# Apply for a grant from Pilot’s $250k growth fund

Pilot is putting $250,000 directly into small businesses. One of 18 grants could fund your next hire, your next location, your next year. We’re awarding:

- One $50,000 grant
- Two $25,000 grants
- Fifteen $10,000 grants

Every winner also gets a year of free bookkeeping.

## What can you use this grant money for?

One thing stands between you and your next move: capital. That's what this is for.

We've spent ten years watching small businesses grow—and watching growth stall when the money runs out at the wrong moment. The **Pilot Small Business Growth Fund** exists because the right support at the right time changes everything.

### Use the grant to grow

- **Stock up on inventory**: Restock or pre-stock for the next busy season. Take a breather from tightly managing inventory to focus on moving product.
- **Buy new equipment**: Get that new oven, install newer washers, or buy your team the tools to offer a better service.
- **Expand your team**: Train your existing staff, hire more people, retain a recruiter, and find extra hands to free you up.
- **Improve your margins**: Where do you make money? Lose money? Invest in hiring an accountant or bookkeeper and get a clear view of your whole financial situation to spend smarter.
- **Open a new location**: Get a down payment for that new truck, start a new lease, knock down those walls, and increase your footprint.
- **Start marketing seriously**: Put money into ads, flyers, direct mail, email, and social media marketing.

## How do I apply?

This program is a partnership between Pilot and Hello Alice, and it's open to U.S. businesses that made between $5k and $5M in 2025. To apply, you must be the owner and 18 or older (19 in some states).

- **Complete the application**: Takes < 10 minutes on Hello Alice's site.
- **Share a video**: Selected finalists will be asked to send a short video.
- **Receive the grant**: We deposit the funds into your business account.

## This grant is brought to you by Pilot

Want to put that money to its highest use? Good books can tell you where to cut, when to hire, and whether you can afford to. The Small Business Growth Fund provides $250,000 to businesses ready to scale—backed by the financial expertise to make it count.

### Who can apply?

To be eligible to enter a business in the Program, you (“Officer”) must be all of the following as of the first day of the Program Period:

- an entrepreneur who is the leading executive (i.e. Founder and/or President, CEO, CFO, COO, or any such other similar title) of a business that meets the below business criteria;
- a legal resident of one of the fifty United States, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico;
- eighteen (18) years of age or older (19 in AL and NE).

To be eligible to enter a business in the Program, you (“Officer”) must be all of the following as of the first day of the Program Period:

- Be a for-profit business located and registered in one of the fifty United States, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico;
- Generated between $5,000 and $5,000,000 in gross revenue in 2025
- Must not be a multi-level marketing business
- Owned by individuals (or their family members) currently or recently employed by Pilot

## Small business success stories

Every business is different. The problems aren't. Here's how business owners got their finances under control with Pilot—and got back to the work that matters.