Here's the fact that reframes everything: a business under two years old almost never gets funded on its own numbers, it gets funded on YOURS. Lenders can't underwrite a company with no history, so they underwrite the founder behind it. Which means a 680+ personal score is the single most valuable funding asset a young company can have.

That's the Founder Fast Lane, and it's a ladder, not a list, the right rung depends on what the money is for. Personal-guarantee reality up front: on most of these rungs, you are personally liable if the business can't pay. That's the honest price of borrowing before the business can stand on its own credit.

The good-credit founder ladder

How the rungs divide

Landmark SBA Partners (10.5–14.0% est. APR*, 30–90 days) is the legitimacy anchor: government-backed 7(a) · Express loans where your 680+ clears the 660 floor comfortably. Slow and paperwork-heavy, and the best pricing a young business will see.

Stackline Business Card (0% intro APR, 12–15 months · then 18.9–28.9% est. APR*) is the launch tool for spend you can clear inside the intro window, real working capital at genuinely zero cost IF the payoff plan exists before the first swipe. After the window: 18.9–28.9% est. APR*. Plan for the cliff.

Prairie Community Capital (8.0–16.0% est. APR*) is the door with a human behind it, a mission-driven CDFI whose advisors help build the application itself.

A personal loan doing business work is the fourth rung, often the cheapest path under $50K for a founder whose credit outshines the company's. You're personally liable, full stop; used deliberately, it's the classic first-funding move.

Not sure which rung is yours? The concierge asks about the business, the amount, and the timeline, and ranks the ladder for your exact profile in about a minute, with no credit pull.