The Real Problem
You already know how this goes at one bank: a fraction of your number, and ninety days to tell you so.
The committee doesn't say no. It says maybe — then asks for a personal guarantee on the whole thing, covenants that box in how you run the company, and a number that funds part of the plan, not the plan. One balance sheet, reading your file one way, deciding how much of your future it's comfortable holding.
So you shrink the plan to fit the offer. Or you take it to a second lender, then a third — retelling the same story, restarting the same diligence — while the acquisition, the equipment slot, the contract you were financing quietly slips away.
So which is it — shrink the number, or shop it around until the window's gone?
Neither. Your number was never too big — you took it to one balance sheet instead of the right combination of them.
Bobby’s Take
Two things decide a file at this level: whose model is reading it, and how much of it any one lender will hold. Put it in front of the lenders who each read their piece right, and the number that comes back is usually the one you needed all along.
Bobby Friel, Founder, Basecamp Funding
The Building Blocks
The Financing We Structure
Working capital, asset-based lines, equipment, mezzanine, acquisition debt — the building blocks behind every $1M–$20M+ capital plan. Open any one for the detail.
Revenue-based working capital funds the gap between spending to grow and when revenue lands — payroll, inventory, a contract's ramp. It's underwritten on bank statements and cash flow, not the balance sheet, and typically sized to a multiple of monthly revenue. In a larger structure it's the flexible layer alongside a term loan or line.
A revolving line gives you a set limit to draw, repay, and draw again — you pay only on the outstanding balance. It's built for timing mismatches: seasonal swings, a large order's upfront cost, bridging a slow receivable. At the commercial tier it pairs with working capital and A/R to form the liquidity layer of a stack.
A/R financing advances roughly 80–90% of an eligible invoice up front, releasing the balance (less a fee) when your customer pays — so you're not financing 30-to-90-day terms out of pocket. It scales with sales, not credit score, which suits high-growth and project-based businesses. Often paired with a line to smooth the full cycle.
Purchase order and inventory financing funds the supplier cost of a confirmed order — often up to 100% — so you can fill a contract larger than your balance sheet, then repay when you invoice the end customer. It's the instrument for distributors, importers, and government contractors scaling past their own capital. It sits naturally ahead of A/R in the same working-capital cycle.
ABL sizes a facility to a borrowing base — commonly ~80–85% of eligible receivables and ~50% of inventory, plus equipment. The line grows as those assets grow, which makes it the engine for distributors and manufacturers carrying large working-capital cycles. It's frequently the senior layer an A/R line or mezzanine stacks onto.
Equipment and capex financing covers up to 100% of machinery, heavy equipment, technology, and fleet, with the asset as collateral and terms matched to its useful life — often 3 to 7 years. That keeps working capital free for operations. In a growth structure it carves equipment out of the stack so other layers fund the rest of the plan.
The core debt layer: a fixed amount on a set term, priced to revenue and cash flow and often sized around 3–4x EBITDA. It's the anchor most stacks are built on, with lines, A/R, and mezzanine layered on top. No technical ceiling — size follows the cash flow and the story.
Mezzanine sits between senior debt and equity. When a senior lender stops at, say, 3x cash flow but the plan needs more, it extends total leverage further — turning a $5M senior facility into an $8–12M structure — priced for the added risk, with no equity surrendered.
Recurring-revenue financing lends against the predictability of contracted revenue — ARR or MRR — rather than hard collateral, which fits SaaS, subscription, and managed-services businesses. Capital is sized to a multiple of recurring revenue and scales as that revenue grows. It funds growth without the dilution of an equity round.
A CRE bridge funds the acquisition or repositioning of existing, stabilized, or transitional property — owner-occupied, multifamily, industrial, retail — typically up to ~75% loan-to-value on 12-to-36-month terms, with no ground-up construction. It buys time to stabilize or refinance into permanent debt, and often pairs with the operating layers.
Acquisition and buyout financing funds buying a business, a partner buyout, or a recapitalization — usually a stack: a senior term loan for the bulk, mezzanine to bridge the gap, and a line for working capital after the transaction. It's where every instrument above comes together, from $500K to $20M+.
Refinancing consolidates higher-cost or short-term debt into one cleaner structure; a recapitalization restructures the balance sheet — sometimes returning capital to owners — without selling the business. Both reset terms a business has outgrown, freeing cash flow for the next phase. Often the first move before layering on new growth capital.
The ceiling isn't $5M
Typical lines run to about $5M each. When the revenue and cash flow support it, our lenders go higher — and combined, they're how a file reaches
Capital Stacking
How Capital Stacking Works
Every lender has a ceiling — the most it will hold against a single balance sheet. Capital stacking stops treating that ceiling as your limit.
