Who this is for: advisors, brokers, and owners deciding where to place a financing need. The usual question is “what’s the cheapest capital?” The better question is “what’s the cheapest capital that arrives in time?” Because the fastest money is rarely the cheapest, and the cheapest money is rarely the fastest, and a deal that needs funding Friday cannot wait for a source that funds in ninety days.

The core tradeoff: speed costs money

Underwriting takes time, and time is what makes capital cheap. A source that funds in three days is pricing the fact that it did not have three months to verify everything. A source that funds in three months is cheaper precisely because it did the slow, thorough work that lets it price the risk down. Neither is wrong. They’re built for different jobs. The skill is matching the tier to the deadline.

The three tiers

Fund in ~3 days: speed capital

  • Who: revenue-based financing (RBF), some factoring facilities once set up, and short-term working-capital advances.
  • How they underwrite: on cash-flow patterns and bank-statement behavior, not a full credit file. See what underwriters read in bank statements.
  • What you trade: the highest cost of capital, measured honestly as a fixed dollar cost and return on the use of funds rather than a misleading APR on a short-term product.
  • Right job: a real, time-boxed opportunity (a discounted inventory buy, a bridge to a known event, covering a gap before a slower source funds) where the return on the money beats its cost.

Fund in ~3 weeks: middle capital

  • Who: asset-based lines, established factoring relationships, equipment finance, and specialty lenders.
  • How they underwrite: on collateral and a real but streamlined file (agings, borrowing base, appraisals).
  • What you trade: more documentation and some collateral control in exchange for materially lower cost than speed capital.
  • Right job: ongoing working capital, receivables or inventory financing, or an acquisition where you have a few weeks of runway in the LOI window.

Fund in ~3 months: patient capital

  • Who: senior bank debt, SBA 7(a), mezzanine, and larger private credit facilities.
  • How they underwrite: the whole file, thoroughly, on coverage ratios, total leverage, quality of earnings, and management depth.
  • What you trade: time, disclosure, covenants, and usually a personal guarantee, in exchange for the lowest cost and the largest, most durable capital.
  • Right job: the permanent capital structure, a real acquisition’s senior layer, or a refinance of expensive short-term debt into something sustainable.

How to stage a stack so speed doesn’t cost you the deal

The tiers are not mutually exclusive. The most common expensive mistake is choosing one tier when the deal needs two, sequenced. A few placement principles:

  • Lead with the deadline, not the rate. Establish when the money has to be there. That single fact eliminates whole tiers.
  • Bridge to cheap, don’t settle for fast. If a deal needs funding in a week but the right permanent capital takes three months, the answer is often a short bridge into the cheap senior layer, not abandoning the cheap layer. You pay for speed only on the gap, and only for as long as the gap lasts. This is exactly the gap-and-bridge pattern that keeps acquisitions alive.
  • Start the slow source first. Patient capital takes the longest, so it should begin the earliest, in parallel with everything else. See the LOI-to-close checklist.
  • Size the fast money to the gap, not the whole need. Speed capital covering an entire requirement is expensive. Speed capital covering only the timing gap until cheaper money funds is a rational, small cost.

The advisor’s real value

Anyone can find a lender. The value in placement is matching the deal’s actual speed requirement to the right tier, and staging tiers so the client doesn’t overpay for speed they didn’t need or miss a deadline waiting for a rate they couldn’t wait for. The capital stack isn’t a single choice. It’s a sequence, and speed is one of the axes you’re solving for.

Where Fundamently fits

Fundamently is built to be the placement layer across these tiers, especially for the deals that need more than one of them staged together. If you’re placing a financing need and want a second read on the right tier and sequence, start here or send the file.

Educational only. Nothing here is an offer of credit, a commitment to lend, or advice on any specific transaction.