Getting Funding

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Ashley Boti: Hello and welcome to the Charlotte Business Podcast. I am so excited about today's episode. If you are a business owner, this one is for you. Let me tell you a little bit about Patrick — he's the owner of Stacking Capital. As you know, I'm your host, Ashley Boti. I'm an accountant and financial coach, and one of the main questions business owners ask me is about funding: how do I get funding to start my business, to grow my business? Patrick is here to answer that question for us today. So guys, join me in welcoming Patrick.

Patrick Pychynski: Thank you very much, Ashley. Thank you for having me. So, my name is Patrick Pychynski and I run a funding business called Stacking Capital. Do you remember an app called Clubhouse? It was like a chat room, voice chat, back during the pandemic. You needed a special invite to get in. I was able to get in and found myself a fly on the wall with big people in the room — the CEO of Atlantic Records, T-Mobile, Grant Cardone — people like that just talking, and in one of those rooms business credit was the topic. It sent me down this super deep rabbit hole — it fascinated me that you could obtain anywhere between $50,000 to $150,000 of business credit simply by leveraging your good credit. That's pretty much the start, and then the whole story after that is really just a lot of experimentation, and choosing the wrong people, because there are a lot of bad actors in the space, and even flat-out illegal things out there.

Ashley: Are you from Charlotte?

Patrick: At this point I'd say yes — I moved here around 2010, from South Florida. I graduated high school in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County. I've kind of gone back and forth between Florida and Charlotte, but I've got family here, and I love Charlotte, it's always going to be a hub of mine.

Ashley: Was there a pivotal moment that inspired you to develop Stacking Capital?

Patrick: Yes — like I said, Clubhouse, learning about business credit, all of that fascinated me. So I started buying expensive courses, ebooks, and implementing some of that advice. With me personally, the first person that took me through a round of funding shotgunned my application and applied for a bunch of personal products — so I didn't end up with any business credit, which we'll get into the benefits of. I never had bad credit, I just never had a credit profile optimized to get business funding. After that first round I ended up adding four new credit lines to my personal account, and once you add two to four new trade lines within a year, you pretty much have to let your credit profile "season" — some people call it gardening — and not apply for anything for a while, because too many new recent accounts is one of the reasons you might get denied.

Ashley: What were some challenges you faced early on, and how did you overcome them?

Patrick: There's so much information out there. I've probably spent collectively over $50,000 with credit masterminds and courses. Some of them are great, but even with an $8,000 course, a lot of people still weren't getting results because they didn't have that one-to-one person to guide them through the finish line — whether it's fear, or being scared or doubtful. That's the whole reason Stacking Capital came about: having one person to guide you through every step, and be there when you have a question or feel stuck, is the quickest way to get results. My job isn't just to get you funding — it's to make sure your credit profile and your business are structured correctly, because 0% interest business credit is really just the beginning of your business credit journey. There are large term loans, equipment loans, SBA loans to tap into as your business grows and starts showing revenue and tax returns. That 0% initial funding round is for you to get your business off the ground.

Ashley: I'm glad you mentioned business credit, because there's so much noise out there — you hear a lot about "no personal guarantee" business credit, no PG.

Patrick: There's certainly a time and place for that, but what I tell most people is those no-PG business credit or Dun & Bradstreet options are really mainly for vendor credit or store credit — like a credit line from Home Depot or Office Depot. That's not going to have a Visa or Mastercard logo you can use anywhere, and it's definitely not going to have the 0% interest intro period that most of these credit cards have. There's no way around it — your FICO score is the foundation to everything, and personally guaranteeing is part of that. There's nothing wrong with building your Dun & Bradstreet, building some net-30s, but a lot of that is marketed toward people with bad credit, telling them they can skip fixing their credit. There are actually quicker ways now to build business credit.

Ashley: So what are some ways to build business credit?

