Funding readiness
Companies do not get turned down for money because the business is bad. They get turned down because the numbers are late, inconsistent or missing the one thing the lender or investor needed to see. Funding readiness is the work of getting your financials, your forecast and your story into the shape that a bank, a government lender, a private investor or a strategic partner expects, before you walk in. We do it alongside your CPA and your lawyer.
What you leave with
A complete, consistent funding package and a company that can answer every finance question a lender or investor will ask.
Who it is for
- Owners planning to borrow for equipment, a building, an acquisition or working capital
- Founders preparing a first or second investment round
- Companies whose last application was declined or stalled on the numbers
What we deliver
- A readiness review: what a lender or investor will see when they open your file, and what to fix first
- Clean, reconciled financial statements for the periods requested, prepared with your CPA
- A three-year forecast with assumptions, downside case and covenant headroom
- A funding package: summary, use of funds, repayment or return case, management and market
- A data room checklist and the documents organised to it
- Preparation for the meetings and the questions
How it runs
01Assess
We read your financials the way a credit analyst or an investor associate would and list every gap, inconsistency and missing item.
02Clean up
We fix the books, the working capital presentation and the reporting with your bookkeeper and CPA.
03Package
We build the forecast and write the package around the specific lender or investor type you are approaching.
04Present
We rehearse the questions, attend the meetings and handle the follow-up requests.
Engagement and fees
Usually a 90-Day Sprint at $80K to $250K from readiness review to submitted package. For a smaller borrowing need, a Workshop of two to four weeks at $30K to $80K covers the review, clean-up and package. Investment advice on securities is never part of our work. Your lawyer and registered advisers handle that side. Every engagement is scoped after a call and confirmed in writing. See consultations and fees.
What lenders and investors actually look at
A bank looks at historical cash flow, debt service coverage, security and the consistency of the story across your statements, your tax filings and your bank activity. A government or development lender looks at the same plus the use of funds and the jobs or growth it supports. An investor looks at the unit economics, the forecast assumptions, the management team and the path to a return.
All of them look for consistency. Revenue that differs between your management report and your year-end statement, an owner salary that disappears in the forecast, or receivables that have not been cleaned up since the last fiscal year will stall an application faster than a weak quarter.
Getting the house in order
Readiness is mostly clean-up. Reconciled books for the last two to three years. Receivables and payables aged and credible. Related-party transactions documented. Owner compensation normalised. A chart of accounts that shows margin. Working capital that can be explained. Your CPA produces the year-end statements, and we make sure the management reporting agrees with them.
Then the forecast. It has to connect to the history, show the assumptions, carry a downside case and show the covenant or return math that the reader cares about. A forecast that starts from a number the history does not support is the most common reason an otherwise good package fails.
The package and the meeting
The package is short. A summary, the use of funds, the repayment or return case, the financials, the forecast and the team. Everything else goes in a data room organised to a checklist so that follow-up requests are answered the same day. Speed of response is read as a sign of how the company is run.
We prepare you for the meeting by asking the questions first. Why did margin fall in that quarter. What happens if your largest customer leaves. How is the owner paid. Where does the working capital go as you grow. Answering those with numbers and without hesitation is what readiness looks like from the other side of the table.
- Year-end financial statements and tax filings for the last three years
- Current year management reports and bank statements
- What you want to borrow or raise, what it is for and when you need it
Industries where we run this most
Questions about this service
Do you help choose between debt and equity?
We lay out what each costs, what each demands of the company and what the forecast looks like under each. The decision is yours, taken with your lawyer and, where securities are involved, a registered adviser. We prepare the numbers for whichever route you choose.
How long does readiness take?
It depends on the state of the books. A company with clean, current financials can have a package ready in a few weeks. A company with two years of uncategorised transactions needs the clean-up first, which can take most of a quarter. We tell you which you are in the first week.
Will you introduce us to lenders or investors?
Our work is to make the company ready and to present with you. Where it helps, we share which lender types suit your situation and what each expects. We do not act as a broker or dealer and we do not raise capital on your behalf.
Can you help after the funding closes?
Yes, and it is often where the real value is. Lenders and investors expect reporting after the money lands, and the covenants need watching. Investor and lender reporting and a fractional CFO seat are the usual next steps.
Start with a finance review.
Ninety minutes with Ali on your cash, margin and pricing. You leave with the four numbers to watch and the two or three moves that change them, whether or not we work together.