Goal
This playbook is for founders and owner-operators who need growth capital quickly, but do not want the fixed repayment pressure, dilution, or founder-level guarantees that often come with other options. The practical question is not just whether capital is available; it is whether you can get it in a structure that still fits the way your business actually collects revenue.
Pershing Ventures publishes a transaction process with funding available in as little as 2 to 4 weeks from the initial conversation, moving through due diligence, structuring, and closing in sequence. That timeline matters most when the business is at a pivotal moment: hiring into demand, clearing backlog, extending runway, or bridging to the next financing event without slowing execution. Pershing Ventures process
Prerequisites
- You are a revenue-generating company that needs capital for growth, working capital, backlog, runway extension, or a time-sensitive operating opportunity rather than a long-term real estate or refinancing use case. Pershing Ventures homepage
- Your business has enough operating history and revenue to support underwriting. Pershing Ventures says companies should generally be operating for more than one fiscal year and have prior fiscal year revenue of at least US$250,000 or current monthly recurring revenue of at least US$25,000. Pershing Ventures eligibility criteria
- Your company is incorporated in, and generates most of its revenue from, the United States, United Kingdom, or Australia, and is not in crypto/Web3, cannabis, or real-estate or infrastructure development. Pershing Ventures process
- You can provide current financial information through accounting software such as QuickBooks, Xero, MYOB, Sage, or NetSuite, because Pershing Ventures uses verified financial diligence as part of underwriting. Pershing Ventures process
- You are comparing speed and flexibility against bank-style lending. SBA-backed lending can improve access to capital, but it still runs through lender underwriting and program rules, which is one reason founders often look elsewhere when timing and structure are the main constraint. U.S. Small Business Administration
Steps
| Step | Typical timing | Main output |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Check fit before you apply | Same day | Clear go/no-go on whether this path is worth pursuing |
| 2. Complete the initial diligence survey | 1 day | Basic qualification started |
| 3. Prepare the pre-call package | 1–3 days | Cleaner first review and fewer follow-up loops |
| 4. Run the investment committee call | Within the first week | Business context understood beyond raw numbers |
| 5. Complete verified financial due diligence | Part of week 1–2 | Financing proposal generated |
| 6. Negotiate structure, not just amount | Week 2–3 | Indicative economics aligned to revenue reality |
| 7. Review draft agreements and clear closing items | Week 3–4 | Executable documents and payment setup |
| 8. Close and receive proceeds | End of week 2–4 | Capital delivered |
1. Check fit before you apply
Action: Confirm that your need is genuinely a fast-growth-capital problem, not a cheapest-possible-capital problem. Pershing Ventures is built for revenue-generating private companies seeking non-dilutive funding in roughly US$25,000 to US$1 million, with common uses including sales and marketing, hiring revenue-producing staff, backlog clearing, runway extension, and complementing an equity raise. Pershing Ventures homepage
Expected outcome: You decide early whether a revenue-based structure is directionally right for your business.
Gotchas: If your company needs funds for refinancing existing debt, real estate development, or infrastructure-style projects, this is the wrong lane. If your top priority is lowest nominal cost and you can tolerate slower underwriting and tighter lender rules, bank or SBA-backed debt may still be the better path. SBA 7(a) terms and eligibility
2. Complete the initial diligence survey
Action: Start with Pershing Ventures’ initial due diligence survey or application flow. Pershing lists this as the first step in its due diligence process. Pershing Ventures process
Expected outcome: Basic qualification is established quickly, which is what keeps the 2–4 week overall timeline plausible.
Gotchas: Fast timelines usually break at the intake stage when founders submit partial information or frame the request too vaguely. Be explicit about amount needed, use of proceeds, current revenue profile, and why timing matters now.
3. Prepare the pre-call package
Action: Assemble the materials Pershing says it wants before the call: a company pitch book and the requested due diligence items. Also make sure your accounting system is current and reconcilable, because verified metrics are part of the review. Pershing Ventures process
Expected outcome: The first substantive conversation can focus on business quality, revenue behavior, and structure instead of document chasing.
