Posted: Monday, 9 November 2026 @ 10:37
With almost four decades in business finance, independent business finance professional, David Grosse, has seen the SME funding landscape change dramatically, but one thing that he believes has remained constant is that access to finance only helps a business when it is the right finance for the circumstances.
For many business owners, finding the best-fit finance in the current market can feel like having an overwhelming amount of choice. Since the banking crash in 2008, the UK has developed a sizeable and increasingly diverse alternative finance market, with lenders offering various funding options to support areas including cashflow, working capital, and business development. For a business owner who is an expert in their own field, but not necessarily in finance, navigating that landscape can be very difficult.
For David, this is where independent business finance professionals have an important role to play. His role as a co-founder of The Guild of Business Finance Professionals, an organisation established around the principle and best practices of helping businesses access the best-fit finance in partnership with the best-fit lenders, to ensure each business owner is provided with what is appropriate for their individual circumstances, is testament to his view.
He describes it as a need to provide the missing signposting for all businesses owners, and as two recent cases involving his clients demonstrate, that can sometimes make the difference between a business struggling under its financial commitments and one being given the breathing space it needs to move forward.
A changing finance landscape
David’s career to date spans a period of significant change in the type of business finance that’s available in the UK. Before the banking crisis, he recalls a much clearer route to funding. High street banks dominated, alongside a relatively small number of specialist finance providers. For many businesses, the options were limited but relatively easy to understand. Then the banking crisis changed the business finance landscape.
The banks tightened their belts, and independent lenders began to emerge in greater numbers, creating more choice for businesses that could no longer rely on those traditional relationships.
That growth has brought significant benefits, but it has also created a new challenge: “There's a problem for business owners in finding out about the best-fit funding solution for them,” David explains.
For any business owner, the distinction between different types of business finance isn't always obvious. A business might need working capital, debt consolidation or asset finance to purchase equipment or simply some breathing space in its cashflow. Each has different implications for the business and its ability to service the borrowing.
David believes that understanding those differences is where independent guidance can add real value, saying: “We continue to use the words ‘best fit’ ‘best lender’ and ‘best outcome’ in the Guild, for a reason.”
The principle is straightforward: the objective isn't simply to find a lender that will say yes. It is to understand the business, its owner, its circumstances and what the funding is intended to achieve – and then identify an appropriate route. That philosophy is particularly important because, as David points out, not every business should necessarily commit to any type of debt, without seeking professional assistance beforehand.
When access to finance becomes the problem
One of David's concerns is the growth of what is commonly referred to as ‘loan stacking’ – where a business takes on multiple borrowing facilities, sometimes without a sufficiently joined-up view of the overall repayment burden.
For a business owner, receiving several offers of finance can look like good news, but the cheapest or quickest offer isn't necessarily the most appropriate one. “Getting access to the wrong finance can be very damaging,” says David, and that is something he has seen play out first-hand with businesses clients who have come to him after getting into difficult situations.
A physiotherapy business with a c.200-person waiting list
One of David's clients is a physiotherapist who has built a successful business around something she was clearly passionate about.
There was demand for her services and she had a growing waiting list of c.200 patients. The problem was that the business didn't have sufficient cashflow to employ the additional staff it needed to meet that demand. Instead, it was carrying an unaffordable monthly repayment from several loans previously arranged through a broker found online.
On paper, the level of existing borrowing created an obvious challenge, but David's approach was to look beyond the numbers and understand the person behind them. He saw a business owner who was committed to her business, working hard and operating in a market where there was genuine demand. The issue wasn't a lack of customers or an absence of a viable business model; it was the structure of the existing debt and the pressure that was placing on monthly cashflow.
A lender David had approached initially for consolidation ultimately decided that the business was not strong enough and could not support the additional borrowing. David disagreed and contacted Rivers.
He says: “Rishi and Ratan appreciate that me, and indeed any member of the Guild, has an honourable way of working. We meet with the business owners, do our due diligence and, having been doing this for a number of years, you have a strong instinct for whether a business has a future.”
The Rivers team recognised that there was risk but also saw a business with potential. Together, they structured an offer designed to consolidate various loans and significantly improve the business's monthly cashflow. The result was more than simply a different finance facility - it gave the business breathing space. The owner could look at bringing in additional staff and addressing the underlying capacity issue that had been holding the business back.
For David, that is an important distinction - the objective wasn't simply to refinance debt but to create a structure that gave the business a realistic opportunity to become stronger and move forward. In short, the business owner could finally sleep at night.
The relationship didn't end when the finance was provided either. David has continued to stay in touch with the business and has already discussed a longer-term plan with Rivers: if the business continues to strengthen, the intention is to review the position in 24 months and, if appropriate, consider other funding options that may supporting continuing growth. That, David believes, is part of what responsible, relationship-led lending should look like.
