Guidant Financial
{{Infobox company
| logo = Guidant Financial logo.png
| location = Boise, Idaho
| website = {{url|https://www.guidantfinancial.com/}}
| founded = 2003
| founders = David Nilssen
Jeremy Ames
}}
Guidant Financial is an American small business financing company headquartered in Boise, Idaho. It provides business financing to new and existing entrepreneurs. The company specializes in Rollovers as Business Startups (ROBS) and Small Business Administration (SBA) loans. Guidant Financial has helped over 25,000 entrepreneurs put greater than 4 billion to work in small business and franchise locations in all 50 states.{{cite web|title=Self-Directed IRA: Guidant Financial|url=http://selfdirectedira.nuwireinvestor.com/guidant-financial/|publisher=NuWire Investor|accessdate=1 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130074752/http://selfdirectedira.nuwireinvestor.com/guidant-financial/|archive-date=30 January 2013|url-status=dead}}
Guidant Financial is the largest ROBS provider and a third-party administrator of 401(k) plans. The company facilitates the process of rolling over individual eligible retirement funds to purchase stock in a new company for the purpose of small business financing. In 2011, it made headlines for supporting veterans with a dozen of entrepreneurial scholarships to start businesses.{{cite web|last=Gustafson|first=Jeanne|title=Guidant Financial Pledges Assistance to Veteran Business Startups|url=http://bellevue.patch.com/articles/guidant-financial-pledges-assistance-to-veteran-business-startups|publisher=Bellevue Patch|accessdate=1 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203011541/http://bellevue.patch.com/articles/guidant-financial-pledges-assistance-to-veteran-business-startups|archive-date=3 February 2013|url-status=dead}} Guidant Financial also produces an annual business trends report called The State of Small Business. The past two years, it has been done in collaboration with The Lending Club.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}}
History
David Nilssen and Jeremy Ames co-founded Guidant Financial in 2003.{{cite news|last=Saunders|first=Laura|title=IRAs Get Sexier|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204571404577253411744719228|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=2 March 2012|accessdate=1 March 2013}}{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Barbara|title=Using Your 401(k) to Buy a Small Business|url=http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/using-your-401k-to-buy-a-small-business/|work=The New York Times|accessdate=1 March 2013}} According to Nilssen, their goal was to help individuals self-direct their IRA or 401(k) "to a variety of investment opportunities, including the purchase of a business or franchise."{{cite web|last=Lister|first=Kate|title=Should You Tap a Nest Egg to Start a Business?|date=22 March 2011|url=http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219379|publisher=Entrepreneur|accessdate=1 March 2013}} The company has been recognized by many organizations for its growth, impact, culture and leadership.{{Cite web|url=https://www.guidantfinancial.com/about-us/awards-honors/|title=Guidant Financial Awards & Honors|website=Guidant Financial|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-24}}
In 2019, Guidant Financial opened two new offices in Boise, Idaho,{{cite web|last=Day|first=Don|date=25 February 2019|title=Seattle area's challenges bring financial company to Boise|url=https://boisedev.com/news/2019/02/25/guidant-financial-boise-ames/|archive-url=|archive-date=|accessdate=25 February 2019|website=}} and Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam. Beginning in 2021, the company went entirely remote.