Lakeshire Business Funding, a small-business funding broker in Duluth, Minnesota, works in four steps: you describe the need, we match it to a funding type and lending partners, a partner underwrites and decides, and you compare any offer before choosing. Lakeshire never makes the credit decision or sets rates and terms; partners do.
Step 1: Describe what the money is for
Call (218) 353-6774, or fill in the short request form with your name, email, phone number and business name, and we call you. On that call we ask what the money will pay for, roughly how much it needs to cover, and what income will pay it back. Those three answers do more to narrow the options than any product name.
Step 2: Match the purpose to options and partners
From that conversation we suggest which funding types are worth pursuing, whether that is working capital, a term loan, a credit line, inventory financing or equipment financing, and explain what partners in that category usually ask for. If a merchant cash advance comes up, we explain why it is not a loan and how its cost is counted. With your permission, the request then goes to a partner that offers the chosen type.
Step 3: The lending partner underwrites
Underwriting means the partner studies the request in detail. It decides whether to fund and on what terms. The steps to get a business loan through a partner differ by product, but most reviews cover the same ground:
- Cash flow: deposits, balances and low points in recent business bank statements.
- Credit: the business's credit history and usually each significant owner's personal credit.
- Standing: time in operation and whether the Minnesota entity and tax filings are current.
- Existing obligations: loans, advances still being collected, and liens on file.
- Purpose: what the money buys and how that connects to repayment.
How long underwriting takes depends on the partner, the product and how quickly documents arrive. No timeline can be promised. Lakeshire does not influence the outcome.
Step 4: Compare the offer and choose
If a partner makes an offer, you decide. Put each offer through the same checks:
- Price: the APR or interest rate for a loan, or the factor rate for an advance.
- Total cost: every dollar repaid or remitted, minus the cash you actually receive.
- Payment rhythm: daily, weekly or monthly, and the amount each time.
- Fees: anything deducted at funding, and what early payoff saves.
- Security: liens, personal guarantees and any assets pledged.
Walking away is always on the table. Signing nothing is a valid result of this process.
Warning signs to slow down for
- Anyone who promises approval before a partner has reviewed the request.
- Pressure to sign the same day or before you have read the agreement.
- Requests to pay a fee up front in exchange for an approval.
- Offers that state only a payment, never a total.
- An advance described as a loan, or a loan described without its rate.
If you see any of these, slow down. Our disclosures explain what Lakeshire does and does not do, and free advisors in Northeast Minnesota can review an offer with you at no cost.
Questions before you start
The owner questions page answers the common ones in a sentence or two each.
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