
For example, there are grants for veterans to start a business, some require that you employ at least 20 staff members, and some are open solely to nonprofits.
A majority of the opportunities I explored seemed to have a lottery-type approval process without overly-extensive applications to fill out—this is convenient, but may lead to a ton of applicants and make the awards more competitive.
What I liked best about the grant section of the platform is that it is super easy to navigate – compared to other legitimate business grant sites like the SBA’s grant directory and Grants.gov, the Skip platform is remarkably user friendly.
One thing I didn’t love about the platform is that once you express interest in a loan or grant, it is added to your progress bar with no way to remove it.
Let me just note that this is in no way a dealbreaker.
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2. Business Loans & Financing
In addition to grants, Skip connects you with loans from various partners and government-affiliated sources.
Some examples include:
- SBA 7(a) loans
- Bluevine lines of credit & business checking
- Black Ambition Prize (possibly internal)
- Fora Financial working capital
- Funding Circle financing
- Paintbrush startup loans
These seem to align with what I would expect after seeing their list of partners. I’m looking forward to seeing what new partners they may add in the future.
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3. Deadline-Based Sorting
Grants tend to have periodic deadlines. The Skip platform allows you to sort your matches by the application due date.
This can help make sure you see the most time-sensitive offers first and never miss an opportunity. It’s not the most technologically advanced feature I’ve ever seen, but I thought it was worth a mention.
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4. Multiple-Business Financing Matching
Another feature (which is so cool) is that you can add multiple business profiles to one Skip account.
You answer some questions about your business like:
- Business name
- Date started
- Location
- Annual revenue or pre-revenue status
- Owner’s gender and ethnicity – for underserved groups
- Owner’s credit score
The platform seems to match based on personal credit score, not your business credit score—this is pretty typical. Then, they show you a list of funding and grant opportunities that the selected business is likely to qualify for.
By allowing you to add multiple businesses, they seem to go above other business funding marketplaces that I’m familiar with.
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5. Skip AI™
While many of the grant applications require longform answers in the application process, the writing isn’t as in-depth as traditional grant writing. Still, as an applicant you can take advantage of Skip AI™ – the platform’s bespoke AI writing assistant – to help you with your wording.
Even if you don’t upgrade to a paid account, applications include tips to make your answers stronger and more engaging.
And, if you do, it can take your words and improve them in a matter of seconds. This could save you a ton of time in otherwise lengthy application processes – hours, even.
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6. The Skip App
The Skip app is available on iOS and Android. This enables you to fund your business on-the go. It maintains a 4.6-star rating on the Google Play Store and 4.8 on the iOS marketplace.
Users seem to really appreciate its comprehensive and informative business funding and government assistance content. Positive feedback highlights its clear explanations and timely updates. However, occasional negative reviews mention technical issues like broken links and disappearing information, as well as complaints about unexpected charges and difficulty canceling subscriptions.
Overall, while the app offers valuable resources, persistent usability and customer service issues have led to varied user satisfaction.
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7. Educational Resources
On the front-end, Skip’s blog has a lot of “getting started” info for business owners: “How to Start a Business…” and “How Much Does it Cost to Start an LLC?.” The blog also features a lot of news about upcoming grants, approaching deadlines, and other stuff you might need to know as you apply.
In the user dashboard, there’s a lot of video content, which is also primarily news about funding opportunities.
The content is easy to understand. While it’s not all that comprehensive, I think that makes sense, since the core idea is to provide accessible solutions. And, if nothing else, the simple topics can give you an idea what you may need to research next on your entrepreneurial path.
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8. Business Plan Generator
If I hadn’t got into the platform to poke around at the features, I might have missed the fact that the Skip platform offers some neat tools. Head over to the “Funding Ready Checklist,” and you’ll find more than just a place to upload your business docs.
Skip can help you generate a business plan if you don’t already have one. And, the tool is super easy to use. You will need to upgrade your account to the $9.99/month Plus plan to access it.
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9. Referral Program
While I can’t speak to the Skip affiliate program’s reliability or how easy it might be to make referrals, the platform promises to offer a one-time $20 to $200 per referral.
Compared to other affiliate programs, I’d say this is competitive. Some solutions will give you lifetime commission, but this can equal anywhere from $0 to $10,000 per referral, depending on the product.
Why not refer people to a solution they need if you like it yourself? It’s definitely a step above the many funding platforms that don’t offer referral bonuses.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can Skip guarantee funding for my business?
While Skip offers information and guidance on funding opportunities aligned with your business profile and preferences, it cannot guarantee funding approval. The decision to approve funding rests with the funding organizations and lenders. Skip’s objective is to assist you in navigating the funding landscape and enhancing your chances of discovering suitable options, yet the ultimate approval lies with the funding providers.
Is Skip available nationwide, or are there restrictions based on location or business type?
Skip is accessible across the nation without any limitations based on location or business type. Whether you’re a small business owner in California or a startup in New York, Skip is equipped to support you with funding opportunities.
How can I cancel my Skip account?
Send an email to hello@helloskip.com, and a member the Skip support team can help you cancel or modify your account and plan.
Conclusion: Is Skip Legit?
Yep! Skip seems to be a completely legitimate business with quite a bit of transparency into their leadership. The platform makes grants and loans accessible to small businesses, specifically to owners in underserved demographics — in all, I think it’s a fantastic funding marketplace.
I’m not in love with the fact that you need to reach out to support to cancel your account. Hopefully, the cancellation process will be improved at some point in the near future. And, it’s a little confusing that the original brand had an entirely unrelated offer.
Still, if you have 7 days to dedicate to exploring the grant opportunities alone, there doesn’t seem to be any risk in trying it out (as long as you make sure to cancel your account if you decide this isn’t the platform for you).
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