Meet the Lender: Loan Readiness for Small Businesses
Event Details
Learn how to prepare for a business loan application with the San Francisco Small Business Development Center and Main Street Launch!
John DeGaetano, Certified Business Advisor with the SF SBDC, and Karla De Leon, Chief Credit Officer at Main Street Launch, will lead this workshop.
This session will cover:
– The role debt financing plays in the business readiness process.
– How to self-assess your business readiness to obtain financing.
– How much you should ask for when preparing your financing request.
– What personal and business documents need to go into a debt financing package and how to properly complete them.
– How lenders evaluate debt financing so your request will best meet the criteria.
About the Speaker:

Karla manages the lending team at Main Street Launch. She supports the work through client service and partnerships. She is passionate about small business and economic development. While her professional background is a mix of business and public policy, her career has been primarily focused on small business finance. Prior to joining Main Street Launch, Karla worked with small businesses and startups to get the capital they need to grow and succeed. She is constantly searching for innovative ways to help small businesses prosper.
Karla holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. In her spare time, Karla enjoys cooking, photography and traveling. She is a native Spanish-speaker.

John DeGaetano is a former bank executive with a strong background in management and leadership. John has extensive experience in administration, marketing, sales business planning, operations, project management and financial analysis.
John served as First Vice President and Regional Manager for a community bank in the Bay Area where he played a major role in the bank’s growth development. John, a graduate of Ohio University, earned the national designation Northern California’s State Star for his outstanding performance in assisting small businesses.
John is a certified NxLevel instructor in addition to advising new and existing business owners in the areas of business planning, finance, sales, and disaster planning. He is also the author of several books related to business planning, and lending.