The federal PPP bailout program’s loan data from the first round of stimulus has been made public by the SBA and conveniently compiled into a searchable database by ProPublica here.
In my nerdy opinion, this is as much (if not more) fun during these boring times when everything is shut down as a good Netflix binge. I started late one night and stayed up way too late because it was so fascinating. Here’s some quick highlights:
- The great news is that our beloved profession was likely able to preserve thousands of jobs because of PPP 👏🏻
- I’m guessing there’s a lot of paperwork errors in this data — there was a rush to get applications filed and you can see some stuff that just has to be wrong like big firms with hundreds of staff saying zero jobs retained or roofing companies categorized as “architectural services”
Juicy Tidbits
- I found a one-person firm that took a $5M-$10M PPP loan!!! This guy is making the kind of cheddar we all dream of! Eat your heart out, Mike Brady!
- There was a lighting consultancy whose LinkedIn says they have 11-50 employees that got $5M-$10M! Truly enlightening! (sorry)
- A firm who does renderings and models of condos in Miami and has 2-10 employees per LinkedIn took $5M-$10M too!
