Latest / Small Biz Florida / Ep 426 | Building Your Capital Stack: Financing Business Growth with Kirk Gimenez
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to Small Biz Florida, your go-to podcast for all things small business in the Sunshine State.
- 0:08This podcast is sponsored by Florida First Capital, your trusted partner for financing and support.
- 0:13Here, you'll discover the latest news, trends, and invaluable resources to help you grow and succeed.
- 0:19From startup strategies to scaling your business, we've got you covered.
- 0:23Join us as we explore the vibrant Florida small business ecosystem
- 0:27and connect you with the experts who can make a real difference.
- 0:31And now, please welcome your host, Tom Kindred,
- 0:34Regional Director of the Small Business Development Center at Indian River State College.
- 0:39This is Small Biz Florida, the podcast and broadcast that's all things business across the state of Florida.
- 0:46And if you've been tuning in lately, you know Small Biz Florida is back on the road again.
- 0:50We are at the 2026 Florida SBDC Network Small Business Success Summit.
- 0:59It is all happening here at the beautiful Sunseeker Resort in Charlotte Harbor, Florida.
- 1:04The room is chock-a-block full of small business owners, operators, entrepreneurs.
- 1:10It is all about sharing best practices, attending trainings, networking with SBDC consultants from across the state of Florida.
- 1:19And the conversation is all about how we support Florida's small business community.
- 1:25And we have one of those key support organizations with us right now.
- 1:31We've got our good friend, Kirk Jimenez, who serves as the Senior Vice President of Brickle Capital Finance.
- 1:38Kirk, welcome to Small Biz Florida.
- 1:40Thank you so much for having me, Tom.
- 1:42We are kindred spirits, you and I.
- 1:44I like it.
- 1:46We love what we do and we love helping others.
- 1:48And that's what we're here to do at Brickle Capital Finance is help companies scale.
- 1:52Well, listen, you are the most important topic in any sort of conversation about small business.
- 1:58It's all about access to capital scale and grow.
- 2:01So I'm looking forward to the conversation.
- 2:03But let's start as we always do.
- 2:04Kirk, just a little bit of your background pathway to your current role as Senior VP at Brickle Capital Finance.
- 2:11Ooh, it's been a long and winding road, Tom.
- 2:14All right, well, we try to keep these things to about 25 minutes.
- 2:18Let's do it.
- 2:18Let's do the 30-second intro.
- 2:20Okay.
- 2:20I'm the first Latino to anchor in English in ESPN history.
- 2:23I won two Emmys at ESPN.
- 2:25Had a long career in front of the camera and behind the camera.
- 2:29Launched my own company, Sizzle TV.
- 2:32We make your media marketing and branding sizzle.
- 2:34And what did I know about money?
- 2:35I knew two things about money when I launched that.
- 2:37I know how to make great network television, media, and branding.
- 2:40I knew jack and ish about money.
- 2:43Like most business owners, we know how to do the thing that we do.
- 2:47Right.
- 2:47We don't know how to access capital.
- 2:49And I went through the SBDC training and all that.
- 2:52And there was still a huge knowledge and wealth gap.
- 2:54And I met the owner and founder of Brickle Capital Finance.
- 2:57He taught me what is a, now that I branded, I branded this.
- 3:01He created it, but I branded it a capital stack.
- 3:03Right.
- 3:04So for most businesses, their capital stack is whack.
- 3:07So we need to educate business owners on what a proper capital stack is so they can grow and scale their businesses.
- 3:15And their number one thing is to understand is do not sign a merchant cash advance.
- 3:19Those are predatory loans.
- 3:20It is not the right financial product to grow and scale.
- 3:24It's the right financial product if you want to ruin your business and go bankrupt.
- 3:27So do not sign those.
- 3:30But so the whole key is to learn what a proper capital stack is and in what position they go in your business.
- 3:37So you can grow and scale and meet the demand, meet the contract demands, government contracts, all that stuff.
- 3:42All right.
- 3:42So let's go back to the beginning here because I'm intrigued by this whole concept of capital stack.
- 3:48Yes.
- 3:48So let's just start there.
- 3:49Define capital stack in layman's terms for that small business owner who is starting small and looking to grow and scale.
- 3:59Okay.
- 3:59So a capital stack is working capital.
- 4:02The financial products that you need to dip into to run your business.
- 4:07And when you stack is what it means.
- 4:10You're maybe you start with a micro SBA loan.
- 4:13Correct.
- 4:14Then you may need more cash to operate.
- 4:16You go to a 7A.