Patrick: There are products like nav.com — they give you a snapshot of your business credit reports. There's a free version and a paid version, about $50 a month, which will give you your actual business credit scores and report up to two trade lines with their new product, Nav Prime. There's also a service called eCredible — it has a personal and business side, and if you're already dealing with vendors on a net-30 term, you can sign up and have those companies start reporting on your business credit. It's only about $20 a month. Between those two, you can almost get to eight trade lines, and you really only need three to four to generate a business credit score with Dun & Bradstreet. Realistically it takes about 90 days for that piece — but ultimately, if we still want to access those 0% interest credit cards, you're going to have to personally guarantee, so we want to make sure your personal credit is optimized too. That's going to be the foundation to everything.

Ashley: Guys, do you hear that? Personal credit. Your FICO scores — not Credit Karma!

Patrick: Credit Karma is actually a good free service with live daily updates, so between Experian's app and Credit Karma you can get notified of new accounts or inquiries. But your Credit Karma score isn't the score lenders see, because Credit Karma uses a Vantage scoring model, and most lenders look at a FICO scoring model.

Ashley: Can you explain what Stacking Capital is and how it's different from traditional funding options?

Patrick: Our goal is to get you funded as quickly as possible and then set you up for your next round. What a lot of people don't know is that the quickest way to build business credit is to personally guarantee 0% business credit cards — usually ranging 9 to 18 months — because those cards report as financial trade lines on your business credit report. You're getting funded at 0% interest and building your business credit reports at the same time, the ones that actually matter with the banks: Experian and Equifax business credit reports. The foundation is your personal credit. What sets us apart from other funding companies is that we take a one-on-one approach — you're not just a number. A lot of funding companies charge a backend fee and it's a numbers game for them; they're not going to spend a lot of time educating you on the process. I get a lot of clients that come from other funding companies who don't even know what that company put on their applications, which can make it murky when we go for a second round, because if they put a certain revenue number and we go back to that same bank, there's a mismatch. One of the greatest advantages: if you have a 700-plus credit score, 0% interest business credit cards can literally be obtained with your signature by personally guaranteeing it — no proof of income, tax returns, or bank statements required. That's why we like to start with 0%. It's usually the quickest way to funding.

Ashley: What are some common misconceptions about securing business funding?

Patrick: Building your net-30s and Dun & Bradstreet and thinking you're going to obtain $100,000 to $250,000 of capital — that's one. The no-PG misconception is probably the biggest one: if you want funding, your FICO score will always be the bedrock to favorable financing terms. Are there non-traditional lenders that will lend to you at extremely high rates, basing it solely off your bank statements and revenue? Yes — but they can't even legally call it an interest rate, they call it a factor rate, because you end up paying 150% interest. I call it drug money almost — once you're on it, it's really hard to come off of it. It won't allow you to thrive, it just keeps you barely afloat, and I see this a lot in the restaurant industry. There's also a lot of misinformation on social media — like the claim that there's an actual law requiring banks to lend you $50,000, which isn't true. And there's the "1-5-3 credit hack," where people think making two payments in a billing cycle tricks the system — in reality, what helps is that your utilization is lower by your card's closing date, not your due date. A lot of people talk about keeping utilization under 30%, but if you really want to maximize your funding, you want to be under 10%. You can max the card out during the month, just make sure utilization is low by the closing statement date.

Ashley: I see that a lot with MCA loans, that keep-you-in-the-wheel effect.

Patrick: Those are terrible — easiest to get, but I've seen clients take out five at a time, taking payments out daily, with terms that are never favorable. Then you have to get another one just to pay off the last one, because all your cash flow is going to those MCA loans.

Ashley: You specialize in helping businesses secure funding at 0% interest. Walk us through how that's possible.

