Tips From National Small Business Week

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) returned with its highly anticipated annual National Small Business Week this May. Meta was proud to participate in the event with an inspiring conversation with extraordinary small business owner Maria Palacio, cofounder of Progeny Coffee, who shared her story with Meta’s Director of Global Supplier Diversity, Jason Trimiew.

Progeny’s story

Before the pandemic, Progeny was a B2B company serving coffee to major tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Meta. But when the pandemic hit and all of their corporate clients closed their campuses, the business lost 97% of its revenue.

How Progeny recovered

When nationwide lockdowns shuttered offices, Progeny pivoted to a Direct-to-Consumer model, in which they launched a subscription service called "Adopt-A-Farmer," and began building their consumer audience on Instagram and Facebook.

This business model pivot meant that Progeny needed to access additional capital to pay large invoices that had accrued, but their current debtors could not finance them. So they turned to Meta’s Invoice Fast Track program—a program that enables eligible US-based small businesses to get cash immediately for the goods and services they’ve invoiced their customers, instead of waiting the 60 to 120 day period it normally takes to get paid. Meta’s Invoice Fast Track was instrumental in helping Progeny get funding so they could invest capital back into their business.

By using digital tools to grow and reach their consumer audience and gaining access to new capital streams, Progeny was able to drive sales and transition their business model successfully. “Now our business is growing and we are back on our feet, creating more jobs and pushing our impact further,” Maria shared.

Considerations for businesses like Progeny

• When conditions change, consider a change to your business model. Are there audiences you’ve not yet tapped? A new distribution channel you can tap into?
• Find out if you’re eligible for Meta’s Invoice Fast Track program and how you can get paid on your outstanding customer invoices.

Catch the conversation from National Small Business Week.

Didn’t make it to National Small Business Week? It’s not too late to catch the content. Watch the full conversation here.