Financing Strategies
For Small and Medium Sized Businesses
Every business needs access to money. Sometimes your business will need access to solve a problem or to take advantage of an opportunity. Does your business need access to debt or equity? Which type of money is best for your business and what difference will it have on your business? Our team will help you understand what is required to access the right money that will help your business take advantage of opportunities or fix problems.
- Why Does Your Business Need Money?
There are many different business funding options including:
- Working Capital
- Inventory
- Equipment
- Tenant Improvements
- Expansion and Growth
- Refinancing and Restructuring
- What is working capital?
The money needed by a business to support the differences in the receipt of money from customers and the payment of bills to vendors or suppliers. A business usually has to pay its bills ahead of receiving payments from customers which creates a cash flow problem. Working capital is meant to help businesses manage their cash flow.
- What is a term loan?
A specific amount of money that is to be repaid over a specific period of time is referred to as a term loan. Unlike a line of credit or revolving debt facility, a term loan has a fixed amount and fixed terms such as interest rate and payment amount.
- What is equipment financing?
If your business needs equipment but doesn't have the capital or money to purchase it, then you will be looking for a loan or a lease to pay for the cost(s) associated with the equipment your business needs. Equipment financing is designed specifically for assets that depreciate.
- What is inventory financing?
If you business needs to purchase materials, parts or other goods before it can sell its products or services to customers, you will require a loan or working capital to pay for your inventory. Inventory financing is designed for businesses that need to turnover capital quickly.
- What is a tenant improvement loan?
Many businesses will rent an office or retail location for their business that needs interior and exterior work done to make it usable. Often times landlords will include the costs of improving a space in your lease or rental agreement. If your landlord is not going to cover the cost of improvements, you will need financing to pay for the interior and/or exterior work for your space.
- What type of financing does my business need to expand and grow?
There are two (2) basic ways to finance the growth and expansion of your business: borrow debt or sell equity in your business. If you choose to borrow, you will be looking for a bank, lender or investor to provide you with a loan that your business will use to pay for the costs associated with expansion and growth. If you choose to sell equity, you will be looking for an investor to invest in your business in exchange for ownership.
- How can my business refinance or restructure its debt?
There are times when your business may need to extend the repayment period for its debts and/or lower the interest costs associated with debt it has borrowed. Refinancing and restructuring the debt your business has involves negotiating with your existing creditors or going to the market to find a new bank, lender or investor that is prepared to payout your debt and hold it themselves.
- How hard is it to access financing and money for my business?
There are hundreds of funding options available to businesses. It is not difficult to find banks, lenders and investors but it is difficult to create and present a financing request that can be easily understood and used to generate a Term Sheet or Commitment Letter. Every bank, lender and investor will want to know the same basic information about your business but will have different criteria they use to specifically approve and price the money they are prepared to give your business.
- What are the basic steps involved in getting financing or money for my business?
Generally speaking, accessing funding for your business includes:
- Determine what type of funding your business requires and why it requires it
- Create a presentation of your funding request and information
- Find banks, lenders and/or investors and send them your presentation
- Follow-up and communicate with banks, lenders and/or investors
- Get approved
- Complete the due diligence and legal work associated with your funding
- Receive funding
Deal Package
Once our team has helped you understand what type of money your business needs to access, we will prepare and circulate our unique Deal Package to our database of banks and investors that fund businesses. Our Deal Package is a digital presentation of your funding request including all of the details and information that are needed to help you secure a Term Sheet or Commitment Letter.
We believe that entrepreneurs should be able to directly access the banks, lenders and investors that can help them. The hardest part of accessing funding for any business is organizing the details, running the math and presenting a request that a bank, lender or investor can review and respond to. Being able to present the right information is the first step towards securing the funding your business needs.
We believe that technology can reduce the amount of wasted time that entrepreneurs, bankers, lenders and investors spend trying to understand each other. Our Deal Package gives you the opportunity to see how a funding request is put together as you need approve every piece of information included in it. Your request will be matched against our database of banks, lenders and investors that are best suited to speak with you.
It's not about being a funding expert. It's about using experts to get funding.
You need to leverage your time and make sure it is being spent in a manner that gets you the best return. Meeting with numerous bankers, lenders, and investors so you can tell them all the same thing in different ways is not a good use of your time. Our technology and team are meant to help you tell your story once, gather the appropriate details and then make sure your request gets to the right people.