Commercial banks. Loans to small businesses. Your friendly business banker. These are all terms that now suggest a financial promised land that few people find any more.
For our US and UK clients, we work closely with a private investor who is comfortable with outside the box business financing. They have rather a unique business finance niche, which is a combination of financing new orders and inventory as long as it can be secured. Their accumulated business skills also come into play on behalf of our clients; someone with a great product but in the early marketing stages can often benefit from the hands-on wisdom of those who have already been there.
If you can manage to get business wisdom and capital all in the same place, so much the better.
They are part venture capitalist, part angel investor, part asset-based lender and part business incubator. They are adaptable and not scared off by financial or credit issues. In one successful deal, we were able to work finance an entrepreneur who could NOT be financed elsewhere due to a credit score seriously impacted by several judgments against him. As you might guess, our talented entrepreneur was highly skilled in his area of expertise, and had sharply increasing orders….. and yet, he lacked some of the critical skills to manage the financial part of the business adequately. Our partner is now cleaning up and negotiating away our client's credit problems. And funding his growth.
Our partners also have a knack for sizing up deals quickly; they say yes or no quickly. There are no excruciatingly long loan committees to go through, no waiting outside the door wondering if and when. Generally, a phone call and follow-up due diligence meeting will suffice, backed up by typical business financials.
Our perfect candidate for this type of financing would have interesting new products, growing product markets, and/or good profit margins. We also like growing businesses which create new jobs, or which deal with new products in the green energy space. The group is also partial to minority-owned businesses, and businesses owned by women. (Even though women are not a minority, it still seems that way from time to time.) We look to fund expansion of existing products with some history of sales, and the capital need should be oriented towards increasing sales, not product development.
Other types of businesses currently under funding consideration include: internet sales, home shopping network or QVC sales, food distribution, specialty products in the home improvement industry. The list grows as we see new businesses.
The preferred investment is $100,000 to $200,000 to start, increasing as shipments are successfully processed and they gain direct experience in the client's business operations.
Through their marketing, operational and financial experience, our partners can help fill in the gaps to produce the complete team needed to create a successful business enterprise.
We are located in the New York City metro area. However, we can arrange financing anywhere in the US, as long as the business fits our model.
If you think you might qualify, please complete the form below.