The Real Problem
Your Revenue Is Real. Your Cash Is Just Standing in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time.
Payroll, the inventory buy, and the next contract all come due before the last one pays.
A lump-sum term loan makes you carry interest on capital you don't need yet — so growing operators end up funding the ramp out of the one reserve they can't afford to spend.
What you actually need is capital sized to your cash flow — there when the ramp hits, paid for only when you draw it.
Bobby’s Take
I've watched good operators fund growth out of the one reserve they can't afford to spend, then get caught thin when something unexpected hits. That's not a revenue problem — it's a structure problem. A working-capital line sized to your cash flow keeps the growth funded and the reserve intact.
Bobby Friel, Founder, Basecamp Funding
Capital Stacking in Action
How a $2.5M Working Capital Line Anchored a $5M Stack for a $31M Co-Packer
A beverage co-packer at $31M revenue landed a national retail program that meant tripling production ahead of a seasonal reset. Ingredients, co-packing labor, and packaging were due months before the retailer paid net-60. Working capital was the foundation; the rest stacked on top.
Filled the program on time, protected margin with bulk ingredient buys, and set up to bid a second national retailer the next season.
The $5M structure, one application
One application · one specialist desk
Funded Scenarios
Working Capital We've Anchored for Operators Like You
Representative scenarios — illustrative figures, not specific client transactions.
What an operator said
“We kept funding growth out of our own cash, and every ramp left us thin right when we couldn't afford to be. The specialist desk read our bank statements and sized a working-capital line to our actual revenue — not the number the bank backed into off last year's taxes. Now the capital's there when a contract lands, and our reserve stays where it belongs.”
Operator · $27M food & beverage manufacturer
Start Here
See What Your File Qualifies For — in About 60 Seconds
Move the slider to your line amount, tell us a little about the business, and the specialist desk reads your file. No application fee. No credit ding to look. You get real term sheets from real lenders — not a generic soft-pull review.
Soft-pull only · 4 months bank statements · Real term sheets, not estimates
Estimate Your Capital Range
Slide to your annual gross revenue. We size capital off your top line — not your credit score.
Estimated Capital Range
A conservative range based on 10-15% of annual revenue — many businesses qualify for more with strong receivables or assets behind them. Lenders return real term sheets once they see your file.
60 seconds · No obligation · Estimate only
How It Works
How a Working-Capital Line Is Actually Structured
A working-capital line isn't a daily-debit advance — it's capital sized to your cash flow, drawn as the need recurs. Here's the real mechanic at this level.
A working-capital line is structured on cash flow with a revolving or term structure up to 10 years — not a daily-debit advance that chokes the cash flow it's meant to protect. When the need is bigger than one product, working capital becomes the foundation of a full commercial financing structure.
The Cost of Waiting
Funding Growth Out of Your Cash Reserves Works Right Up Until the Month It Doesn't
A working-capital line funds the ramp so the reserve stays where it belongs — ready for the thing the line can’t fix.
Structure Your Capital Plan →Compare the Options
A Working-Capital Line vs the Alternatives
| Working Capital Line | Term Loan | Merchant Cash Advance | Bank Working-Capital Line | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure | Revolving or term, draw as needed | Lump sum, fixed schedule | Lump sum, daily/weekly debit | Revolving |
| Interest on | Used balance | Full balance from day one | Fixed factor, often punishing | Used balance |
| Speed to fund | Days | Days | Hours, at a cost | 60–90 days |
| Underwriting basis | Cash flow + revenue | Cash flow + story | Card/deposit volume | Tax returns + collateral |
| Best for | Recurring gaps, growth ramps, opportunistic capital | One fixed-purpose use | Almost never at this level | Operators who can wait |
Bobby’s Take
“Working capital is the most useful — and the most missold — product in commercial finance. The version that funds in an hour on a daily debit will quietly choke the exact cash flow it's supposed to protect. A real working-capital line is structured on your revenue and your cash flow: you draw it when a ramp hits and pay only for what you use. The operators who win treat it as the foundation of a capital plan, not a patch for a bad month.”
Bobby Friel · Founder, Basecamp Funding · 20+ years in banking and finance
Straight Answers
The Straight Answers Operators Ask For
Isn't working capital just an expensive short-term loan?
A real working-capital line is structured on your cash flow as a revolving facility or a term up to 10 years — not the daily-debit advance that chokes the cash flow it's supposed to protect.
Why borrow when I can use my cash reserves?
Your reserve is the shock absorber for the emergency you didn't plan. Fund the growth with the line and keep the cushion for the thing the line can't fix.
My bank already gave me a working-capital line.
Keep it — the question is whether it's sized to your business. Bank lines cap on trailing tax returns; a cash-flow-based line sizes to the revenue you're actually running and can sit alongside the bank.
I don't have collateral to pledge.
At this level you usually don't need to. Lines are commonly structured on cash flow and revenue, and a personal guarantee is the exception, not the baseline.
My credit isn't perfect.
Cash flow first, credit second. Consistent deposits and clean liquidity matter more than FICO; challenged credit in the 600–700 range is workable, and your terms reflect the risk.
How fast can it fund? I need it before the deadline.
A prepared file — clean bank statements, clear use of funds — funds in days while the bank is still scheduling its first review. Banks take 60–90 days regardless of how ready you are.
Get the line in place now, optimize later.
Lines opened today get reviewed at 6–12 months — as your payment history builds, both your terms and your access to additional capital improve. You don't wait for perfect to get funded.
The Process
How the Line Comes Together
Submit your file.
Signed application + 4 months of business bank statements. No application fee, soft-pull only — looking doesn't ding your credit.
A specialist reads the file.
