Surf-Tel
Growing with Confidence
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Needs:
- Access to growth capital on an as needed basis
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Custom Lending Package:
- $100,000 credit line at 20.99% APR
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Results:
- Fast, direct access to capital
- Easy to manage monthly payments
- Ability to draw against credit line as needed
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Owner:
Shawn Emerick
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Location:
Huntington Beach, CA
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Industry:
Telecommunications Services
Orange County-based Surf-Tel has more than 20 years of experience connecting businesses with the right communications, cabling, and construction services for their growing office needs. The experts at Surf-Tel have extensive expertise in connecting electrical and optical components from the WAN, LAN, wireless, and network areas to the physical cable plant – be it inside or out. Surf-Tel is able to provide all of the electrical, telephony, and electronic connections needed for new construction and renovation of big-box retail and commercial properties.
After success with designing the right communications infrastructure for many types of businesses, Surf-Tel began to receive large purchase orders from global telecom companies. While such opportunities would exponentially grow Surf-Tel’s business beyond its already expanding customer roster, the company realized it didn’t have the capital required to fund the payroll or the purchase of materials needed to service so many businesses at once. To take advantage of the growth opportunity at hand, Surf-Tel needed financing – and it needed it immediately.
Whenever a new job begins, whether for a new or returning client, the same thing holds true: the need to purchase tools and pay staff, sometimes a team of contractors, to perform the work prior to being paid by the customer at the job’s completion. This is common for telecom businesses, but this can cause a bit of a problem, says founder and CEO Shawn Emerick.
“We’re a contractor, so everything that comes to us is a labor and materials cost. Receiving an order from a global telecom company, as we did recently, is something to celebrate, but it also causes stress,” says Emerick. “If I have guys on the job, they’re buying materials and need to be reimbursed. They also need to be paid, of course. If I am not able to invoice and to receive payment from existing customers in a snap, I’m dipping into my personal bank account just to grow my business. Such growth just isn’t sustainable.”
“I talked to a lot of people when I decided to seek a loan. Many options were so involved that they would have taken a lot of my time, or contacted my customers to let them know their invoices were being factored. We got lucky when a local banker referred us to Dealstruck.”
Dealstruck is an online direct lender for small businesses that prides itself on providing unique, appropriate and affordable capital with honesty and transparency. And that’s just what they did for Surf-Tel. Emerick said his conversations and experience with Dealstruck were straightforward. “I asked myself a lot of questions as I spoke with the person who helped us. I realized I wasn’t signing my life away or conducting a particularly huge transaction. It was so easy.”
But Emerick said the best thing about the loan was that it was fast. “I was told I would have the funding in my bank by a certain date and time, and I did. There was zero disruption to our business. I try to practice integrity and run my business that way, and I feel like Dealstruck does too. They did what they said they would.”
Emerick certainly appreciated Dealstruck’s efficient processes, as he needed all of the time he could get to spend on his business. Understanding that Surf-Tel was an early customer of Dealstruck’s, he said the loan application process and the funding of his loan were better than what he expected.
Now, when Surf-Tel is hired for a job, Emerick says he rests easy knowing that he will be able to service the customer without worrying about paying the bills because he has his Dealstruck line of credit in place. Though Surf-Tel is a small company, it is routinely sought after by large companies, and the stress previously brought about by such orders – even by the large jobs that would ultimately bring in a lot of revenue – is gone.
“I have more confidence now. A general contractor just asked Surf-Tel to do a big job at a major league baseball park in Southern California. I didn’t have to worry as I would have before. Now, thanks to the quick help Dealstruck provided, I don’t stress for one moment that I won’t be able to cover materials costs or pay those who work the job.”
