There is a tier of the lending market most business owners never reach — not because they do not qualify, but because they do not know it exists.
Cherokee's founder spent over a decade working inside a direct lender in the equipment finance industry. That meant years of underwriting transactions, structuring credit facilities, managing funder relationships, and developing a granular understanding of how lender appetite, collateral positioning, and deal structure interact to determine cost of capital. That experience does not come from reading about finance — it comes from being inside it.
One of the clearest lessons from that time: a significant segment of the lending market — boutique lenders and specialty finance companies with competitive rate structures and flexible credit parameters — operates exclusively through the broker channel. They keep overhead low, they want clean introductions, and they do not market directly to borrowers. A business owner with a strong credit profile and legitimate CapEx needs may never encounter these lenders through a traditional banking relationship, not because they do not qualify, but because the distribution channel does not reach them.
"A well-qualified business pursuing a single banking relationship is leaving competition — and likely better terms — on the table. Most do not realize it because no one has shown them what else is available."
After more than a decade on the lender side, Cherokee's founder left to build and operate a business of his own. Three years of managing working capital cycles, financing equipment acquisitions, and navigating lender relationships from the borrower's side clarified what Cherokee needed to be — not a broker serving businesses with no other options, but one that brings genuine market access and lender-side expertise to businesses that have options they simply have not found yet.
For businesses with strong fundamentals, Cherokee creates competition across their credit profile that a single banking relationship never could. For businesses navigating tighter credit conditions — challenged history, limited seasoning, or high collateral-dependency — the same network and the same expertise applies. The approach does not change. The lender set does.