An advisor reads your cash flow, revenue, and the story behind the numbers — not a model, not a queue — and structures the right line for your business.
Real term sheets come back.
Lenders in the marketplace return actual, fundable offers — real ceilings, real terms — not an estimated range.
You pick the structure and fund.
Revolving or term, sized to how your cash need recurs. Funds are available on draw; you pay for what you use.
The line scales with you.
Build payment history, review terms and limit at 6–12 months, and use the line as the foundation when the next layer — equipment, A/R, CRE — stacks on.
Self-Qualify
Who a Working-Capital Line Fits — and Who It Doesn't
Deal-Breakers
What Kills a Working-Capital Application
Straight talk on what stops a working-capital line before it starts — so you fix it before you submit.
By Industry
Working Capital by Industry
A working-capital line flexes to how each industry's cash actually moves. Explore the fit for yours.
Manufacturing
Fund materials and shop payroll across a build cycle billed on progress milestones, then repay as milestones clear.
Distribution & Wholesale
Fund the pre-season inventory buy and bridge 60-day B2B receivables, then pay down as the cash lands.
Healthcare
Bridge 60–90 day insurance reimbursement to cover payroll, supplies, and rent through an expansion.
Trucking & Logistics
Carry fuel and driver payroll across the freight cycle while shippers pay on net-45.
Restaurants & Franchise
Cover pre-opening payroll, training, and inventory until new units turn cash-positive.
Professional Services
Mobilize and pay the team months ahead of the first milestone invoice on multi-year contracts.
FAQs
Working Capital — Questions Operators Actually Ask
A corporate working capital loan is financing that covers the day-to-day cash a business needs to operate and grow — payroll, inventory, supplier payments, contract mobilization — rather than a one-time asset purchase. At the corporate level it's typically a $250K–$5M+ line, structured as a revolving facility or a term up to 10 years, and underwritten on cash flow and revenue rather than collateral.
A business line of credit is a product — a revolving facility you draw and repay on demand. “Working capital” describes capital matched to an operating need, and it can be delivered as a revolving line or a fixed-term structure, whichever fits how the cash need recurs. If you want pure draw/redraw flexibility as the product itself, that's a business line of credit; if you want capital sized to a specific operating gap, that's a working-capital line.
The page floor is 600+, but cash flow comes first and credit second. Consistent deposits, clean liquidity, and a revenue story that holds up matter more than FICO. Challenged credit in the 600–700 range is workable; your terms reflect the risk.
A single working-capital line typically runs $250K–$5M+, with larger funding available when revenue, cash flow, and story qualify. Past one product's ceiling, working capital becomes the foundation layer of a capital stack — combined with A/R, equipment, or CRE — that reaches $20M+.
At this level it's commonly structured on cash flow and revenue rather than hard collateral, and a personal guarantee is the exception, not the baseline. The underwriting reads your bank statements and deposit consistency, not a pledged asset.
A prepared file — clean bank statements and a clear use of funds — funds in days. Banks take 60–90 days regardless of how ready you are; the marketplace moves on the file, not the calendar.
There's no use-of-funds restriction. Operators deploy it for payroll, inventory ramps, seasonal buys, contract mobilization, bridging between events, or growth ahead of revenue — you decide where the capital does the most work.
A merchant cash advance is a lump sum repaid through daily or weekly debits at a fixed factor rate — it pulls cash out of your account exactly when you're trying to fund a ramp. A real working-capital line is structured on your cash flow, charges interest only on what you draw, and can run revolving or term up to 10 years. Same speed; very different effect on the cash flow it's supposed to protect.
To get started: a signed application and 4 months of business bank statements. Soft-pull only, no application fee. If the file moves forward, the advisor identifies what else strengthens it before anything goes to a lender.
The Operator's Guide
The Operator's Guide to Corporate Working Capital
Working capital at this level is a foundation, not a patch
Most of what ranks for “working capital” online was written for a $300K business. The structures are small, the underwriting leans on collateral or card volume, and the unspoken assumption is that you're plugging a hole. For an operator running $2M to $45M, that framing is backwards. At this level, working capital isn't the thing you reach for when a month goes wrong — it's the layer that lets you say yes to growth without spending the reserve that protects you.
Underwritten on cash flow, sized to real revenue
A corporate working-capital line is underwritten on cash flow. The advisor reads your bank statements — deposit consistency, liquidity, the rhythm of money in and out — and sizes the line to the revenue you're actually running, not the number a bank backs into off last year's tax return. That distinction matters most for the operators who need it: real revenue, real margin, and a cash position that's timing-bound rather than weak. The gap between a contract landing and a customer paying is not a credit problem. It's a structure problem, and structure is solvable.
Where the market is most misleading
It's also where the market is most misleading. A lot of what gets sold as “working capital” is a daily-debit advance at a punishing factor rate — capital that funds in an hour and then quietly pulls money out of your account every business day, choking the exact cash flow it claimed to protect. A real line does the opposite: you draw it when a ramp hits, you pay interest only on what you use, and it sits as a revolving facility or a term up to 10 years depending on how your need recurs.
What working capital makes possible
The bigger point is what working capital makes possible. It's the foundation layer in nearly every capital structure that reaches past a single product's ceiling. A $2.5M line carries the operating ramp; A/R financing advances against the receivable; an equipment layer adds capacity — and a $5M or $20M+ outcome comes together as one structure, through one specialist desk, on one application. Build payment history, review the terms and the limit at 6–12 months, and the line scales with you instead of capping you.
Financing the Growth? Cover the Risk That Comes With It.
A new contract, more equipment, and a bigger crew change your risk profile the moment the capital lands. Our sister company, Insurance Service 365, handles commercial coverage for operators scaling exactly like this — so the growth you just financed is protected.
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