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Most business funding needs history you don’t have yet.
That is the honest starting point, and almost nobody in this industry will tell you. Here is what a new business can actually get, what to avoid, and how to be fundable in six months instead of guessing for two years.
Where you stand
What opens up, and when.
Nearly every lender underwrites two things first: how long you have been operating and what your bank statements show. Find your row.
| Your stage | Realistic options | Our six products |
|---|---|---|
| Idea, no entity yet | Free advising, business plan, personal savings | We help you plan |
| Formed, pre-revenue | SBA microloan, friends & family, personal credit | We help you plan |
| 0 – 6 months revenue | SBA microloan, equipment financing | Some products open |
| 6 – 12 months revenue | Merchant advance, some lines of credit, factoring | Most products open |
| 1 – 2 years revenue | Lines of credit, equipment, factoring, term loans | Nearly everything |
| 2+ years revenue | Everything, including SBA 7(a) and 504 | Everything |
General guidance, not underwriting criteria. Strong personal credit, industry experience, or collateral can move you up a row.
Before you have revenue
Four things that actually work.
Two of these we can help you with directly. Two we cannot earn a dollar on, and we are telling you about them anyway.
SBA Microloans
Up to $50,000, though the average is closer to $13,000. Terms run to seven years and rates generally fall between 8% and 13%. These are the most realistic formal financing for a business without much history.
Where it helps
- Available far earlier than conventional lending
- Long terms and reasonable rates for the stage
- The nonprofit lenders that issue them usually provide free business advising alongside
Where it bites
- Cannot be used to pay off existing debt or buy real estate
- Issued by nonprofit intermediary lenders, not banks — availability varies by area
- Smaller amounts than most founders expect
Equipment Financing
The one product on our main list that sometimes reaches a young business, because the equipment itself is the collateral rather than your operating history.
Where it helps
- Approval leans on the asset and your personal credit
- Often the fastest path to real capacity for a new operation
- Builds business credit from the start
Where it bites
- Only pays for the equipment — no working capital
- A young business usually needs a down payment
- Strong personal credit effectively required
Personal credit and business credit cards
The most common way new businesses actually get funded, and the one that deserves the most caution. It is fast and it is available. It is also personally guaranteed, at rates that punish you if revenue arrives slower than planned.
Where it helps
- Available immediately with good personal credit
- Introductory 0% periods can genuinely bridge a short, defined gap
- No business history required
Where it bites
- You are personally liable — this is your house and your credit score, not a corporate risk
- Rates jump hard when the introductory period ends
- "Credit stacking" services that open many cards at once are the single most common way new owners get buried
Friends and family
Funds more new businesses than every formal product combined. The money is the easy part; the structure is what determines whether you still have the relationship in three years.
Where it helps
- Flexible terms and patient capital
- No credit requirement
- Often the only option at the true idea stage
Where it bites
- Put it in writing — loan or equity, what happens if it fails, and what "paid back" means
- A handshake deal between family is a dispute waiting for a bad quarter
- Never take money someone cannot afford to lose
SBA microloan figures are current SBA program terms as published by the agency and can change. Amounts, rates, and terms are set by the individual intermediary lender.
Costs you nothing
Free help across Idaho that we earn nothing from.
If you are early, these will do more for you this month than any lender will. Use them before you borrow anything.
Idaho SBDC
Regional centers statewide · idahosbdc.org
No-cost, confidential business consulting and low-cost training for Idaho entrepreneurs, with regional centers covering the Treasure Valley, eastern Idaho, north Idaho and the Magic Valley, and a dedicated capital access team. If you are pre-revenue and reading this page, they are almost certainly your best first call.
SCORE
Treasure Valley chapter · score.org
Free mentoring from people who have run businesses. Useful for the questions that are not really financing questions — pricing, whether the model works, whether to do this at all. Mentoring is available remotely, so you are not limited to the nearest chapter.
Business.Idaho.gov
State of Idaho
Registration, licensing, and the administrative sequence of actually forming the business. Dull, necessary, and free.
Your regional development organisation
REDI, CdAEDC, Bannock Development, Jerome 20/20, SVED, Valley Vision and others
Most Idaho regions have one, and they know local conditions, sites and workforce in ways no national resource does. They will not lend you money. They will occasionally tell you about something local you would never have found.
