After two hours of panels, the crowd split into smaller sessions where the real work was meant to happen. There were nine sessions to choose from on a range of topics: You could discuss benefits and HR questions with the Financial Gym founder Shannon McLay or learn about social media fromco-founder. I joined the session about growing your business with the help of lending and banking. We live in a time where there are two narratives that dominate the start-up story: either you bootstrap or you raise venture capital. A third option is to get a small business loan. The panel’s host, Mary Ann Reilly, the SVP of North America Marketing at Visa (the conference's sponsor) mentioned the stat that 61% of female entrepreneurs self-fund their business. Yet, there are a lot of good reasons why you might want to go the so-called “debt” route — you have more control over your growth strategy and aren’t beholden to investors. Of course, understanding loans can be complicated and finding lenders who look like you and believe in your business can also be tough (which might explain why only 1 and 4 female entrepreneurs take out a small business loan). But is it any harder than facing room after room of uninterested white men who are often the decision-makers of venture capital firms?