Trades & financing pricing

Three tiers.One term sheet.

Revenue-based micro-financing for inner-city trades founders, sized to the bid. Each tier carries the same vocabulary a CDFI credit committee expects — royalty, term, cap, floor, security — and stacks matched philanthropic capital on top where the geography and trade qualify.

Apply to StepsmithSee the full programSee the three tiers
  • Diagnose → Finance → Match
  • Capped — never a balloon
  • Matched philanthropic capital where eligible

The funnel

Diagnose. Finance. Match.

Three moves in sequence. Diagnostics scores the bid before the application; the financing card carries it through build-out; matching closes the loop with the anchor buyer who already buys the trade.

01DIAGNOSE

Free · ~3 minutes

Diagnose
Run your free baseline — licensing, pricing, and crew capacity against the city market.

What you get

  • Anonymous — no account required to start.
  • AI reads your inputs against the city, the trade, and the Stepsmith tier ladder.
  • Prints a tier recommendation and a shareable report.
  • About three minutes, end-to-end.
Start diagnostics
02FINANCE

$5K–$250K · capped

Finance
$5K–$250K revenue-based notes for inner-city trades founders — capped, no balloon, with matched capital where eligible.

What you get

  • Royalty-repaid, not interest — never compounding.
  • Cap = a fixed multiple of principal; once paid, the note is satisfied.
  • Payment floor keeps the note servicing itself in a slow month.
  • NMTC + philanthropic match stack on at the Growth / Scale tier.
  • Prequal returns inside five business days.
Apply to Stepsmith

Coming soon · owner-led

03 · Match
Introducing vetted founders to qualified buyers — municipal, health, higher-ed, and developer.

What you get

  • Anchor-buyer pipeline (Land Bank authorities, CDBG rehab, hospital systems, developers).
  • Philanthropic match disburses in tranches, tied to milestones.
  • Stepsmith-owned network — curated, not a marketplace.
  • Owner-led: introductions happen on the underwriting lead’s desk, not a portal.

Coming soon — owner-led matching happens on the underwriting lead's desk.

Repayment terms

How the note actually services.

Same vocabulary a CDFI credit committee uses. Royalty is calculated against monthly gross and capped at a hard multiple of principal — there is no compounding, no balloon, and no prepayment penalty.

NMTCNew Markets Tax Credit (IRC §45D) — federal credit that lowers the effective cost of capital for investments in low-income communities.
QALICBQualified Active Low-Income Community Business — the business entity that must receive a QLICI for the credit to flow.
CDFICommunity Development Financial Institution — a certified mission-driven lender; the allocatee that holds the NMTC allocation.
SBAU.S. Small Business Administration.

Term sheet

8 rows
Royalty
A fixed percentage of monthly gross revenue remitted to Stepsmith until the cap is reached or the term ends. Not interest; not equity.
Monthly payment floor
The minimum monthly remittance regardless of gross. Set so the note services itself even in a slow month — never punishes a founder for a lean cycle.
Term
Maximum months from first disbursement to term-end. Most notes close out before term via the cap; the term is the outside date, not the expected one.
Total repayment cap
Hard ceiling on aggregate remittance as a multiple of principal. Once the cap is paid, the note is satisfied in full — no further obligation, no balloon, no prepayment penalty.
Pause / forbearance
Up to 90 days of forbearance per 12-month period for documented events (medical, weather, anchor-buyer slip). Accrues the clock; does not forgive principal.
Prepayment
Permitted at any time without penalty. Remit the lesser of remaining principal × cap-multiple or current balance. The founder owns the prepayment decision.
Default handling
Cure period of 30 days from written notice. Cure = remittance of the missed amount + a brief written explanation. No acceleration on first default; second default triggers CDFI review.
Reporting cadence
Monthly royalty remittance + quarterly financial upload (P&L + bank rec). Annual on-site or video review for tier 03; every 24 months for tier 02.

Matched capital

A $100K ask in Detroit — Cleveland and St. Louis scale the same way.

Revenue-based repayment keeps the note founder-friendly. Matched philanthropic capital keeps the build-sized capital serious. Four triggers unlock the match; one milestone disburses it.

Illustrative build — Detroit

$300K total
Founder principal request
$100,000
The ask.
Stepsmith revenue-based note
$100,000
Royalty-repaid, capped, no equity dilution.
NMTC allocation (CDFI allocatee)
$100,000
39% QLICI subsidy — effective cost-of-capital reduction.
Matched philanthropic capital
$100,000
Committed at intake; disbursed at first-PO milestone.
Total deployable into the build
$300,000
A $100K ask lands as a $300K build.

The four triggers

What unlocks the match
  1. 01Inner-city census tract (Stepsmith service geography)
  2. 02Eligible trade (HVAC, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, roofing)
  3. 0360% local-hire pledge on file
  4. 04Anchor buyer identified (municipal, health, higher-ed, developer)

Timing

When the match actually moves
  • Intake: letter of intent issued
  • Signing: 40% disbursed
  • First anchor PO: 40% disbursed
  • 90-day post-PO review: final 20%

Underwriting & disclosures

The fine print — up front, not in footnotes.

Stepsmith treats disclosure as part of the deal, not a compliance afterthought. Security, reporting cadence, and the regulatory frame below apply across all three tiers unless a specific tier explicitly differs.

Section

Security position

Stepsmith takes a UCC-1 filing on business assets and an equipment lien on financed gear at every tier. Personal guaranty applies to tiers 01–03. Tier 03 adds affirmative and negative-pledge covenants plus change-of-control reporting. Pledged collateral is released pro-rata as the cap is repaid.

Section

Reporting cadence

Monthly royalty remittance + quarterly financial upload (P&L, bank reconciliation, AR aging). Tier 03 carries an annual on-site or video review. Material adverse changes are reported within 5 business days. Books are reviewed at intake, at the first-PO milestone, and at each annual review.

Section

Regulatory disclosures

Stepsmith is not itself a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Capital is deployed in partnership with a CDFI allocatee. The revenue-based note is not a security; communications are not an offer of securities. Royalty obligations survive change of control. Subject to underwriting and applicable state usury limits. NMTC = New Markets Tax Credit, IRC §45D; QALICB = Qualified Active Low-Income Community Business; SBA = U.S. Small Business Administration.

Frequently asked

Questions lenders, CDFIs, and founders ask before they sign.

The credit-committee version — distinct from the founder-only FAQ on the home page. Anything longer, write to stepsmith@polsia.app.

One obvious next step

Apply to Stepsmith,start the intake.

Five fields, two regulated disclosures, one paragraph on the trade you want to scale. The diagnostics at /diagnostics precedes the application; the cohort placement matches founder to trade to ZIP, not the other way around.

Apply

Tier, trade, city, one paragraph — that's all the intake needs to start.

Apply to Stepsmith

Partnership / program inbox: stepsmith@polsia.app

Buyer network, press, partnerships — same inbox. We route fast.