Speed Without Diligence Isn't a Feature

Every capital source claims to move fast. Few explain what they're skipping to do it.

Speed is genuinely valuable — a sponsor with a real timeline needs a partner who can keep pace with it. But speed that comes from skipping underwriting isn't speed, it's deferred risk. A term sheet issued before anyone has actually stress-tested the deal isn't a faster process. It's a slower one with an extra step, because the real underwriting still has to happen — it just happens after everyone's already emotionally committed to closing.

We try to be fast at the parts of the process that don't require judgment — turnaround on documents, response times, scheduling — and unhurried at the part that does. The underwriting takes as long as it takes to be right, because that's the part a sponsor is actually relying on us to get correct. Everything else is where we compress the timeline.

If a capital source is fast everywhere, including the part where they're supposed to be checking your work, that's worth asking about.