Quick answer
Before borrowing to grow, a business should know its current cash conversion cycle and working capital gap, have up-to-date BAS and bookkeeping, list every existing debt, prepare a staged growth plan with realistic ramp-up assumptions, and decide what security it can offer. Businesses that tick these boxes get funded faster and choose better-fitting facilities, because lenders can assess them in hours instead of weeks.
Key points
- Know your cycle, your gap and how growth will change both.
- Up-to-date BAS and bookkeeping are the fastest credibility boost.
- Stage the plan and fund each stage separately.
- Decide on security before you apply.
Why readiness matters as much as the opportunity
Growth opportunities rarely arrive on a convenient schedule. A competitor’s equipment comes up for sale, a landlord offers the site next door, a big customer asks whether you can double your volume from next quarter. The businesses that can say yes quickly are the ones that were ready before the opportunity arrived.
Readiness isn’t about having perfect numbers. It’s about being able to answer a lender’s questions immediately, with evidence. That’s what turns a weeks-long application into one assessed in hours.
Use this checklist a few months before you expect to need growth capital — or right now, if an opportunity is already on the table.
Part 1: Know your numbers
1. Monthly turnover, last 12 months. Not an estimate — the actual figures, month by month.
2. Gross margin. What’s left from each dollar of sales after direct costs. Growth on thin margins needs more capital and more caution.
3. Your cash conversion cycle. Stock days plus debtor days minus supplier days. Our working capital gap calculator works it out.
4. Your working capital gap today. The cycle in days multiplied by average daily costs.
5. Your gap after growth. The same cycle at the new, larger cost base. Growth makes every day of the cycle more expensive — see the working capital gap explained.
6. Existing debts. Every loan, lease, advance, card and ATO arrangement, with balances and repayments.
Part 2: Get the paperwork current
7. BAS lodged and up to date. Overdue BAS is one of the biggest slowdowns in any application.
8. Bookkeeping current to last month. So you can show recent profit, not last year’s.
9. Tax returns lodged — or a clear note from your accountant on when they will be. If they’re behind, low doc options exist, but current returns open more doors.
10. Bank statements ready. Three to six months, downloaded as PDFs, every business account. Anything unusual explained in a short note. See how lenders read business bank statements.
11. Business and ID documents. ABN, ACN and company extract, trust deed if relevant, current ID for every director and guarantor. Our documents checklist has the full list.
Part 3: Build the plan
12. What exactly will the money do? One clear sentence. “Fit out a second clinic and fund four months of ramp-up” is fundable. “Grow the business” isn’t.
13. The full cost, in layers. The investment, the extra working capital, and a buffer. See growth capital.
14. Realistic ramp-up. Base it on your own history — how long the first site, first hire or first big client actually took to pay off.
15. Staged milestones. Break the plan into stages, each with a trigger for the next:
| Stage | What’s funded | Trigger for next stage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | First hire and equipment | Hire fully billable |
| 2 | Second location fit-out | Stage 1 paying its way for three months |
| 3 | Working capital facility increase | Revenue up as planned |
Illustrative structure.
16. Repayment path. Where does the money to repay come from, and when? Lenders will ask.
Part 4: Decide on structure and security
17. What can the business offer? Property, equipment being bought, invoices to business customers, steady card or online sales — or none of these. The Capital Speed Planner shows what each opens up.
18. Secured or unsecured? Unsecured options for trading businesses typically range from $5,000 to $500,000. Property-secured lending runs from $20,000 to $5,000,000. See secured or unsecured by deadline.
19. Which facility fits each layer? Equipment finance for assets, a line of credit for the working capital uplift, a term loan or property-secured facility for the core investment.
20. Who needs to sign? Directors, guarantors, every owner of any property offered. Make sure they’re on board and available.
The readiness scorecard
| Part | Ready when… |
|---|---|
| Numbers | You can state turnover, margin, cycle and gap without looking them up |
| Paperwork | BAS, bookkeeping and statements are current and in one folder |
| Plan | You have a one-sentence purpose, layered costs and staged milestones |
| Structure | You know what you can offer as security and who will sign |
Three or four parts ticked? You’re ready to talk to a lender. One or two? Use the gaps as a to-do list for the next month — and if an opportunity won’t wait, talk to us anyway. Property-secured capital, with $20k to $250k possible the same day, can bridge while the rest catches up.
Common growth-funding mistakes
- Funding only the visible cost and running short on working capital months later
- Borrowing for the whole plan at once instead of staging
- Using short-term capital for long-term assets
- Stacking several small unsecured loans instead of one well-structured facility
- Applying everywhere at once, adding credit enquiries and paperwork
What lenders ask about growth plans
Expect questions like these, and prepare short written answers:
- Why now? What’s changed — demand, a contract, an opportunity — that makes this the right time?
- What if it’s slower? How long could the business carry the investment if revenue takes twice as long to arrive?
- Who runs it? Is there a manager for the new site, team or product, or is the owner stretched further?
- What’s the downside plan? If the growth step doesn’t work, what can be sold, scaled back or stopped?
- How does it repay? From the new revenue, existing cash flow, or a later refinance?
Lenders aren’t trying to talk you out of growing. They’re checking that the plan survives a less-than-perfect year — which is exactly what you should want to know too.
Building a simple growth forecast
You don’t need a complex model. A one-page monthly forecast for 12 months, with three rows, covers most of what’s needed:
| Row | What to include |
|---|---|
| Cash in | Existing revenue plus realistic new revenue, ramping up |
| Cash out | Existing costs plus the growth costs, including new wages and super each pay run |
| Facility | Draws and repayments on the capital you’re arranging |
Run it twice: once with your expected ramp-up, once with revenue arriving three months later. If the slower version still works with the facility in place, your plan is resilient. Business Victoria’s free cash flow forecasting template is a good starting point.
Getting your team ready too
Growth funding often needs signatures and information from people other than the owner: co-directors, a spouse who co-owns property, a bookkeeper who holds the files, an accountant who needs to write a letter. Brief them before you apply, so nobody is surprised by a request for ID or a signing appointment. Many deals that could have settled in 24–48 hours take a week simply because one signatory wasn’t expecting the call.
Revisit the checklist after each stage
Readiness isn’t a one-off. After each stage of growth is funded and delivered, run back through the checklist: update your numbers, refresh the paperwork, adjust the plan for what you’ve learned and reconsider structure. Each stage then becomes easier to fund than the last.
Ready to grow?
A business that’s ready can move the moment the right opportunity appears. Asking what your growth plan could support involves no credit check, and we won’t hand your details to a stack of lenders — a real person works through your plan and calls you back. Be accurate on the form about turnover, the plan and what the business can offer, and the first conversation will be about real options. See if your growth plan qualifies.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my business is ready for growth capital?
If you can explain how much you need, what it will do, how growth will change your cash cycle and how you'll repay — with documents to back it up — you're ready.
What documents do lenders want for growth funding?
Recent business bank statements, BAS, up-to-date bookkeeping or financials, a list of existing debts, quotes for any purchases and, for secured lending, property details.
Should I borrow for my whole growth plan at once?
Usually not. Staging funding to milestones keeps costs down and means each new round is assessed on stronger results.
How much buffer should I include?
Enough to cover a slower ramp-up than planned. Many owners plan for revenue arriving later than their best estimate.
Do I need property to fund growth?
No. Unsecured options typically range from $5,000 to $500,000 for trading businesses. Property opens larger amounts, up to $5,000,000.