- 4:17For a term loan, a business lines of credit, accounts receivable financing, equipment leasing, contract financing, labor financing, material financing.
- 4:29So these are things that comprise a proper capital stack.
- 4:33There are non-traditional.
- 4:34This is what the key understanding is non-traditional lending.
- 4:38Banks, SBA loans.
- 4:39That's all people talk about.
- 4:41There are so many other financial products specifically designed for business use.
- 4:47Financial products.
- 4:48And something just struck me, Kirk, too, about this.
- 4:52This is really about building a relationship with a finance organization.
- 4:59Correct.
- 4:59Understand stacking.
- 5:00Correct.
- 5:01Because like you say, a lot of times a traditional lending organization just gets caught up in, well, here's our products and we're going to fit you into one of these.
- 5:12You're really talking about a relationship where the lending institutions really understands the needs, the scalability of this business.
- 5:21Is that fair?
- 5:22Am I sort of getting correct?
- 5:23That's exactly what it is.
- 5:25Because having this understanding that this is not new information.
- 5:29This is how large businesses, they would pay financial consultants tons of money to implement the strategy.
- 5:35Right.
- 5:36There was no branding.
- 5:37There was no education.
- 5:38The smaller tier businesses, the second stage businesses, they don't understand this.
- 5:43No one ever talked to them about this.
- 5:45Right.
- 5:45So, but we're seeing a crisis in that too many people are signing Merchant Cash Advances and they need this knowledge.
- 5:50They need this knowledge now.
- 5:52I want to talk about, so let's talk about that.
- 5:54I don't know that I'm familiar with that document or in that process.
- 6:00What is a merchant?
- 6:01Cash advance.
- 6:02Cash advance.
- 6:02There are MCAs you're going to get.
- 6:04Every business owner nowadays gets bombarded with envelopes in the mail, texts, emails.
- 6:11Get money tomorrow.
- 6:12Fast.
- 6:13You'll have it in your bank account, 150, 250,000, whatever you want.
- 6:16I am familiar with those.
- 6:17Yes.
- 6:17Okay.
- 6:18Those be warned are Merchant Cash Advances.
- 6:20The devil is in the details.
- 6:22And guess what?
- 6:23There's no details.
- 6:24They're not alone.
- 6:25This is how people get away from charging you up to 120% interest on these things.
- 6:29They're insidious.
- 6:30They're whoever sells these things and connects you to them should go to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks because they will ruin your business.
- 6:37It's not alone.
- 6:38It's an advance on your receivables.
- 6:40So you sign the $150,000 contract.
- 6:43You get it tomorrow.
- 6:44And this is what you need to understand.
- 6:46They're not mitigating risk.
- 6:47So they're going to get your business.
- 6:50They are not asking you for any documentation.
- 6:53So if you get a loan, in quotation marks, because it's not a loan, it's an advance on your receivables.
- 6:58Right.
- 6:59Without any financial documentation provided to that institution, be warned, that is a Merchant Cash Advance.
- 7:05The faster you get the money, the more interest rates you're going to pay for it.
- 7:08People don't know how to really calculate the interest rate.
- 7:13They're paying 60, 80.
- 7:14We've seen up to 120 interest.
- 7:16All right.
- 7:17And they go into your bank account and recuperate it.
- 7:19And they grab it right out of your bank account.
- 7:21Right.
- 7:21And you don't even know the money's gone because you're giving them the right to go into your bank account and grab that money at the end of every week.
- 7:31So we're using some new terms, capital stack and Merchant Cash Advances.
- 7:36But at the bottom of all of this, the business has to follow some textbook processes and procedures here.
- 7:47Right.
- 7:48Correct.
- 7:48We've got to be profitable.
- 7:49We've got to have a way to maintain our accounting records.
- 7:55So it all, you know, we've got to have a, we've got to have a strong credit score personally and for the business.
- 8:02I mean, those are still all the basics of all of this.
- 8:05Right.
- 8:06Those are bedrocks, foundational.
- 8:08But then when you, when you are at that point, right.
- 8:12And you're ready to scale and get more business and get more contracts and the contracts are coming in.
- 8:16Now there's a capital crunch.
- 8:18Now there's a cashflow crunch.
- 8:20How am I going to get the cash to meet this contract?
- 8:22How am I going to get the cash to build this building?
- 8:25Right.
- 8:25Or do this install.
- 8:27Right.
- 8:27If you're a contractor or subcontractor, reality is most contractors, subcontractors, they're running their businesses.
- 8:33And America's being built on credit, those predatory loans, number one, and second mortgages.
- 8:39Right.
- 8:39Right.
- 8:40And it's, it's just wrong.
