Capital Alliance - interview with founder Narin Charan

It’s been nearly a decade since Narin Charan founded Capital Alliance, a private, tech-enabled lender specializing in providing small businesses with much-needed access to capital. Narin’s business has grown quite a bit since those early days, as it now offers unsecured business loans approaching up to $1 million to businesses across a wide range of industries via a three-step, same-day decision process.

What is the story behind 'Capital Alliance'? When did it begin?

I founded Capital Alliance in 2008, while the country was still in the throes of “The Great Recession.” I saw a lot of business owners -- especially small business owners -- struggling to find access to capital and felt compelled to do something about it by developing a newer and more efficient lending model capable of adapting to the changing economic environment.

What is your competitive advantage?

Simplicity is far and away our greatest advantage. Capital Alliance has removed the inefficiencies from an otherwise outdated system and reduced it down to its core elements, resulting in the three-step process we use to make a funding decision within 24 hours of receiving an application. I’ve also continually emphasized the importance of what I call “relationship-based lending,” which is my way of saying that Capital Alliance believes in developing a lasting partnership with our clients and is genuinely committed to investing in our clients' long-term success.

How simple is your process?

Three steps. 24 hours. Our process is as simple as it can possibly be. All we ask for is an application (which usually takes no more than 15 minutes to fill out), and within 24 hours we will offer a decision and provide the client with the terms of the loan. If the client decides to accept the terms of our loan, the documents can be signed electronically so the funds can be deposited in the client’s account as soon as possible.

Which is the biggest strength that makes your company unique? Tell us more about your service offerings as compared with banks and credit card advances companies?

The strength of the company is the product of our continued emphasis on the importance of relationship-based lending in which we serve as a funding partner truly invested in the success of the small business owners we work with. We prefer long-term relationships and understand that traditional lending models often overlook some of the most critical information when deciding to approve or deny a loan application.

As for the differences between Capital Alliance and other lenders, the contrast could not be sharper. We offer the fastest path to funding, understand the value of cash flow, require very little paperwork, value transparency, help our clients build business credit, provide genuine customer service, and reward our clients for their loyalty, just to highlight a few of the more glaring differences.

Who is your clientele? How do you build and keep them?

We work with small business owners in a range of industries, including the automotive, construction, manufacturing, medical, transportation, service, restaurant, retail, and wholesale industries, not to mention our innovative and entrepreneurial-minded clientele. The most effective strategy we use to retain our clients over the long term is to simply demonstrate how serious we are about creating a partnership in which Capital Alliance is deeply invested in both the short- and long-term success of every last one of our clients. Obviously, this is something that many clients are not necessarily used to due to their past experiences with lenders, but we hope to change the way things are done in the lending industry going forward.