Silicon Valley, with an orchard past
Sunnyvale was incorporated in December 1912 and had 155,805 residents in 2020 across about 22.8 square miles. Wikipedia calls it a major city in California's high-tech area known as Silicon Valley, the birthplace of the video game industry and the former location of Atari's headquarters. Many technology companies are headquartered there and many more operate there, including several aerospace and defense companies. Companies listed include Infinera, Fortinet, Intuitive Surgical, Juniper Networks, LinkedIn, Proofpoint, Matterport and Trimble.
The city was also home to Onizuka Air Force Station, often called the Blue Cube, a satellite control facility of the U.S. military until August 2010; it has since been decommissioned and demolished. Before the tech era, chrysanthemum farms operated in Sunnyvale from the 1950s to the 1970s, and Wikipedia notes that a 1991 trade act made Colombian, Peruvian, Bolivian and Ecuadorian flowers tariff-free.
The cycle repeats: industries come and go
That history is more than trivia. Sunnyvale's economy has already turned over from orchards to defense to semiconductors to software. Small businesses that survive have usually done so by keeping enough cash to adapt when a major customer or product line changes.
Today, a machine shop supplying an aerospace contractor, a caterer for office parks, a lab-equipment reseller and a neighborhood restaurant all run on different clocks. A defense or aerospace subcontract may require buying materials months before delivery. An office caterer depends on how many people are in the building that week.
Questions a Sunnyvale owner should ask
- Who pays me, and how late? Large employers and prime contractors often pay on 30 to 60 day terms.
- What does a bad month look like? Check your deposits for the lowest of the past three months.
- What would I do with $50,000 tomorrow? If the answer is specific (inventory, a machine, two hires) the plan is stronger than if it is vague.
For illustration only: a small electronics assembler that wins a $120,000 order needs parts bought upfront. If suppliers want payment in 15 days and the customer pays in 60, working capital bridges the 45-day difference.
Surviving a customer change
The city's history of changing anchor industries is a useful lesson for small suppliers. If one customer represents most of your revenue, the best use of working capital may be to bridge to a second customer, not only to cover the first customer's late invoices. That means buying a second line of product, hiring a salesperson or building capacity that a second client could use.
Whatever the plan, keep your own bank statements in good order. They are the document a funder uses, and clean, consistent statements make the review quicker.
What we offer Sunnyvale businesses
We fund Sunnyvale businesses from $25,000 to $5,000,000, in as little as 24 hours after approval. A FICO of 500 or above is considered, we ask for about three months of business bank statements, and tax returns are not required. The application takes about five minutes and uses a soft credit pull. Sole proprietors can apply.
Nearby cities like San Jose, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Milpitas and Cupertino are covered under Santa Clara County and the Bay Area. Apply here.