Instead of forcing your number into one lender's box, we layer the right instruments — a senior term loan, mezzanine to extend leverage, an asset-based line for working capital, equipment financing for the hard assets — into one coordinated structure. Each lender holds the piece it underwrites best, and the layers add up to the number the plan actually needs.
It isn't one bigger loan. It's the right combination of them.
A $12M structure, four layers
One bank offered $5M. The rest came from three more lenders — each holding the piece it reads best.
Structured Files
What a Structured File Looks Like
Representative $1M+ structures — illustrative figures, not specific client transactions.
Which of those scenarios sounds closest to your situation right now?
A contract you can't fund? Equipment you can't buy? Cash flow that doesn't match your payroll schedule? The business owners above all started in the same place you are — they just stopped waiting for the bank to call them back.
The Single-Lender Ceiling
The Real Ceiling Isn’t the Number — It’s the Clock
At $1M+, the capital is never the point — the opportunity is. An acquisition on the clock. An equipment slot before the season. A contract that needs proof of funding this month. Those windows don’t reopen. And the single-lender path is slow by design: weeks to a maybe, more weeks to a number that’s short, and by the time you’ve started again with the next lender, the opening you were financing belongs to someone who moved faster.
A $3M opportunity, on a clock. Two ways to fund it.
The Single-Lender Path
Sequential$2.2M raised — still short
4 months gone · and the window with it
The Structured Path
Parallel$3M+ structured — in parallel
days to weeks, not months · window still open
You’ve seen where the sequential path ends — 4 months gone, the window with it, still short. The only thing left is deciding which one you start.
The structured path starts right here — not with a pile of paperwork, with a 60-second brief.
Start Here
Start Your Financing Review — 60 Seconds
Tell us about the transaction. This first step captures the file; your specialist desk reviews it and structures the stack across the lenders that fit each layer. No fee, no obligation.
What the review includes
- Sixty seconds to start — no fee
- A dedicated specialist desk on your file
- The stack structured across the lenders that fit each layer
- Real term sheets presented back to you — not theoretical quotes
- A soft review for the initial look
Underwriters read the story, not just the numbers. A clear use of funds — and the return it drives — moves a file toward a credit decision. Worth a few sentences.
No obligation. Your information stays confidential.
Capital Architecture
The Capital Structure Pecking Order
Every dollar in a stack sits somewhere in the priority order — what gets paid first in a default, and therefore what each layer costs. Knowing where your capital sits is how you control your blended cost of capital. Most operators are never shown this map; your specialist desk structures to it.
↑ Cost & subordination rise with each tier
Equity, not debt — the last gap to fill when the debt layers are maxed.
Ranks below mezzanine in priority. Bridge financing, gap capital, recapitalization.
Subordinated to senior, and priced for the position. Acquisition financing, growth capital, dividend recapitalization.
First-position lien on the assets. Owner-occupied real estate, equipment, and receivables-secured working capital.
The art is filling your number from the bottom of the cost curve up — as much senior as the assets and cash flow support, mezzanine and beyond only where the structure requires it. The desk coordinates the intercreditor positions so the layers hold together as one facility.
What Underwriters Weigh
The Underwriting Priority Order
When a lender evaluates a $1M+ file, four things get weighed — in this order. Miss the order, and a fundable file still gets a no.
Can the business service the debt from today's operations — before the new opportunity contributes a dollar? This is the non-negotiable. Repayment can't ride on projected growth; it has to work on the numbers you already have.
What the capital is for decides which products and lenders fit. Equipment, real estate, acquisition, working capital — each routes to a different layer, and the wrong route turns a fundable file into a decline.
Personal and business credit both matter — but as part of the full picture, not a single number. Cash flow leads; credit supports.
The gap between a $500K decision and a $5M one is the file itself. Tax returns, financials, P&L, A/R aging — assembled into a package an underwriter can act on.
The Fifth Thing
The One That’s Not on the Checklist
Four things get a file reviewed. A fifth gets it approved when the decision is close — and at $1M+, it’s almost always close. It’s the story behind the number: a business already growing, an opportunity that adds 30% to revenue, a contract just won or a competitor worth acquiring — the why behind the capital, and a clear line from the funding to the return.
And the story isn’t told in a meeting — it’s told in the documents. Which ones go in, in what order, with what context. The same financials can read as a risk or a strength depending on how the file is built; a clean-looking document, sent in cold, can raise a question an underwriter can’t unask.
Your specialist desk reads the file the way the underwriter will — and assembles it so the context is there first, the strengths are obvious, and the real story comes through. At this level, that’s the difference between a denial and an approval.
