Financing readiness
Lenders say no for reasons that are usually fixable and often invisible to the owner. The statements are late or unclear. The forecast does not tie to the history. Financing readiness is the work of seeing your business the way a credit officer will, fixing what can be fixed and presenting the rest clearly. We prepare the package and sit beside you.
What you leave with
You approach lenders with a complete, credible package and a clear understanding of what you can borrow, on what terms and why.
Who it is for
- Owners who need financing for equipment, premises, a competitor or a partner's shares
- Buyers who need acquisition financing for a business they are purchasing
- Owners who have been declined and do not fully understand why
What we deliver
- A lender-readiness review of your financials, forecasts, security and personal position
- Normalised earnings and debt service capacity analysis
- A financing memorandum: the business, the purpose, the amount, the repayment and the security
- A financial forecast that ties to history and survives a credit officer's questions
- A shortlist of financing routes and support through lender meetings to approval
How it runs
01Review
We look at your business through a lender's eyes and list what helps, what hurts and what must be fixed.
02Fix
With your CPA, we clean up the statements, document the add-backs and resolve what a credit officer would flag.
03Package
We write the financing memorandum and build the forecast and debt service analysis.
04Approach
We help you choose which lenders to approach, prepare for the meetings and respond to conditions.
Engagement and fees
Starts with a 90-minute Strategy Session at $499. Readiness work and the financing package are quoted as a fixed fee after the review. We are not a lender and do not take fees from lenders. Every engagement is scoped after a call and confirmed in writing. See consultations and fees.
What a lender is actually asking
Every credit decision reduces to a few questions. Can the business repay from cash flow, with room to spare? What happens to that cash flow if sales fall? What security backs the loan, and what is it worth if things go wrong? How much of their own money does the owner have at risk? Your package should answer each before it is asked. Most declines happen because the answer was unclear, and the lender moved on to an easier file.
The common fixes
Financial statements prepared late or inconsistently make a lender nervous, so we work with your CPA to get them current and clean. Owner expenses buried in the business depress earnings, so we document and normalise them. A forecast that leaps away from history is dismissed, so we tie every assumption to something real. Shareholder loans, related-party transactions and old liabilities need to be explained or resolved. All of it takes time, which is why readiness starts months before you need the money.
Matching the financing to the purpose
A term loan for equipment, a mortgage for premises, an operating line for working capital, acquisition financing with a vendor take-back behind the bank and alternative lenders when the banks say no each have different costs, security and covenants. Choosing the wrong instrument creates problems later even when it is approved. We lay out the realistic routes for your purpose, explain the trade-offs and help you approach the right lenders in the right order, because a trail of declines makes the next conversation harder.
Industries where we run this most
Questions about this service
Do you arrange the loan?
We prepare you and your package, help you choose which lenders to approach and support you through the process. We are not a lender or a broker and do not take fees from lenders.
Can I get financing to buy a business?
Buyers in BC commonly combine their own equity, bank acquisition financing and a vendor take-back from the seller. Lenders look at the target's cash flow, your experience and your equity. We build the package around those three things.
How long before I need the money should I start?
As early as you can. Cleaning up statements, normalising earnings and resolving old issues takes time, and the lender's own process takes more. Owners who start months ahead get better terms.
What if I have been declined?
A decline usually has a specific reason, even when the lender did not state it clearly. We review the file, find the reason, fix what can be fixed and help you approach a lender better suited to your situation.
Start with a confidential conversation.
Tell Ali where the business is and what you want to happen next. You leave with a straight read on value, timing and the two or three moves that matter, whether or not we work together.