In January 2021 Andi Rebiero partnered with Innovative Capital to support her in financing the acquisition of a CPA firm, now Alumbra CPAs. She had difficulty finding a loan from traditional sources that met her needs and felt she was running out of options. She was referred to us by a commercial banker who wasn’t able to give her what she was looking for, but they knew who could: Innovative Capital.
Keep reading for the full story on how we helped Andi reach her goals and score her the deal she was looking for.
Hi, I’m Andi Rebiero and I’ve just made a big move. I acquired a CPA firm and the team at Innovative Capital helped me make it happen.
The name of my new firm is Alumbra. Truthfully, finding a name is not easy. I chose Alumbra because it means to shed light on or to illuminate. We want our CPA firm to shed light and guide people. Our logo is a Phoenix, representing resilience and transformation as well as being open to change.
I wanted to form my own firm to create personal relationships with our clients. At Alumbra, accessibility and responsiveness are paramount. With big CPA firms, access to CPA services is just a lot more expensive. Clients hesitate to reach out to their CPA because they don’t want to get charged. We want our clients to feel confident asking for our input and building a trusted relationship.
Buying a company is a big decision. I found the company I wanted to acquire through CalCPA. It was a great fit, so I immediately started the process of securing funding for my business acquisition. I started making calls to various banks to find the right business loan. As a CPA I knew I wanted to specifically target banks that understood professionals; and yet, everywhere I went the LOs pushed my loan over to programs that didn’t fit my needs.
Along the road, I spoke to a Commercial Banker who, when he couldn’t get me what I needed, recommended I call Brent at Innovative Capital.
I knew I needed something different because there were so many restrictions placed on a business loan with the SBA, like, the selling owner can only stay on for a year. Well, that didn’t match my business plan for the company I wanted to acquire. For me, I wanted to keep the former owner on to help stabilize the business transition for longer than that.
Honestly when I looked at the Innovative Capital website and saw “hard money” I thought, this is not for me. I didn’t know they did regular financing through commercial banks as well.
When you want a mortgage, you use a mortgage broker, they get the best deals and find the right fit for your situation. What Innovative Capital does for business and Real Estate loans is the same thing! They act as a business loan broker.
Being a CPA I hear about clients and their business loan needs all the time. And I have to admit, I’d never heard of a business loan broker, though it makes perfect sense.
By the time I got on the phone with Brent, I’d been through the loan application process with two banks, so I already had all of my paperwork together. The process was so easy and, what Brent was able to source for me surpassed anything anybody else offered.
The SBA interest rate was really high, especially compared to what I got. Honestly, there’s NO WAY I could have gotten anything better on my own. The fee I paid to Innovative was less than the SBA fee, the interest rate was less than the SBA rate and the terms were a much better fit for what I needed for my acquisition. Traditional lenders wanted a lot more down.
Now that the deal is done, I’ve been bragging to people, not to rub it in but, I got a much better rate and terms than a few business owners in similar situations at the same time. Once it was all done, I told my attorney exactly what I got … and he was impressed.
I can’t recommend using Innovative Capital enough. The whole loan process was easy and fast and I got such an amazing deal, I wish I could tell everyone to save themselves time shopping for banks and make Innovative Capital do it for them… it’s what they do best.
Andi Rebiero | Alumbra