Startups should take advantage of the free $10k advance under the CARES Act

Lots of people looking at stimulus bill are focusing on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the CARES Act, which you can start applying for on Friday. (Application available here: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Paycheck-Protection-Program-Application-3-30-2020-v3.pdf)

But you can apply for a separate loan under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and get an advance of $10,000 that does not have to be repaid. The advance is supposed to be sent to your bank account within 3 days of your application, whether or not you ultimately get the loan. You can apply here: https://covid19relief.sba.gov/. It takes about 15 minutes to do. Something you shouldn’t ignore.

Note that, as you may have heard, VC-backed startups might need to do some legal work to make sure they don’t run into problems with affiliation rules for either of these programs. Happy to explain in comments, if people are interested.