8 Steps in Securing a Bank Loan to Fund Your Startup

A common question I get is “How do I get a bank loan to fund my startup?” The default answer is that it probably won’t happen, because most banks just don’t make bank loans to startups. The failure rate is just too high, and startups typically don’t have the assets or revenue stream to back up the loan. That’s why Angel investors are so sought after by entrepreneurs.

In my experience, some startup founders do overcome these odds, but you need to be realistic and do your homework. Here are some tips and rules of thumb to improve your odds and help you understand when a bank loan or line of credit is possible, and how to get it:

1. Write a good business plan first. Approaching a banker without a business plan, and asking for money, is a sure way to be rejected and leave a bad first impression. Pay particular attention to the financials, and have a CPA friend review for reasonableness before presenting.
2. Clean up your credit rating before you apply. Good credit ratings, both personal and business, are essential to getting a loan or line of credit. This is just common sense, since every loan has a repayment schedule, and your credit score reflects your track record of paying bills on time.
3. Pick a business domain that is squeaky clean. Certain business sectors have historical high failure rates and are routinely avoided by banks and investors. These include food service, retail, consulting, work at home, and telemarketing. Also, don’t expect enthusiasm for your gambling site, porn site, gaming, or debt collection business.
4. Show a significant personal investment. Most loan programs, and most investors, want to see that you have “skin in the game’ before helping you. If you have nothing at risk, your own level of commitment is suspect. As a general rule, your investment should be at least 20% of total projected loan requirement.
5. Demonstrate an ability to repay from revenues, not collateral. Bankers will insist that you have collateral to back the loan, like equipment, or even your home. They actually prefer to see that you have a revenue stream to repay the loan, since they don’t want to own another home. The more conservative ask for two years of positive cash flow.
6. Demonstrate experience in starting a business, ideally in this domain. Bankers, like investors, fund people rather than ideas. Your idea alone will not get you a loan, but your experience running businesses may get you a loan, even if not intimately related to the current proposal.
7. Conduct meetings at your site, not at the bank. You have an advantage if you can get them on your turf, and even get several key employees to tag-team the presentation. If you are a startup operating out of your garage or basement, you are likely too early in the cycle to get banks interested.
8. Eliminate your salary from the use of funds. Most startup founders don’t take a salary for the first year or two, since most investors as well as bankers won’t give you money so that you can pay yourself. The most positive use of funds is to buy raw materials to build product for existing customer orders. In fact, customer orders are great collateral.

Even if you can’t meet all these criteria, it’s definitely worthwhile to utilize the free services of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and SCORE in the US to get their help in preparing for the loan option. They have contacts with the more “startup friendly” banks in your area, like Silicon Valley Bank, and might even be able to arrange a “loan guarantee” if you meet these criteria.

In all cases, the loan option should be investigated before looking for an Angel investor, since the “cost” of a loan is usually considered less than giving up a large share of your company equity and control to Angel or venture capital investors. I’m told that 21 companies on the Inc 500 list started with bank loans, so you can do it too.