Idaho Department of Commerce
commerce.idaho.gov
State-level business resources and programs. Worth a look for the specific case where your business fits a targeted initiative — and worth not spending weeks on if it does not.
Your local chamber of commerce
Every city we work in has one
Membership costs something and is often worth it. Beyond the networking, a chamber is usually the fastest route to a good local accountant, attorney or banker, which matters more than most new owners expect.
The next six months
How to be fundable, deliberately.
Almost every business that struggles to borrow at month eighteen made avoidable choices at month one. None of this costs money.
Separate everything
A business entity, an EIN, and a business bank account that every dollar runs through. Lenders underwrite bank statements. Commingled personal and business money is the most common reason a promising file cannot be placed.
Build deposit history
Consistent monthly deposits into that account matter more than the amount. Six months of steady, explainable revenue opens more doors than one big month.
Protect personal credit
For the first two years your personal score largely is your business credit. Keep utilization low and do not let a growth push wreck it.
Start business credit early
A small equipment loan or a vendor line, paid on time, starts a file that will matter at month eighteen. Establish it before you need it.
Keep books from day one
Not a shoebox. Clean monthly statements make the difference between an approval and a request for documents you cannot produce.
Come back at six months
That is roughly when the products on the rest of this site start to open. We will tell you honestly when you cross that line.
What we do at this stage
Tell you the truth, and mean it about coming back.
If you are pre-revenue, we are not going to run your credit and submit you to six lenders hoping something sticks. Every one of those inquiries is a mark on a file you will need later.
What we will do is look at where you actually are, tell you which of the options above fits, point you at the free help that beats anything we sell, and give you a specific list of what to have in place before you come back.
There is no fee for that, and there is no obligation attached to it. We are a lending brokerage; we get paid by lenders when a deal funds. A conversation with a founder at month one earns us nothing today. It is still the best use of an hour either of us has.
Bring whatever you have
- What the business is, or will be
- What you need money for, and how much
- Whether you have revenue yet, and roughly how much
- A rough sense of your personal credit
No documents, no application, no credit pull for this conversation.
Set up a callQuestions
What new owners ask us.
Can I get a business loan with no revenue?
What about the lenders advertising "startup business loans"?
Do you charge for help at this stage?
How long until I can qualify for real business financing?
Is an SBA loan realistic for a brand new business?
Reading
Before you borrow anything.
Credit cards, personal guarantees, where the money comes from before there is revenue, and the free help in Idaho we earn nothing from.
Idaho law · 7 min
Idaho is a community property state. What that means when you borrow.
Why loan documents arrive with a signature line for a spouse who owns none of the business, what Idaho law actually requires, and which signature you are being asked for.
Investors · 8 min
Investors or a loan: which one do you actually need?
The pre-seed-to-IPO ladder describes one kind of company. Most Idaho businesses are not that company, and chasing investors costs months you cannot spare.
Credit cards · 7 min
Business credit cards: when they are the right tool
Cards are the most accessible credit a new business can get and the easiest to misuse. What they are good for, and the point at which they become the problem.
Business credit · 7 min
Building business credit from scratch
What a business credit file actually is, how it differs from your personal one, and the practical steps that build it over a couple of years.
Personal credit · 7 min
How your personal credit decides what your business can borrow
Why a business loan rests on a personal score, which factors move it fastest, and why six months of deliberate work often beats applying now.
Guarantees · 6 min
What a personal guarantee actually means
Nearly every small business loan involves one. What you are signing, what limited and unlimited mean, and what it exposes.
Pre-revenue · 7 min
Where the money comes from before there is revenue
The realistic sources of capital for a business that has not started trading, ranked by how much they actually cost you.
Personal finance · 7 min
When to put personal money into your business
Savings, personal loans, home equity and retirement funds. What each actually risks, and the line worth not crossing.
Idaho resources · 6 min
Idaho startup help that costs nothing
The SBDC, SCORE, regional development organisations and what each actually does. We earn nothing from any of it.
SBA · 9 min
Startup funding in Idaho when the bank says no
Why conventional lenders decline new Idaho businesses, what is genuinely available before you have trading history, and how to be ready sooner.
Already running, and past the startup stage?
If you have six months or more of revenue, the products on the rest of the site are open to you. Start there instead.