Lead Generation for Private Credit, ABL, and Specialty Lenders
We do direct origination lead gen for private credit funds, asset-based lenders, and specialty finance companies. The buyer is a CFO or an owner at a mid-market company that needs capital, and the thing we're after is a first conversation with your originator while the company is still deciding who to call, not after the banker has run a process.
Here's what we do. We watch for companies whose credit facility is coming up on maturity, who just hired a CFO, who just announced an acquisition they'll need to finance, who just changed hands to a sponsor, or whose bank is pulling back from their sector, and we email the CFO about that specific thing the same week. When she writes back, it goes to your originator as an intro call. Starts as low as $2,999 a month, month to month.
Who you're selling to, and why the usual approach doesn't work on them
Your buyer is a CFO at a $30M to $300M company who has a bank, has had that bank for years, and doesn't think about the facility until the renewal letter shows up or the bank says no. She goes looking for a new lender when something forces it: the revolver matures and the bank wants tighter covenants, an acquisition needs more than the bank will stretch to, a sponsor comes in and wants leverage the bank won't provide, or the bank decides it doesn't like her industry anymore.
The way most lenders find those companies is intermediaries. Sponsors send deals they've already shopped. Investment banks run processes where you're one of eight term sheets. Accountants and attorneys refer when they remember to. All of that works, and all of it means you're seeing the deal after someone else has priced it.
Direct origination is the answer everyone agrees on and almost nobody does well, because the usual version is an originator cold-calling "CFOs at manufacturing companies over $50M" and asking whether they're happy with their bank. They are, on an ordinary Tuesday, and the call is over.
The company that'll take a term sheet this quarter has a reason, and the reason is on file. Maturity dates, new CFOs, announced acquisitions, and ownership changes are all public. We find them the week they surface, and your originator is the first call the CFO takes instead of the sixth term sheet in a process.
What we watch for
There are five signals. They are all public and dated, and they all indicate that a company is about to need capital from someone other than its current bank.
A credit facility approaching maturity. UCC filings show who a company's secured lender is and when the lien was filed, and most facilities run three to five years. For public companies the maturity date is in the 10-K. We email the CFO nine to twelve months before the likely maturity and offer to run a comparison while the incumbent's renewal is still an open question. Almost no lender reads UCC filings this way, and it's the best signal in the category.
A new CFO or controller. LinkedIn and press. A new CFO reviews the banking relationship in the first quarter and usually has a lender she's worked with before. We land in the first 60 days, before that call gets made, with a specific observation about the current facility from the filing.
An announced acquisition. Press releases and state filings. A company that just announced a deal has to finance it, and the bank's answer is often "not that much." We email the CFO the week the deal is announced and offer to look at the incremental facility.
A change of ownership to a sponsor. Press releases and PE portfolio announcements. A sponsor wants leverage the company's bank is not set up to provide, and the sponsor's own lenders don't always cover the size. We email the CFO and the sponsor's deal lead.
A bank pulling back from the sector. Regional bank earnings calls, press about portfolio reductions, and industry trade press. When a bank announces it's reducing exposure to a sector, every CFO in that sector with that bank is about to hear from their relationship manager. We email them first.
What the email looks like
Subject: The Fifth Third facility and the Meridian deal
Hi Elena,
Congratulations on the Meridian acquisition. From the public filing, the revolver with Fifth Third was put in place in early 2022, which puts it inside a year of maturity, and the acquisition is probably more than the bank was sized for.
We do incremental and replacement facilities for companies between $30M and $200M going through exactly this, and we can give you indicative terms inside two weeks without a full process.
Would it be useful to see where we'd come out before the bank sends its renewal?
David
David is your originator. The acquisition, the bank, and the filing date came from the signals. The email names the timing problem she's already thinking about and offers indicative terms without a process. A CFO who's been through a banker-run process wants to hear that. And it asks for a conversation, because that's what your originator wants.
Want to know how many companies in your size range and sectors have a facility likely maturing in the next twelve months? Book a 15-minute call and we'll pull the count before you get on it.
What we mean by "lead"
A CFO, owner, or sponsor deal lead at a company that fits your line wrote back, and it's booked as an intro call with your originator. We don't count "send us your overview deck." We don't count a company already in a process you were invited to.
Before anything sends we write down the line with you: facility size range, sectors in and out, geography, structures you do, and any sponsor relationships to route around.
You see every reply, including the ones that say no.
How it runs
Week one we set up sending domains and mailboxes in your name, agree the line, and turn on the five signals across your sectors and size range.
Week two the first emails go out under your originator's name.
Replies go to the originator the same day with the signal and the filing details attached, so the first call starts from "your revolver's coming up and you just bought Meridian" and not from "tell me about your capital structure."
Every morning we look at yesterday's intro calls against the target. If we hit it, we send more. If we missed it, it's one of four things: wrong companies, not enough of them, the email was off, or it didn't land. We find which, fix it, and that's what goes out today. You can follow it in the log.
When you leave, the domains and mailboxes are yours, and so is the list of companies with likely maturity dates.
What it costs
Starts as low as $2,999 a month, month to month. No setup fee, no minimum term.
That covers domains, mailboxes, warmup, the list, the filing research, the copy, sending, replies, handoff to your originator, and the daily log.
It doesn't cover a caller. If you want phone and LinkedIn on top, that's the outbound program, linked below.
One way to think about it: one facility originated direct instead of through a process pays for several years of the program.
Results
Those are software, logistics, and restaurant clients. We'll put a lending number here the first time a lender client lets us use their name.
Book a 15-minute fit call
Tell us your facility size, your sectors, and how your originators are set up. We'll tell you whether we'd take the account, which signals fire most in your range, and, if it shouldn't be us, who to call instead.
Other ways we work with Private Credit, ABL, and Specialty Lenders
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if you just want the email and your originators will do the follow-up.
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if you want email plus LinkedIn and calling with our team on the phones.
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if you want to retarget the same CFO list with paid social.
Lead Generation for other industries
Questions people ask us
Our deal flow comes from sponsors and banks. Will this step on those relationships?
No. The line we write down includes sponsor relationships to route around, and we don't email companies already in a process you've been invited to. This is the direct channel next to the intermediated one. The deals it produces are the ones nobody's shopped yet.
Do CFOs actually reply to a lender they've never heard of?
They reply to an email that names their bank, their filing date, and their acquisition. That's not a lender they've never heard of. That's someone who read the filing. The generic "are you happy with your bank" email gets deleted, and it should.
How do you know when a facility matures?
UCC filings show the secured lender and the filing date, and most facilities run three to five years, so the window is estimable. Public companies disclose maturity in the 10-K. It's not exact for private companies, and we say "likely maturing" in the email for that reason. It's still the best signal in the category and almost nobody uses it.
Is there a minimum facility size where this makes sense?
The program works from about $5M facilities up. Below that the signals are thinner and the economics of a booked call get harder. Most lenders we talk to are $10M to $100M, and the filings are richest in that range.
Anything in the emails that creates a compliance problem?
The emails name the situation and offer indicative terms on a call. They don't quote a rate, promise an approval, or describe terms in writing. Your originator handles everything after the reply. Commercial lending marketing isn't regulated the way consumer lending is, but we write as if it were.
How long until the first intro call?
Usually weeks three to five. Announced acquisitions and new CFOs go fastest, because both come with a date. Maturity-driven conversations run on the maturity calendar and stack up over the first six months.