For Companies Looking for Financing · Independent Advisory
Need a Working-Capital Line, Revolver, or Asset-Based Loan?
We Help You Find the Right Lender — and Get Approved.
Don Clarke Enterprises works with middle-market companies that need financing — growing businesses, turnarounds, sponsor-backed deals, and companies whose bank won't renew. We are an independent advisory firm (not a lender, broker, or financial institution). Don Clarke — SFNet Hall of Fame inductee, author of the industry's first ABL textbook, and the educator who trained the credit officers at GE Capital, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, and Lloyds — personally reviews every deal, helps you prepare a package lenders will actually fund, and introduces you to the lenders whose credit appetite matches your profile. 24-to-48-hour review. No cost. Final funding decisions are made by the lender.
Looking for financing? Let's take a look.
Tell us the basics — what your company does, roughly how much you need, and what you have as collateral (receivables, inventory, equipment, real estate). We'll give you a direct, honest answer within 24 hours: is this fundable, and if so, what will it take? No cost. No obligation. Approval and funding decisions are made solely by lenders.
What Lenders Actually Look At
Four Things That Decide Whether You Get Funded
Credit committees look at four things when they evaluate your deal. If any one is weak, the deal stalls — and most companies don't find out why until after they've been declined. Don Clarke literally wrote the book on this: Asset Based Lending Disciplines, the first ABL textbook ever published. We help you address all four before your package goes to a lender.
The Hard Truth
Why Good Companies Get Declined
Most companies that get turned down aren't unfundable — they were presented to the wrong lender, or presented the wrong way. Don Clarke has seen thousands of deals from both sides of the table: as an advisor, and as the educator who trained the credit officers at GE Capital, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, and Lloyds. Here's what he sees over and over.
Poor Structure
Advance rates that don't match the collateral. Covenants that don't fit the business. Pricing that's out of market. Lenders see this and pass.
Weak Presentation
Incomplete financials. No borrowing base. No projections. No narrative. When a package lands on a credit analyst's desk half-baked, it goes to the bottom of the pile.
Wrong Lender Fit
Sending a turnaround deal to a bank. Sending a $2M deal to a lender with a $10M floor. The fastest way to stall a deal is putting it in front of the wrong audience.
We Advise on All Three.
Structure. Presentation. Lender targeting. Don Clarke has been advising on ABL since 1986, earned SFNet's Lifetime Achievement Award, and was named an ABF Journal "Legend Icon." That's not a pitch — it's a track record. Final credit decisions remain with the lender.
Referral Partners
Attorneys, CPAs, Turnaround Advisors, Sponsors
If you have a client who needs financing — growth capital, a refinancing, a turnaround facility, or a deal their bank won't do — introduce them to us. We'll give you and them a straight answer within 24 hours and, if it's fundable, walk them to the right lender.
Pre-Screened Deal Flow
Every deal has been evaluated for collateral quality, borrower viability, and structural fit before it reaches you. No tire-kickers.
Structured Packages
Complete credit packages with financials, borrowing base analysis, collateral summaries, and field exam scopes. Ready for committee.
Referral Partners
Attorneys, CPAs, turnaround advisors — introduce your clients to an independent ABL advisor with 60+ lender relationships. We provide structuring guidance, package preparation, and lender introductions.
How We Help
Financing We Help You Get: Revolvers, ABL, Working Capital, Equipment, Turnaround, Acquisition.
We are advisors and loan placement consultants — not a lender, broker, or financial institution. We do not originate, underwrite, fund, approve, or close loans. Lenders do. Don Clarke built this firm on one principle: lenders fund deals that are structured correctly. With 40+ years on the lender side and 60+ active lender relationships, we help borrowers structure the deal, prepare the package, identify lenders whose credit appetite matches the profile, and support the borrower through closing.
The capital types below are ABL facility categories our advisory engagements typically address. They are not loan products offered by Don Clarke Enterprises.
What Happens Next
From Your First Call to a Lender Decision. No Wasted Steps.
Submit Your Deal
Send us the basics. Industry, collateral, revenue, facility size. We review and respond within 24 hours. If we see a path, we explain what credit committees will be looking for.
Structure & Package
We help you build a borrowing base analysis, think through facility structure, and prepare financials and projections. The goal: a package that reads to a credit analyst the way they expect.
Targeted Lender Introductions
No mass distribution. We identify 3-5 lenders whose stated credit appetite matches your deal profile, collateral type, and industry, and introduce you to them. We do not solicit, broker, or receive transaction-based compensation from lenders.
Closing Support
We support the borrower through term-sheet review, due diligence, and closing. Approval, underwriting, and funding decisions are made solely by the lender. Typical timing from submission to a lender decision: 30–60 days.
The Man Behind DCE
Donald F. Clarke
SFNet Hall of Fame · Lifetime Achievement Award · ABF Journal Legend Icon
Don Clarke doesn't just advise on asset-based lending — he has spent four decades educating the lender community that underwrites it. He authored Asset Based Lending Disciplines, the first textbook ever written on ABL, published in 2005 and still used as an industry reference. He has personally trained over 5,000 lending professionals at institutions including GE Capital, JP Morgan Chase, Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays, and Bank of Ireland.
In 2021, SFNet inducted Don into its Hall of Fame and awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award — recognizing four decades of contributions to the secured finance industry. He received the Harry H. Chen Memorial Award of Excellence in 2019 and was named an ABF Journal "Legend Icon" in 2021 and "2025 Innovator."
As President of Asset Based Lending Consultants (ABLC) since 1986 — with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, and Miami — Don's firm assists banks on loans aggregating $5–8 billion annually. He served as SFNet's Senior Instructor and Educational Chairman (2020–2022) and founded the Asset Based Lending Institute (ABLI) in 2022, a Qualifi Approved Learning Center. He has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal and is recognized as one of the foremost authorities in secured lending worldwide.
When you submit a deal to DCE, Don Clarke personally reviews it. That's not a marketing line — it's how we operate.
ABF Journal Innovator
Named among the industry's top innovators for advancing ABL education and deal execution.
SFNet Hall of Fame
Inducted into the Secured Finance Network Hall of Fame — the industry's highest honor.
Lifetime Achievement Award
SFNet Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing four decades of service to the secured lending industry.
ABF Journal Legend Icon
Recognized by ABF Journal as one of the defining figures in asset-based lending.
Harry H. Chen Award
Awarded the Harry H. Chen Memorial Award of Excellence for outstanding contributions to ABL.
First ABL Textbook
Published "Asset Based Lending Disciplines" — the first textbook ever written on ABL.
Submit Your Deal
Tell Us What You Need.
Give us the basics of your company and what you're trying to finance. We'll respond within 24 hours with a direct, honest answer: is this fundable, and if so, what will it take? Approval and funding decisions are made solely by lenders.
- 24-hour response — we don't sit on deals
- 100% confidential — your information stays locked
- No cost, no obligation — honest assessment first
- Targeted lender introductions — not mass distribution
- Don Clarke — SFNet Hall of Fame, 40+ years of lender-side experience
Prefer to talk first? Reach Don Clarke Enterprises directly: