Linda Amaro’s company knew how to make other companies work better. Klarinet Solutions built intranets, developed software, and managed Microsoft tools. Yet its own growth had stalled. The problem was unglamorous: project sales arrived in lumps, and a small team could only deliver so much. More work was desirable. More work could also become a problem.
- Growth capital for established service businesses, without selling equity.
- Revenue-based, fixed-payment, and hybrid loans, paired with advisory support.
- Flexible repayment still has a cost. Repeatable revenue matters.
The consultancy that could not grow
Klarinet had been bootstrapping with operating revenue and personal resources. Contractors helped meet immediate needs, but the arrangement constrained the larger ambition. Its published case study describes three years of flat, mid-six-figure revenue. Expertise was plentiful; a reliable engine for expansion was harder to find.
After comparing bank loans and alternative finance, the leadership chose Founders First Capital Partners. The attractions were ownership and advice. Founders First’s account reports revenue reaching 2.5 times its earlier level over 24 months, four added revenue streams, two recurring streams, and a doubled staff. These are customer-case results, rather than an experiment proving the lender caused every improvement.
“The sliding scale is what sold us”
Linda Amaro · Klarinet Solutions
The interesting change was in what Klarinet sold. Repeatable revenue gave the business a different rhythm. Financing helped support that transition; coaching helped identify it. An owner could reasonably want both.
The mentor outside the boardroom
Kim Folsom, the founder, chairperson, and CEO, describes an early entrepreneurial confidant who rarely features in investment-deck biographies: her hairdresser. Folsom was a software engineer, developing and testing ATM software, with a company of her own in mind. The woman who helped her think through that ambition ran a different kind of business entirely.
She launched Founders First in 2015, after building other companies. In her public account, she wanted the flexible funding and practical support she wished had existed earlier. Today, that means financing for service businesses selling to companies or government, with an emphasis on underinvested communities and founders historically overlooked by capital markets.
A payment with a sliding scale
Founders First occupies the space between conventional business credit and equity investment. Its customers already sell something. The homepage describes companies generating $500,000 to $10 million-plus annually. A staffing company or IT consultancy can have a credible expansion plan without offering venture investors the prospect of a spectacular exit.
Its product comparison advertises financing up to $2 million, with initial tranches up to $750,000. Revenue-based financing collects an agreed share of monthly revenue until the repayment cap is met. Term loans use fixed payments. Hybrid loans combine the two. The choice changes how much breathing room a weaker month provides.
Same percentage. Different month.
Hypothetical monthly revenue and repayments. A 5% revenue share is not a 5% interest rate.
The price deserves equal attention. Founders First’s FAQ says revenue-based financing costs more than traditional bank finance and is individually priced. Living Cities described historical notes with three-to-five-year terms and repayment caps of 1.5 to 2 times principal. Those historical figures are not a current offer. Faster repayment changes the annualized cost even when the cap stays fixed.
Keeping equity therefore requires arithmetic, not sentiment. Borrowers should compare the total repayment, its timing, and what remains after payroll and other expenses. Revenue is a useful repayment yardstick; profit determines how comfortably a company can carry it.
The lender needed capital, too
Founders First faced its own version of the growth problem. A $100 million credit-facility commitment from Community Investment Management could support lending, but operating capacity required separate money. Living Cities explains that the company raised equity to expand the machinery needed to deploy that facility. Its Series A reached $11 million in 2021.
That distinction matters when reading funding headlines. A lending commitment, corporate equity, and a private debt fund are different pots. In April 2026, Change Catalyst Fund II announced a $12 million first close toward a $50 million target. By October 6, the company reported $18.59 million cumulatively closed, rounded to $19 million in the headline.
37.2% of target. Fund commitments are not borrower disbursements.
Nor are training participants borrowers. The nonprofit affiliate, Founders First CDC, delivers accelerators, grants, and readiness support. October reporting puts companies trained above 5,000 and deployed capital above $23 million. The reported $44.5 million-plus in wealth creation is projected, not cash already received by founders.
When yesterday’s cash becomes today’s problem
The latest announcement reveals a pressing customer need: escaping merchant cash advances. Founders First says these refinances now exceed 61% of its loan fundings. Daily or weekly withdrawals can leave little room for the very operations that generate revenue.
Its example is Alpha Business Solutions, a New Jersey IT staffing and payroll provider. The company says refinancing through a Founders First term loan improved monthly cash flow by approximately $35,000. CEO Gene Waddy’s verdict is economical: “All capital is not good capital.” The useful comparison is the burden of the old financing against the full cost of its replacement.
The part you can borrow before you borrow
There is a lesson here for owners who never apply. Find the constraint first. Klarinet needed steadier revenue and capacity. Quality Interactions, another customer, used Bootcamp tools to scrutinize performance indicators and test ways to shorten sales cycles. A loan works better when its job is specific.
Founders First’s partner page requests 24 months of financial statements and revenue by customer, plus an existing-debt schedule where applicable. Preparing those records forces a useful conversation about concentration, margins, and repayment. Its supplier program can also introduce qualified businesses to other lenders; the company says it connected 19th & Park to $1.75 million in loans from LISC.
An idea without sales cannot sustain revenue-linked payments. Persistent losses or thin margins can make even flexible debt a poor match. For an established business with repeat customers and a workable growth plan, though, Founders First offers an appealing question: how much larger could the company become while its owner still owns it?