- 8:41I identified it as a journalist as something that's wrong.
- 8:44And the only way I could attack that problem, because the money people, let's face it, they, they just said, that's just the system.
- 8:51I said, no, if the capital stack is a tried and proven thing and financial consultants charge a lot of money for bigger businesses to implement that, that, that platform and implement that strategy.
- 9:06Then everyone needs to know that.
- 9:08So I, it took me three years to understand what a capital stack was.
- 9:11And then I realized, how do I educate people on that?
- 9:14It's, we have to name it.
- 9:15We have to brand it.
- 9:16We have to create a visual.
- 9:17And I'm creating my own podcast right now.
- 9:19So I'm going to edit the visual of that podcast of, of that capital stack.
- 9:25And it is foundational.
- 9:26It's a block.
- 9:27The first block is SBA loans.
- 9:28And the key is how do you organize the financial products that you're accessing in the order?
- 9:35So you can maximize the interest rates and the lowest interest rates possible.
- 9:38Lowest interest rate is banking, right?
- 9:41Traditional banking.
- 9:42Number one, that should be the foundation of any stack.
- 9:45But guess what?
- 9:46Lending across America.
- 9:47Bank lending has flatlined since the pandemic.
- 9:49Banks are not lending any money.
- 9:51Well, how do I know that?
- 9:52They're calling me so I can build their, their clients' capital.
- 9:54Right.
- 9:54So number two position is an SBA loan.
- 9:57You need an SBA loan.
- 9:58SBA loans are three years profitable taxes you need.
- 10:01That's the benchmark.
- 10:02Three years profitable taxes, around 10% profit margins.
- 10:05You need to collateralize anything over $350,000.
- 10:08And now you have to be a hundred percent U.S. owned, U.S. citizen owned.
- 10:11That's not accessible to a lot of businesses.
- 10:13Okay.
- 10:14So what's the next phase?
- 10:15A term loan.
- 10:16Six-year term loan.
- 10:18Stretches out the interest rates.
- 10:20If you can't get a term loan that's still too expensive for you, if you think the interest
- 10:24rates are too high, 12 to 15% interest rate, maybe 10.
- 10:29An SBA loans around nine and a half, 9.75 right now, then let's go accounts receivable.
- 10:34Do you have any accounts receivable factoring that we can do so we can find some cash flow
- 10:38into your business?
- 10:39If you can't do accounts receivable.
- 10:41And by the way, don't fall for those companies that say we're taking over all your accounts
- 10:44receivables or there's the door.
- 10:46There is spot AR.
- 10:47You can take control of which ones you want to do accounts receivable financing.
- 10:51And that's is you have an outstanding invoice.
- 10:53You can, you can sell that to a financial institution like us.
- 10:56And then we pay you up to 80% of that, right?
- 10:59Accounts receivable financing, a business line of credit is very accessible based on cash
- 11:04flow, unsecured and recurring.
- 11:06So if you have three months strong bank statements or in business two years, we can project cash
- 11:11flow, not taxes, not profit, cash flow of 500,000.
- 11:14You're going to get 10% of that on a recurring, unsecured line of credit.
- 11:18Recurring means it renews.
- 11:19Unsecured means there's no collateral.
- 11:22So, and then the list goes on and on, on the financial products.
- 11:25But the reason I'm going through over these financial products is to help business owners
- 11:30understand there are more financial products out there than you can shake a stick at.
- 11:34They're not new.
- 11:35They're not innovative.
- 11:36You just need to educate yourself about it.
- 11:38So you can, you can find out what is the next step, the right step I'm going to do and take
- 11:44so I can grow and scale my business.
- 11:45So does Brickle Capital Finance, are you that connection to all of those products and resources?
- 11:53We have all those products under our portfolio.
- 11:56We, we built the capital stack, not only the branding, but we're brokers and we're direct
- 12:00lenders on many of those products.
- 12:02So we write the checks and that's the important part.
- 12:05Right.
- 12:05Banks call us.
- 12:06I had a bank.
- 12:08I can't name the big bank, but it's a big banker.
- 12:09I called me.
- 12:10Hey, I have this client has a $4 million contract.
- 12:13We're not going to fund it.
- 12:14Can you build them a capital stack for it?
- 12:15So, yes, of course.
- 12:16I'm like, thank you so much, Mr. Banker.
- 12:18I met with the client.
- 12:20They have this $4 million contract.
- 12:21How are we going to fund it?
- 12:23Let's look under the financial hood and let's go down the stretch of the capital stack.
- 12:27Which one of these products is accessible to you, Mr. Business Owner?
