Professional services startup secures growth funding with tailored support from Lendio.
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As a new mother, Sasha Rowe was faced with a dilemma too many women face—a choice between going back to work or staying home with her newborn son. Disheartened by the dilemma, she ultimately decided not to choose one or the other. Instead, she changed that or to an and. But she didn’t stop there. Knowing other women and men facing similar choices, Rowe decided to create an opportunity to change the norm, not just for herself, but for others in the same situation. From that, Rivvly, Inc. was born.
Rivvly prides itself as a multifaceted organization offering specialized virtual assistants, high-volume remote staffing, personal branding for executives, and more. The company finds the best talent and offers them non-traditional career opportunities with companies looking to expand beyond the confines of their physical location. In simpler terms? Rivvly matches other companies with the most qualified, college-educated, vetted, and trained virtual assistants in the country.
Sounds cool, right? Unfortunately, Rivvly’s unique business model doesn’t fit within the confines of traditional lenders’ approval criteria and Rowe couldn’t get funding.
The Confines of Industry Categories
“Everyone loves the idea of what we do,” says Rowe. “But since we are outside ‘the norm’ and don’t fit into the more traditional, definable industry categories, it’s been difficult to overcome the objections and ‘what ifs.’”
Unfortunately, Rivvly isn’t unique in that regard. As industries, technologies, and the needs of consumers continue to evolve—often for the better—a common challenge some small businesses face is getting traditional lenders on board to fund their unique, out-of-the-box solutions.
Whether a business, like Rivvly, provides virtual assistants to other companies around the country or operates a mobile goat yoga studio, if a lender doesn’t understand the business model, the business owner’s chances of finding funding decline sharply.
Finding Success in Alternative Solutions
Despite not needing initial capital, starting off with a self-sustaining business model, and being profitable in year one, when the time came for Rivvly to look for working capital, traditional lenders weren’t comfortable funding the business. So, Rowe turned to Lendio.
“When I found Lendio I was hopeful, but not expecting to hear anything different from what I had in the past,” continued Rowe. “But I filled out the form online and was contacted the same day. From that initial conversation, my expectations were already far exceeded. They worked hard to understand the foundation and goals of Rivvly and then went to bat for us to secure the capital we needed to grow.”
Listening to a company’s needs is vital to finding not only the right lender but also the correct type of loan to best serve the business. Lendio and its loan experts are dedicated to making this part of the funding process work for both the lender and the borrower. Lendio’s experts seek to understand each business’ foundation and goals; they then work with lenders to secure the right type of financing for the business.
A passion for finding balance, and helping others achieve it, drove Sasha and her entire team to establish the successful business they have today. Rivvly leadership sacrificed well-paying salaries, benefits, and stability, not to mention time, energy, and sanity to build the business. But when asked if it was all worth it, Rowe only has one answer: absolutely.
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