Know Your Numbers
The Metrics Your Lender Is Calculating
If your business has a CFO — even fractional — these are already on the dashboard. If not, this is what a lender is quietly running on any commercial file over $1M.
$1.25 of income for every $1 of debt payment. Higher-risk assets run 1.40×.
A manufacturer doing ~$15M in revenue with $2M of EBITDA carries roughly $6M–$8M of total debt capacity.
Real cash through the business — not revenue, not paper profit. It proves you can service payments regardless of accounting.
You don’t need these memorized. But walking in with them ready — or a CFO who can — is the difference between a credit decision in weeks and a runaround in months.
Qualification
Who Gets a $1M+ Credit Decision
A $1M+ structure isn’t for every business — and an honest read on where you stand saves everyone months. Here’s the line between a file that gets structured and one that isn’t ready yet.
↳Time in business is a factor, not a gate — newer businesses with strong revenue can still qualify.
Not ready yet isn’t a no — it’s a checklist. Most of it is fixable in a quarter or two, and the desk will tell you straight which gaps to fix before a file goes in.
Sector Focus
Where Commercial Capital Moves at Scale
Established operators with strong cash flow and a clear use of funds — across the verticals where large capital actually moves. Open any sector for how the financing gets used.
Add a production line with equipment financing, acquire a competitor or supplier to go upstream or downstream with a senior term loan plus mezzanine, and fund the larger operation's working capital with an ABL or A/R line. A typical growth move stacks all three — equipment for the hard assets, term debt for the acquisition, a revolving line for the combined cash cycle.
Explore manufacturing financingFinance the gap between buying inventory and collecting on sales: a borrowing-base line (ABL) that scales with receivables and inventory, purchase-order financing to cover a large order before payment, and A/R financing that turns 30-to-90-day invoices into working capital. Together they flex with a cash cycle a single term loan can't.
Explore distribution financingAcquire a practice or roll up multiple locations with acquisition financing, buy surgical, imaging, or diagnostic equipment with equipment financing, and fund a new site's build-out and ramp with a term loan and line. Multi-location growth is usually a stack — acquisition debt for the purchase, equipment for the hard assets, a line for the ramp.
Explore healthcare financingFinance fleet at scale with equipment financing on tractors and trailers, acquire a terminal or a competitor's lanes with acquisition financing, and mobilize for a new dedicated contract — hiring, fuel, and working capital before the first invoice clears — with an A/R or working-capital line. The receivable from a signed contract often anchors the structure.
Explore trucking financingRaise growth capital against contracted recurring revenue (ARR/MRR-based financing) instead of giving up equity. The capital funds sales-and-marketing expansion, a strategic acquisition, or a runway extension — sized to recurring revenue and scaling as it grows. It's how a profitable or near-profitable software business funds the next phase without a dilutive round.
Explore technology financingCover the mobilization gap — payroll, materials, and equipment needed before progress payments arrive — with working-capital and A/R lines, plus heavy equipment financing for a larger project slate. On bigger awards, the signed contract and its receivable schedule anchor the working-capital structure that carries the job to completion.
Explore construction financingTax Strategy
Section 179 + 100% Bonus Depreciation at Scale
If last year was strong and you’re about to write a check to the IRS — stop. Acquire qualifying equipment with as little as 10% down, finance the rest, and write off the full purchase price in year one. Section 179 covers it up to the annual cap; 100% bonus depreciation — made permanent in 2025, with no cap and no income limit — carries the rest.
At the top bracket, a first-year deduction that size can produce tax savings that exceed the total interest cost of financing the equipment — and several times the cash you put down. For an established business with strong cash flow, that’s the difference between funding the IRS and funding your own growth. Your CPA models the exact numbers for your bracket and structure.
Worked scenario · top bracket · illustrative
You put down $200K. The first-year write-off can return more than three times that in tax savings — and you keep the equipment.
Scales with your numbers
Illustrative only. Actual savings depend on your tax bracket, entity type, state conformity, and CPA guidance. Section 179 and bonus depreciation are elections your CPA makes for your situation; above the Section 179 cap, 100% bonus depreciation carries the balance.
Terms reflect credit, revenue, time in business, and each lender. Every file is unique — see what the desk structures for yours in the 60-second qualifier.
Bobby’s Take
“I’ve watched operators write huge checks to the IRS when they could have acquired the equipment, written off the full price, and grown the business at the same time. That’s not tax planning — that’s leaving capital in federal coffers that belonged in your business.”
Bobby Friel · Founder
Financing Strategy
Debt vs. Equity — Keep 100% of Your Company
When the number passes $1M, operators sometimes weigh selling equity instead of borrowing — you wouldn’t be the first to sit on this fork. For an established business with real cash flow, the math usually favors debt. Here’s the head-to-head.
