Katie has over 15 years of experience in the world of small business.  In her corporate career she worked as the Vice President of Small Business Funding, focusing primarily on funding start-up franchises and businesses.   During her time there, she gained extensive knowledge on the ins-and-outs of franchising from the back-end forward.  Katie has helped over 600 small businesses open their doors, many of which were franchises, and has facilitated hundreds of SBA loans.  Katie also worked in business brokerage, as a co-founder of a boutique brokerage firm focusing on the resale of restaurants, nightclubs and franchises. Currently, Katie teaches Entrepreneurship at universities across the Bay Area, volunteers with the San Jose Chapter of SCORE as well as other local government and non-profit agencies educating people on the ins-and-outs of small business ownership. She has successfully helped over 1,000 people into business.  Katie holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Finance and a PhD in Mass Communications.