John Fudge brings over 30 years of experience in SBA, government, and commercial lending. Since founding the business, he has dedicated his career to helping entrepreneurs and business owners navigate the often complex world of lending to secure the capital they need to grow.
Understanding that this type of lending can be both highly beneficial and full of potential pitfalls, John—alongside his business partner—has worked tirelessly to develop streamlined processes supported by proprietary software. This unique approach ensures borrowers are matched with the ideal lender and guides them efficiently through to a successful close.
Thanks to his commitment to service and results, John’s office has proudly assisted thousands of satisfied clients in obtaining the funding essential to their success.
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Marco Gonzalez: ello and welcome to the ThinkFactory podcast, an online platform where we explore the latest trends and innovations in business and offer thought leaders a platform to freely express their opinions on pertinent industry, professional, and business subjects. I’m your host today, Marco Gonzalez, and I’m an attorney by trade with Outside General Counsel Solutions and a contributing editor and host of The Think Factory.
Today we have a special guest with us, Mr. John Fudge, Executive Vice President for USA Funding, a bank servicing firm that offers a wide range of governmental, commercial, and business financial services to help businesses obtain the capital it needs. John, thank you for joining us today.
John Fudge: Pleasure, thank you very much for having me, and I had a nice non-rainy day to drive up here.
Marco Gonzalez: Yes, I know, it’s a sunny day today in Parsippany. John, tell us a little more about what USA Funding does and how did it get started?
John Fudge: over an idea of starting a bank servicing firm. We recognized a long time ago that SBA lending was a tremendous way to borrow money, but the problem is most lending institutions put the least seasoned people in this area.
In addition to that, although it’s a federal program, it’s underwritten individually at every bank, so I could produce a package and submit it to three different banks and get an approval, a denial, and more questions. That uncertainty and that lack of uniformity caused so many problems with the SBA that it got a horrible reputation.
What we did is we went out to these lenders and said, if you have a transaction that makes sense, give me that transaction. We’re a team of accountants. We’ll cure problems. We’ll fix financial issues on the P&L. We’ll make the package more approvable, and then we’ll send it to the lender that likes that type of deal, and then I will replace what I took from you with another loan that I get that fits your criteria a little more succinctly.
Marco Gonzalez: How does USA Funding get its clients, its borrowers, and how do you vet them to make them fit your business?
John Fudge: We are a one-trick pony, and because it’s all we do is why people continue to come back.
Marco Gonzalez: You mentioned a good point there about your competitors and that they’re not willing to do the hard work or whatever it is to get to the level you are now. How was those first few years at USA Funding?
John Fudge: My partner and I started the business. He had, at that point, a two-year-old son. I was unmarried because nobody would love me. This is a true story. We would call and make appointments for Atlanta. We would go to a different area. We would hit the region together.
We would go to Atlantic City for an afternoon, for an example. I’d have three appointments set up. He’d have three appointments set up.
We could only afford to bring one car. He would drop me off at my appointment. He would take the car to his next appointment. I would walk to my next appointment. He would walk to his next appointment. His wife made us a couple of sandwiches.
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