Patrick: These are 0% interest business credit cards from big banks like Chase, Bank of America, PNC, American Express, and regional banks and credit unions. There are really three steps: optimizing, applying, and getting funded. Optimizing means making sure you have a credit profile that a bank actually wants to lend to — not too many new accounts recently, at least a 700 FICO score, utilization ideally under 10% (though you can still get funding under 30%), no derogatories, no negatives, and definitely no bankruptcies. Average credit history age matters too — if your profile is only a year or two old, you want to look at it like an ascension model: build your personal credit profile first, let it age, then go for business credit. Once you're optimized, we move to applying — this is where Stacking Capital comes in. There are three big credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, and we typically target two applications per bureau, so within a short span we can get anywhere from four to six credit cards, usually $20,000 to $50,000 limits each — cumulatively $50,000 to $150,000, depending on your comparable credit history. We know which banks to go to and talk to the banking relationship managers directly, which streamlines the process and helps clients get across the finish line with confidence, since we walk them through exactly what to say.

Ashley: Is this only for established businesses, or can startups benefit too?

Patrick: This is startup friendly — you could have a business formed last month. As long as you have your articles of organization and EIN letter, and your credit criteria is good, we're ready to apply. Regardless of where someone's credit is, there's usually some optimization we can do. I have a client who was hovering around 760-770 for years — we took him through the optimization step and got him into the 800s for the first time, just by paying down revolving cards before the closing date so the balance reports lower, and removing some inquiries. A lot of business owners just don't know about the business credit side, so they keep using personal cards for business expenses and their score keeps fluctuating.

Ashley: It all starts with your personal credit.

Patrick: Exactly — personal credit is foundational, not only so you can access funding, but so you can save a lot of money throughout your life, because good credit opens the door to perks worth thousands of dollars: lounge access, free travel, sign-up bonuses. Chase recently had a 90,000-point sign-up bonus, enough for a round-trip flight if you know how to use the points.

Ashley: What are essential steps to prepare a business financially before six-figure funding?

Patrick: One of the great things about 0% capital is it's startup friendly — you don't need to show any revenue, it can be stated income. But if you have documentation, we'll always leverage it, because it opens the door to higher limits. We have a business with two years of tax returns and bank statements, pushing close to a million dollars in revenue, and in less than a month we got them $417,000 of collective credit between 0% cards and business lines of credit. Business lines of credit are usually the next step after a business is about two years old with steady revenue, generally around $10,000 a month. On the tax side — and I'm no tax professional, I'm a credit expert — a lot of people like to write everything off and show zero net profit, but a basic rule of thumb is to show at least 15% net profit to make you lendable. You can write everything off, but then you can't get your funding.

Ashley: When working with six-figure funding, how do you help entrepreneurs manage risk to grow sustainably?

Patrick: My goal is "one for today, one for tomorrow" — get you funded quickly, then set you up for your next round. Once you go through the process with us once, it's not rocket science, and you won't ever need to pay another funding company. We start with 0%, but that should get your business off the ground so we can tap into bigger lines of credit and SBA loans, which want a business plan and a schedule of your debt. We also work with affiliate partners for specialized consulting — marketing, CPAs, whatever's needed — because we've been in this industry four years, served over 200 clients, and built a lot of relationships. If we don't know something, we say so and find out.

One of the frustrating things during COVID and the years after was the misinformation about buying a G-Wagon and writing it off — people ended up with luxury vehicles they couldn't actually deduct and a four-figure monthly payment they weren't prepared for. It's important to have a solid exit strategy for any funding you take on, because that 0% isn't forever.

Ashley: How can people get a consultation with you?

Patrick: They can go to stacking.capital — replace the dot with "capital." If you want more information before hopping on a call, there's a free 40-page ebook at our blueprint page walking through our entire process, no email or phone number required. After that, you can always book a free consultation. I'm not here just to get you funded — I'm in the transformation business.

Ashley: Last question — do you only work with clients in the Charlotte area, or can they be from anywhere?

Patrick: Most of my clients are actually not from Charlotte — Florida, New York, California, really anywhere in the United States, as long as they have a social security number.

Ashley: So guys, you heard it here first — Stacking Capital. Thank you so much, Patrick.

Patrick: Thank you, Ashley.

Transcript auto-generated from the episode video and lightly edited for spelling, punctuation, and clarity.