- 12:30Right now, because everybody's financial story is different, right?
- 12:34But the key is understand this.
- 12:36If you have a merchant cash advance, your capital stack's already whack because you started with
- 12:40one of those.
- 12:41And the odds are you will not be able to build one.
- 12:43Do you see that many businesses that have engaged in that kind of lending?
- 12:47Every business should be shocked, Tom, and the size of businesses that have these merchant
- 12:53cash advances.
- 12:54And they don't understand how much interest rate they're paying until, guess what?
- 12:57The $15,000 a week is being taken out of their account.
- 13:01It's insidious.
- 13:03It's everywhere.
- 13:03Eight out of 10 files we're seeing as merchant cash advances.
- 13:07Every banker I talk to, it's become a problem.
- 13:10It is a crisis right now.
- 13:12And this is why we created this educational platform.
- 13:16This is why I created the capital stack branding.
- 13:18So we can really bridge that knowledge and wealth gap with just those two words.
- 13:22Don't let your capital stack be whack, right?
- 13:25You got to get the right capital stack.
- 13:26How does one find you?
- 13:28And how does one find Brickle Capital Finance?
- 13:31BrickleCapitalFinance.com for my Latinos is a punto com.
- 13:35But you can find me at LinkedIn, Kirk Jimenez, K-I-R-K-G-I-M-E-N-E-Z.
- 13:42I'm also that on Instagram.
- 13:45But as I like to say, don't DM me.
- 13:47Real money people, we're not in our DMs, right?
- 13:50We're providing value and impact because we want that relationship with you.
- 13:53We want to fund you for the next 20 years.
- 13:55And we want your legacy to continue.
- 13:58I want your children to inherit the business.
- 14:00And I guess what I want, I want to fund the children as well.
- 14:02So email me, Kirk at BrickleCapitalFinance.com.
- 14:08That's Kirk, K-I-R-K at B-R-I-C-K-E-L-L.
- 14:13Now you are actually providing some training, I think this week.
- 14:18Correct.
- 14:18For SBDC consultants.
- 14:20Yes.
- 14:21We're training the entire Florida SBDC consultants, their entire family, if you will.
- 14:27We're going to sit them down for a two hour session and do the same thing we did for the National Minority Supplier Development Program and Capital Readiness Program for the NMSTC.
- 14:36NMSTC.
- 14:36And the ad is teach them every product in the capital stack that we reviewed, but then do a deep dive into each individual product, the benchmarks, the interest rates, everything.
- 14:46So they can in turn take that knowledge and that branding because it helps that not only for the consultants to understand, but for the client.
- 14:56And that client is our business owners.
- 14:59Business owners need to understand this at every level.
- 15:01Remember, what we've talked about here today is something that financial consultants hate me to do because this is how they make their living.
- 15:09They charge a lot of money to implement this strategy for big businesses.
- 15:14And I said, no, that's wrong.
- 15:15We need to break open this gate kept information.
- 15:18Every business owner needs to know this.
- 15:21So I hope as many people as possible get to hear this, get to understand this, and at least start the process of thinking about, number one, not signing a Merchant Cash Advance.
- 15:31And number two, bootstrapping it for as long as possible until you can get the capital stack.
- 15:36And can we end this with one thing?
- 15:38Sure.
- 15:38And this is the most powerful thing that I also teach.
- 15:41It's practical money tips for your business.
- 15:43Understand this when you're running your business.
- 15:47And the number one practical tip that I provide business owners is we as financial institutions only care about one thing.
- 15:54That's your end of month bank statement.
- 15:56What is that end of month bank statement look like?
- 15:59Guess what?
- 16:00Your business is being analyzed.
- 16:02Your personal finances are being analyzed at the end of every month.
- 16:05Every business and financial institution that you work with is looking at your end of month bank statement at the end of every month.
- 16:13You don't know they're doing it, but they're doing it.
- 16:15You need to have at least $3,500 at the end of every bank statement in order to start the conversation about building a capital stack.
- 16:24Cash flow.
- 16:25Cash flow.
- 16:25You need to show that cash flow because that's all we're going to look at.
- 16:29That's all we care about.
- 16:30We don't care.
- 16:30Banks are, I mean, we tell our clients all the time, banks are cash flow lenders.
- 16:36I mean, they're going to look at cash flow.
- 16:37Correct.
- 16:37But letting them know, hey, it's the end of month bank statement.
- 16:42The end of month bank statement is all that matters.
- 16:45And so I teach people that in large organizations, the HUBZone National Council, HBCU National Summit, NMSDC.
