Get Your Business Funded: Creative Methods for Getting the Money You Need

Supplier and Wholesaler Financing

When people first learn of this funding option, they are usually surprised. It cannot really be true that a supplier would be willing to lend you cash money for your business, right? Wrong. Under the right circumstances, with the right supplier and a deal that makes sense, you absolutely can get a supplier to pony up some money in support of your business. As Goldstein says, “Suppliers can be a generous bunch.”

Let's look at those three conditions:

1. The right supplier. It is unrealistic to think that a large, nationwide supplier would lend you money for your business. Why should they? They don't need your business, and in any case, a large corporation is going to have very rigid guidelines and policies that will forbid it from lending money anyway, especially to a small business, and especially to a startup small business.

Instead, what you are looking for is a smaller, local supplier or wholesaler. One who really wants your business.

2. The right circumstances. Let's say that you want to create your own version of Discount City; how much business might that give one of your main suppliers over the course of a year? Let's say it's $100,000 a year. A six-figure client is a great client. And that is why a supplier just might lend you $10,000 or so. They want your business, and if lending you some money to help you get your business off the ground means creating a lucrative, long-term, six-figure customer, it makes sense. That is called “the right ...