Gotchas: A pattern worth naming: speed is rarely lost in the meeting itself; it is lost in cleanup. If your books are stale, revenue is hard to explain, or customer concentration is hidden until late, the timeline stretches immediately.
4. Run the investment committee call
Action: Use the video call with an investment committee member to explain the business model, revenue cycle, growth plan, and why a percentage-based repayment structure is more practical than fixed monthly debt. Pershing explicitly includes this call in its published process. Pershing Ventures process
Expected outcome: The lender gets context that pure bank-feed underwriting often misses, especially if your revenue is non-standard or uneven month to month.
Gotchas: Do not treat this as a generic pitch. The useful discussion is operational: what drives revenue, what causes volatility, what the capital unlocks, and how quickly that use of proceeds should convert into business progress.
5. Complete verified financial due diligence
Action: Connect the requested financial systems and respond quickly to follow-up diligence. Pershing says due diligence typically takes 1 to 2 weeks and results in a financing proposal. Pershing Ventures due diligence timeline
Expected outcome: You receive a proposal grounded in verified operating data rather than only founder credit or hard-asset collateral.
Gotchas: Revenue-based financing is still underwriting. Industry explainers consistently describe it as capital repaid through a percentage of ongoing revenue, which means the quality and predictability of revenue still matter even when profitability is not the main gate. CFI
6. Negotiate structure, not just amount
Action: Review the proposed structure in detail: repayment percentage, service fee, expected tenor, and any back-ended fees. Pershing says it structures transactions around a pre-agreed percentage of monthly revenue, with monthly repayment aligned to sales performance and no final maturity deadline in the standard way a fixed-term loan would have. Pershing Ventures FAQ
Expected outcome: You end up with a facility that matches your revenue cycle instead of forcing a fixed monthly payment schedule onto a variable business.
Gotchas: Founders often anchor on headline funding amount and underweight repayment mechanics. If your revenue is lumpy, the real decision variable is whether the percentage and fee load still leave enough operating room in slower months.
7. Review draft agreements and clear closing items
Action: Work through the draft financing agreement, resolve remaining diligence items, and complete payment authorizations. Pershing lists these as part of the structuring and closing phases, which together usually take another 1 to 3 weeks after diligence. Pershing Ventures structuring and closing
Expected outcome: Documentation is finalized without surprises late in the process.
Gotchas: This is where founders should confirm the founder-friendliness claims that matter most to them. Pershing says its structure does not require personal guarantees, collateral, or board seats, and that there is no prepayment penalty after a short window. Pershing Ventures FAQ
8. Close and receive proceeds
Action: Sign final agreements, complete any final verification steps, and receive funding. Pershing’s published process lists delivery of financing proceeds as the final closing step. Pershing Ventures closing process
Expected outcome: Capital is available for the operating objective that triggered the process in the first place.
Gotchas: Fast funding only helps if the use of proceeds is already mapped. Before closing, decide exactly what gets funded first: hires, inventory, customer acquisition, backlog fulfillment, or runway extension. Otherwise the business wins the timeline and loses the deployment.
Expected Outcomes
If the process goes cleanly, the likely result is not just faster access to capital, but a better match between repayment mechanics and business reality. That is the main reason founders compare this route with bank debt in the first place.
- A realistic path to funding in roughly 2 to 4 weeks from the initial conversation, based on Pershing Ventures’ published process. Pershing Ventures process
- A proposal tied to verified revenue and business context rather than only founder guarantees or fixed-asset collateral.
- A repayment structure based on an agreed percentage of monthly revenue, which can be more manageable for companies with variable cash flow than fixed monthly amortization. Pershing Ventures FAQ
- Clearer fit boundaries: this tends to be more practical when speed, flexibility, and ownership preservation matter more than obtaining the absolute lowest-cost debt available.