- 16:52And I always get the same question.
- 16:53Well, what does that mean?
- 16:55My end of month bank statement.
- 16:56How do I change that?
- 16:57I go, number one, just start changing the way when the company pays the bills.
- 17:04Right now, black and brown folk, let's face it.
- 17:06We get raised by, hey, pay your bills at the end of the month.
- 17:10Wrong.
- 17:10Wait till the calendar changes to the first of the month.
- 17:13So you have as much cash in that bank account as possible.
- 17:18Right.
- 17:18Here's another major hack.
- 17:20So we lend lines of credit on based on three months bank statements.
- 17:25So if you can put together three strong month bank statements of 3,500 or more at the end of the bank and the bank and the bank statement, call your own banker.
- 17:33Right.
- 17:34And say, hey, I need a new business credit card.
- 17:36And they're going to go.
- 17:36Do you need more than one?
- 17:37That easy.
- 17:40Having that understanding and that knowledge.
- 17:42Yeah.
- 17:42It's that easy to change things around for your business.
- 17:46OK, so you don't the cash flow is tight right now.
- 17:49Do you have a 401k?
- 17:50Can you roll over to an IRA, deposit that money?
- 17:56You're going to lend from your 401k into your bank account.
- 17:59How long are you going to park that money in the bank account, Tom?
- 18:01How many months?
- 18:03Three months.
- 18:04And here's the here's the major hack is you can pay back your 401k with zero percent penalty.
- 18:10So you just built three strong month bank statements just by moving cash around.
- 18:14Hold on.
- 18:15I'm writing that down.
- 18:16It's it's a huge hack.
- 18:19Right.
- 18:19401k.
- 18:20Roll it over to your IRA.
- 18:21Park it in your business bank account for three months.
- 18:24You're going to lend yourself that money for three months.
- 18:26You're going to pay it back to your 401k at zero percent penalty.
- 18:30Then you call your bank and you tell them, Mr.
- 18:33Banker, I need a new credit card.
- 18:35In fact, give me two.
- 18:36And guess what?
- 18:36They're going to give them to you.
- 18:38Now you go apply for a business line of credit unsecured.
- 18:41That means there's no collateral.
- 18:42And that's when you apply for the business line of credit.
- 18:45Right.
- 18:45Build those three strong three month bank statements.
- 18:48Your whole outlook is going to change.
- 18:51And no one's teaching this.
- 18:52But I think everyone needs to understand.
- 18:56No doubt, because we hear that all the time.
- 18:59We hear three years worth of tax returns.
- 19:02If we're going to go in and try to get a loan and micro loans, it's all about three months worth of bank statements.
- 19:08Correct.
- 19:08So now you have the knowledge.
- 19:10Right.
- 19:11End of month bank statement.
- 19:12Now you have the practical tip, that practical money tip.
- 19:15Start changing the way you pay your bills at the end of the month.
- 19:18Wait till the calendar changes and you have that strong.
- 19:22And listen, if you have a rich uncle or a mom or a dad, tell them, hey, can I borrow 10 grand for three months?
- 19:29I'll pay you right back at the end of three months.
- 19:31And how long are you going to park that money in the bank account for your business?
- 19:34Three months.
- 19:35That's all you need to change things around.
- 19:37All right.
- 19:38It is Kirk Jimenez, who serves as a senior vice president with the Brickle Capital Finance Organization.
- 19:47Kirk, thank you for your time here on Small Biz Florida.
- 19:50Thank you for your support of Florida's small business community.
- 19:54Thank you for attending and serving as a presenter here at the 2026 Small Business Success Summit.
- 20:03Thank you, Tom, for having me.
- 20:04And remember, hablamos español, somos latinos, so you don't have to speak English.
- 20:08Hablamos español y te ayudamos en español también.
- 20:11Okay.
- 20:13Whatever Kirk said.
- 20:14We'll have them in Spanish, too.
- 20:15All right.
- 20:17Thank you, sir.
- 20:18Thank you.
- 20:18This is Small Biz Florida.
- 20:21I am Tom Kinniger, host.
- 20:22It is all about small business and entrepreneurship.
- 20:24here at the 2026 Small Business Success Summit, all taking place here at the beautiful Sunseeker
- 20:31Resort in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, all brought to you by the Florida SBDC Network.
- 20:37Stay tuned.
- 20:38A lot more to come.
- 20:39This is Small Biz Florida.
- 20:41That's all for this episode of Small Biz Florida.
- 20:44We hope you found valuable insights and inspiration to fuel your entrepreneurial journey.
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- 21:16Until then, keep innovating and keep growing.
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