Institutional guidance on becoming bankable.
The same underwriting-first playbooks we use inside client engagements — how lenders actually read files, how DSCR and adjusted EBITDA are defended, and how to engineer a Capital Readiness Score that closes.
SBA 7(a) vs. Private Credit: Which Fits a $1M–$10M Raise
The committee-readiness playbook for $1M–$10M raises. SBA 7(a) is a compliance underwrite; lower-middle-market private credit is a growth underwrite. Which lane a business belongs in, and how to build a file that clears the committee it actually sits in front of.
The CIM That Closes: What Credit Committee Actually Reads
Committee is paid to answer four questions. A committee-ready CIM answers all four inside the first five pages — and self-identifies three real risks with three real mitigants.
Adjusted EBITDA: What Underwriters Add Back — And What They Don't
The most negotiated line in every credit file. Which add-backs survive quality-of-earnings review, which get rejected, and how committee actually reads the reconciliation.
DSCR Underwriting: How Lenders Actually Calculate It
How middle-market underwriters compute DSCR on $1M–$10M raises — the three formulas that disagree, the pro-forma debt stack they build, and four reconciliations that keep files inside covenant.