Mission town, oil town, beach town
Ventura, officially the City of San Buenaventura, was established in 1782 and named for Saint Bonaventure. It had 110,763 residents in 2020 and covers about 32 square miles. It is the county seat of Ventura County. Wikipedia describes it as a popular tourist destination, owing to its historic landmarks, beaches and resorts, and says the 1920s brought a major oil boom which developed and expanded the city, continuing through the post-World War II expansion.
Businesses related to tourism and hospitality account for a significant portion of economic activity. The outdoor-clothing manufacturer Patagonia is based in Ventura, diaper-bag maker Petunia Pickle Bottom was founded there, and the Barna Group, a research company, is located near downtown.
A visitor-heavy county seat
Because Ventura is the county seat, a ring of professional services, legal offices, courts-adjacent businesses and local-government vendors surrounds the tourist trade. Boutiques, restaurants and surf and outdoor shops serve one population, while print, office-supply, IT and cleaning companies serve another.
Each group needs a different kind of cushion. A restaurant on a pier-adjacent street needs money to survive a gray week. A small manufacturer needs raw materials ahead of a wholesale order. A vendor to government waits on payment cycles that were designed by someone else.
Seven cash-flow questions
- What is your fixed cost for a normal month?
- What did your lowest of the last three months of deposits look like?
- Is the dip seasonal, one-off or a trend?
- Do customers pay immediately or on terms, and how long are the terms?
- Is there a purchase (equipment, vehicle, stock) that would produce revenue within a quarter?
- Does the repayment fit inside your average deposit, not only your best month?
- Could you tell a friend in two sentences what the money is for?
For illustration only: a small apparel maker that spends $55,000 on fabric and sewing contractors for a wholesale order due in 60 days has an obvious use of funds and an obvious repayment source: the wholesale invoice.
A note on tourism and trades together
Ventura's economy mixes beach tourism with a surprising number of makers and professionals. The two groups ask for very different things from a funder. Tourism businesses want fast, seasonal cushions. Makers and professionals want to buy inputs ahead of an order or float a client who pays late. Both are cash-timing problems, and both show up cleanly in bank statements.
If you are somewhere between the two, such as a cafe that also does wholesale, show both revenue streams. Funders read what the deposits show, so a clear explanation of what each deposit is helps.
What we need
We fund Ventura businesses from $25,000 to $5,000,000, in as little as 24 hours after approval. FICO scores of 500 and above are considered, we request about three months of business bank statements, and we do not ask for tax returns. The application takes about five minutes, uses a soft credit pull, and is open to sole proprietors.
Nearby cities like Oxnard, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Ojai and Santa Paula are covered on the Ventura County page and the Greater Los Angeles page. Or apply now.