You have been thinking about it
Maybe you said you would send the bank statements later today. Maybe you wanted to talk to a partner first. Maybe you filled out the form and then got busy. That is fine. Taking on funding is a decision, not an impulse. Here is what the process looks like from here, so the decision is about the funding and not about the unknown.
Step 1: the application
A few questions. How much you are looking for, how long you have been in business, roughly what it takes in, and where to reach you. It takes about two minutes and it does not ask for anything you would have to look up.
Step 2: bank statements
This is the step everyone puts off, and it is the one that matters most: funders decide on what the account actually does, not on a credit score alone. The last few months of business bank statements is what they want to see.
The tip that saves the most time: log into your bank now and download them as PDFs. It takes less time than reading this paragraph, and it is the difference between an answer this week and an answer whenever you get around to it.
Step 3: it goes to funders that fit
This is our part. The application and statements go to the funders in our network that work with your industry and your size of business. We do not take the first answer that comes back; we bring back several and put them side by side, so you can see how the terms and the structures differ.
Step 4: you choose
You see the offers and you pick, or you do not. There is no obligation to take one, and no pressure to take one that does not feel right. We go through every line of the one you are considering with you before anything is signed, and the person doing that is the same person you will have after funding.
Step 5: the money lands
Once you accept an offer, most businesses have the funds in their account within one to two business days. Not weeks. Not “we will let you know.”
What the money usually goes to
If you are wondering whether your reason is a normal one, it almost certainly is. The businesses we work with are most often funding:
- Equipment and vehicles: another truck on the road, a machine that pays for itself.
- Expansion: a second location, a bigger kitchen, a new line of work.
- Consolidation: several daily advances replaced by one payment on a longer term.
- Working capital for a large job, so the materials are bought before the invoice is paid.
- Inventory ahead of a season, so the stock is there when the customers are.
Whatever yours is, the first step is the same two-minute application, and it commits you to nothing.