The client says: "Before finding David, I didn’t even know organisations like his existed or that this kind of support was available. Looking back, it often felt as though taking the easiest route was prioritised over finding the right solution for my business. It means a great deal that David and Rivers have taken the time to see the business for what I’m trying to build and to recognise its potential. Having that understanding and support has given me a lot more confidence."
A business with five loans and £18,000 of monthly repayments
On another occasion, David was contacted about an accountant who had made the transition from employment to business ownership. Her plan was not unreasonable - she had identified an established accountancy business whose owners were approaching retirement and saw an attractive opportunity to acquire it.
At the same time, however, she was managing a number of external challenges and was under considerable pressure to complete the acquisition quickly. She needed funding to make the acquisition happen and went through a fintech broker, before long, she had access to a series of short-term offers. Five loans were ultimately stacked on top of one another, and the combined repayments were around £18,000 a month.
For David, the initial reaction was one of confusion - as a financially trained professional, how had the situation become so complicated? However, the more he understood the individual and her circumstances, the clearer the story became. The acquisition itself made sense as the business had a future. Her external circumstances had simply collided with a major business decision at a particularly difficult moment.
The challenge was finding a lender prepared to look at the complete picture. David had historically worked with another lender but, again, the process became increasingly complicated and information heavy. Having recently worked with Rivers on the physiotherapy case mentioned above, he picked up the phone to Rishi.
Once again, the Rivers team looked at the component parts of the situation and structured a solution around them. There was security involved, and the facility reflected the level of risk. However, the terms were clear and aligned with the expectations David had already set with the customer. The result was a significant reduction in monthly financial pressure and much improved cashflow each month.
The lesson behind both stories
The two businesses were very different but in both cases the businesses themselves were not the problem – it was the way their finance was structured, showing that while access to finance is great – it has to be the right finance.
Rivers' approach is built around understanding the client's individual story as well as the financial metrics, with decisions based on experience, knowledge and due diligence rather than simply putting a customer through an automated system.
For David, that approach is particularly important for SMEs. “Typically, businesses that turn over less than £5m are most vulnerable,” he says. “They are experts in what they do, but not necessarily experts in the mechanics of finance.”
That isn't a criticism - it is a reality of running a small business. A great physiotherapist doesn't need to be a specialist in corporate finance, and a brilliant accountant doesn't automatically become an expert in business finance simply because they understand numbers.
As the number of finance options available to SMEs continues to grow, the need for clear, independent guidance arguably becomes greater.
More choice makes good advice more important
David's experience points to a wider issue for the business finance market. Per capita, the UK has the highest number of lenders than any other country in the world. That said, the growth of independent lenders has created valuable alternatives to traditional forms of banking in the past. Businesses can now access a much broader range of funding solutions, and specialist lenders can sometimes take a more flexible view of circumstances that don't fit a traditional lending model.
However, more choice creates a responsibility to understand the risks. For David, that is the role of the independent business finance professional – not simply to source finance, but to understand the business, challenge the funding requirement where necessary and identify what is genuinely appropriate. Sometimes the answer will be finance and sometimes it won't.
Sometimes the right answer isn't more borrowing at all, but a restructuring of existing commitments to create a more sustainable platform for the business. That is why he believes the phrase ‘best fit’ matters.
Looking beyond the application
For Rivers, the two cases also demonstrate why relationships remain central to the lending process. Our approach focuses on the client's narrative as well as the metrics, with an emphasis on individual relationships and long-term partnerships. That doesn't mean ignoring risk – on the contrary.
Responsible lending requires understanding whether the business can realistically support the proposed borrowing, and our approach is to understand what the funding will achieve, the expected return, repayment affordability and the impact on monthly cashflow, alongside carrying out appropriate due diligence.
The difference is that those questions are considered in the context of the whole business. For David, that is what made the two cases stand out: “The team listened to the business side, the emotional side, and could see something that worked for them,” he says. “The best outcome for the business owners' is at heart and mind, sadly, you don't get that with many lenders and nor do you get that with many brokers either.”
Ultimately, these stories aren't really about two successful refinancing cases, but the difference between being able to access finance and being able to access the best-fit finance and by engaging by the best-fit lenders. For an SME, that difference can be substantial. It can determine whether repayments become an unsustainable burden or a manageable commitment; whether cashflow remains under pressure or gives a business room to invest; whether an owner spends the night worrying about the next repayment or starts thinking about the next stage of growth.
In an increasingly complex finance market, knowing how best to understand and access business finance, may be one of the most valuable forms of financial education a business owner can have.
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