Where startup money disappears
New owners usually budget for the obvious items and forget the dull ones. In San Bernardino, there are three categories to plan separately.
Space and access
Rent and deposit are visible, but so is the cost of location. A shop near the I-10, I-215 or SR-210 junctions has visibility, while a unit in the University District near California State University, San Bernardino draws a student crowd with its own calendar.
Equipment and vehicles
The city is a freight hub with an intermodal yard and large warehouses near the airport, so many startups here may serve that sector: repair, delivery, parts and maintenance. Those need vehicles, lifts, tools and insurance before the first invoice goes out.
Waiting money
The least visible cost is the wait between spending and collecting. A new supplier that invoices a company may not see cash for weeks.
Sketch a first-year budget
| Bucket | Example for a small repair startup (illustration) |
|---|---|
| Equipment and tools | $28,000 |
| First-year insurance and licenses | $9,000 |
| Rent and deposit, first 3 months | $12,000 |
| Wages for one helper, 3 months | $15,000 |
| Cash cushion for slow invoices | $16,000 |
| Total | $80,000 |
The cushion is the line first-time owners most often cut, and it is the line that keeps the doors open. Numbers are invented to illustrate the method, not our terms.
What a new business gives us to review
We fund $25,000 to $5,000,000, with funding in as little as 24 hours once approved. We consider FICO scores of 500 and up, ask for about three months of business bank statements and do not require tax returns. The application takes about five minutes and uses a soft credit pull. Sole proprietors can apply. For a startup, the practical advice is to open the business account early and run everything through it. The three months of statements we read are the record of how the business really behaves, and personal spending mixed into the account makes it harder to read. You do not need to have filed a business tax return.
Common first-year mistakes
- Choosing a location for visibility and discovering that the rent consumes the margin.
- Buying all the equipment up front when a first phase would prove the demand.
- Letting personal and business spending mix, which makes the statements hard to read.
- Leaving no cash for the wait between invoice and payment.
A useful discipline is to write the monthly break-even for the business before you sign a lease: the sales needed to cover rent, wages, insurance and the loan payment. If that number looks out of reach in year one, shrink the plan before you borrow.
Other routes to consider
For one large asset, look at equipment financing. For irregular gaps, a line of credit may fit. If credit history is the sticking point, there is a page on bad-credit business loans in San Bernardino. Owners in Fontana, Redlands, Upland and Chino across the county can apply the same way.