SBA Loans HQ: Building the Operating System for a Lending Business
$33M+ in loans approved through a platform built from scratch in 6 months.
The Background
SBA Loans HQ is a US-based consulting firm that helps businesses get SBA financing. When the project started, the entire operation ran on email threads, spreadsheets, and a stack of disconnected SaaS tools. Brokers were chasing documents manually. Lenders had no visibility into deals. Nothing talked to anything else.
They needed one platform that could run the whole business.
A team of 4 built it from the ground up. Six months later, there was a production system handling real deals, real money, and real users — with 50+ lenders onboarded and 200+ deals actively moving through the pipeline.
The Problems That Needed Solving
Three things stood out after spending time understanding how the business actually worked:
Brokers were losing deals in their inbox. Document requests went out over email, follow-ups were manual, and nothing was tracked in one place. High-value deals were slipping through because of basic coordination failures.
There was no visibility into the pipeline. Leadership had no way to see where deals were stuck, which partners were performing, or where the bottlenecks were. Every status update required someone to ask someone else.
Third-party tools were duct-taped together. Zapier, Copper, and a handful of other tools were handling critical business logic. It was fragile, expensive, and impossible to customize.
What Got Built
A multi-role platform supporting four types of users: partners, borrowers, lenders, and external requestees. Each role gets a tailored experience with the right access and the right tools.
Deal pipeline
A Kanban and table view that tracks every loan from first contact to approval. Each stage automatically triggers the next set of document requirements, so brokers never have to remember what to ask for next.
Document vault
Secure file management backed by AWS S3. Documents are automatically bundled and requested based on where a deal is in the process. DocuSeal integration lets borrowers sign directly inside the platform without going anywhere else.
Document bundles and borrower requests
One of the bigger time sinks in SBA lending is going back and forth with borrowers over what documents are needed and when. Every broker had their own way of asking, which meant inconsistent requests, missing items, and deals stalling because a borrower didn't know what to send next.
The platform solves this with a bundle system. Partners can build reusable templates — called bundles — that group together the exact documents and questions needed at each stage of the loan process. When a deal reaches a new stage, the right bundle gets sent to the borrower automatically. No manual follow-up, no copy-pasting the same email for the hundredth time.
Borrowers get a clean, guided experience on their end. They see exactly what's being asked, can upload files directly, and answer questions inside the platform. Partners get notified when items come in and can see at a glance what's still outstanding per deal.
The result is a process that used to take days of back-and-forth now completing in hours, with full visibility on both sides.
AI document processing
AWS Textract pulls structured data out of financial PDFs automatically. What used to take 30 minutes of manual entry now happens in seconds. Gemini-powered lead scoring helps brokers see at a glance which deals are worth prioritizing.
In-platform messaging
Every deal has its own chat thread. Brokers, borrowers, and lenders communicate inside the platform, attached to the deal they're discussing. Email is no longer part of the workflow.
Analytics dashboard
A live view of the entire operation for super admins — lead distribution, partner performance, deal velocity, and where things are getting stuck. Built on real-time data.
Custom automation engine
All third-party connectors were replaced with a backend automation layer built in-house. It handles stage-based triggers, document bundle creation, and outbound communication via Postmark. More reliable, cheaper, and fully in one place.
Architected an AI-powered FinTech platform that automated SBA loan workflows, leveraging AI workflows to slash overhead by 60% and drive a 25% boost in revenue.