Funding scenarios
These are teaching scenarios, not case studies. Every business in them is made up, the numbers are illustrative and rounded, and the point is the reasoning, not an outcome.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: From Bootstrapped to BankableA hypothetical one-year-old cleaning LLC that has paid for everything on a personal card works out how to build a business credit file and become bankable.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: Flipping the Script on Funding by Comparing Offers FirstA hypothetical restaurant stops taking the first offer and compares an equipment loan, an SBA-style loan and a cash advance for $85,000 of kitchen equipment.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: Breaking the Barrier to Federal ContractsA hypothetical electrical contractor preparing for its first federal job works through registration, bonding and the working capital needed to carry the contract.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: From Overleveraged to Operational FreedomA hypothetical salon whose two merchant cash advances take more than its cash flow works through its options: reconciliation, renegotiation, refinancing.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: From Reactive to Ready Before Peak SeasonA hypothetical online store that used to scramble for holiday inventory money compares a fixed-fee offer with a bank line arranged ahead of the season.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: From Thin File to Power Player in Business CreditA hypothetical profitable landscaping company that always paid cash has almost no business credit file. It plans 18 months of steps to give lenders a record.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: No PGs, No Problem? What Credit Is Possible Without a Personal GuaranteeA hypothetical agency owner tries to borrow without personal guarantees and maps which credit allows that, what it costs and where a guarantee is unavoidable.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: Standing Strong Without an Unlimited SignatureA hypothetical firm owned by three partners works out what joint and several guarantees mean for each, and how to ask for capped or released guarantees.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: Unlocking Institutional Doors With SBA 504A hypothetical machine shop buying its $1.2 million building compares a conventional mortgage with an SBA 504 structure: cash down, payments, trade-offs.
- Hypothetical scenarioScenario: Scaling Without Strings Using Debt Instead of EquityA hypothetical software company needing $300,000 to hire compares selling equity, revenue-based financing and a bank term loan, with the APR of each.