A fixed cost you pay off. Then it’s gone — and you own everything that comes after.
20–40% sold — of every dollar the business ever makes, permanently.
From the desk
Operators come to us every month who’d rather carry a payment than give up a point of equity — and the ones with real cash flow are usually right. Debt costs you interest. Equity costs you a percentage of every dollar the business ever makes — forever.
The Process
How a Commercial Stack Comes Together
Start the conversation
A quick form: amount, use of funds, industry, timeline. No documents, no fee.
Pre-qualify
Complete the secure pre-qualification: a soft credit pull and a quick document review pre-underwrite the file. This is the step that puts you in front of the desk.
The desk matches your file to lenders
The specialist desk reads the file and identifies which lenders hold which layer across the 70+ lenders in the marketplace.
Real term sheets come back
Multiple lenders return competing offers — real terms, real structures, real funding timelines. Your advisor walks the structure.
Compare, choose, and fund
Layer by layer, total cost across the stack, in front of you. Sign digitally; the desk manages every lender through to funding. Days, not months.
Where you start determines what comes back. Begin the file, and the desk carries it to funded.
The Timeline
What Funding a $1M+ Transaction Actually Looks Like
A commercial file over $1M isn’t a handshake and a wire. Here’s the real sequence — the same steps every structured file runs, whether it funds in days or weeks.
Non-binding terms: amount, structure, collateral, covenants. Your first real offer — review it with counsel.
Lenders verify financials, liens, and asset condition. Runs in parallel across every layer in the stack.
Credit agreements and pledges drafted — plus personal guarantees only where the structure requires them. Strong files can qualify for reduced or no personal guarantee. Counsel reviews.
Lenders push for covenants; you push for operating flexibility. Normal. Expected.
Final signatures, often through escrow. Funds wire.
Repayment begins; covenant compliance is monitored. The desk stays on the file to manage a refinance or rate review once payment history is built.
The desk runs the whole sequence across every lender in the stack at once — not one lender after another. That parallelism is what keeps a multi-layer file moving.
Prepared file
A clean, straightforward file moves fast.
Complex structure
Multi-asset or acquisition structures with full diligence.
From the Founder
At $1M+, one lender’s answer is never the full picture.
I built Basecamp Funding because I watched too many operators walk into one lender, get one answer, and take it as the whole truth. Your file might need a senior lender, an asset-based lender, and a working-capital lender working together — each pricing the layer it knows best. That’s a capital stack. That’s what 70+ lenders actually means. And that’s why the desk handles the whole thing.
Bobby Friel
Founder, Basecamp Funding
The Cost of Sequence
What does going to three lenders in sequence for a $5M file actually cost?
It isn't just sixty days. A stack is structured to fund together, or it isn't structured at all.
See Your Capital Architecture →FAQ
Questions Operators Ask
$1M to $20M+, single-lender or stacked across the marketplace. Files under $1M are usually a better fit for the standard qualifier.
It depends on the file. A prepared operator — clean statements, financials ready, clear use of funds — can fund in as little as 48 hours to a few weeks. Complex multi-asset or acquisition structures run 2–6 weeks. Gathering documents is what slows a file, not the lenders.
Structuring financing across multiple lenders and products, each pricing the layer it knows best — senior debt in first position, equipment or A/R secured against the assets, working capital against cash flow. Each lender competes on its layer, so you carry the right cost on every piece instead of one blended rate.
Sometimes. Strong files — especially asset-based or strong-cash-flow structures — can qualify for reduced-recourse or no-personal-guarantee facilities. The stronger the business's financials and collateral, the less personal exposure the structure requires.
The business comes first: cash flow, liquidity, deposit history, and a clear use of funds carry far more weight than a personal score at this tier. Where score does land: 600–700 is workable and positions you within the product set; below 600 usually falls outside the structure. A strong, well-documented operation can carry credit that isn't pristine.
Typically 5–15%, depending on the product mix. A stack often lowers your total out-of-pocket by splitting the raise across layers with different requirements — equipment financed near 100%, working capital against cash flow, senior debt against collateral.
Yes — one of the strongest categories, from $500K to $20M+, structured around the cash flow and assets being acquired, often stacking senior debt with mezzanine.
Explore business acquisition financingManufacturing, wholesale and distribution, healthcare, logistics and trucking, technology and SaaS, and construction and heavy civil. Any established operator with strong cash flow and a clear use of funds is a candidate.
To start: business name, revenue, amount, and timeline — no documents for the initial form. Full underwriting needs two years of business tax returns, current financials, a P&L, and a clear use of funds. At $1M+, the quality of the file is often the difference between a credit decision and a denial.
