What Bankers Don’t Tell You: Your Banker Has Never Run a Business—So Why Take Their Advice?
This is Part 4 of our 5-part “What Bankers Don’t Tell You” series
We expose a few assumptions business owners make about bankers—and the truths that could cost you millions in missed capital.
What Your Banker Says:
“We work with businesses like yours all the time. I understand where you’re coming from.”
What It Really Means:
“I’ve seen financials that look like yours. But I’ve never had to build or scale a business myself.”
Business Owners and Bankers Live in Two Different Worlds
There’s a reason business owners feel like bankers “don’t get it.” It’s because most of them haven’t lived it.
They’ve never:
Made payroll during a slow month
Balanced vendor pressure with customer delays
Taken personal risk to grow a business
Dealt with rapid inventory spikes or labor shortages
Most commercial bankers have spent their careers inside spreadsheets, policy manuals, and CRM systems. They’ve analyzed risk, submitted credit memos, and attended approval meetings—but they’ve never carried the weight of growth like a business owner has.
That’s why their advice—if they offer any—is limited to what their bank will or won’t approve.
This is also why CFOs are outsourcing capital strategy. Because advice from someone who’s never owned a business? That’s not a risk worth taking.
Why Bankers Can’t Tell You What to Do
Even if your banker is experienced, they’re rarely allowed to give operational guidance.
Banks are terrified of liability
Most lenders are trained to say, “Let’s wait and see”
They’re taught to submit, not solve
That means the person you’re relying on to interpret your financials isn’t allowed to help you fix them.
Read why bankers won’t give you real advice—even when you ask.
Real Example: The Growth Curve No One Understood
We recently worked with a $15MM construction company scaling into three new states. Their financials reflected:
Heavy investments in project managers and equipment
Compressed margins due to delayed receivables
Temporary DSCR pressure despite strong backlog
The banker told them: “We love your growth, but you may be growing too fast. It’s a little aggressive for our credit appetite right now.”
Translation? They didn’t understand the growth model—and didn’t want to.
Green Zone reviewed the company’s pipeline, recast their EBITDA to include booked backlog and non-recurring project overruns, and helped structure a $3.5MM asset-based line.
The original bank couldn’t even explain their original “not yet” decision.
You Need Advice From People Who’ve Carried the Risk
At Green Zone Capital Advisors™, we come from commercial and ABL lending—but we work like business owners. We understand that:
Sometimes your trailing 12-month EBITDA isn’t the full picture
Not all DSCR dips are deal breakers
Growth takes capital, not perfection
And because we write capital memos like lenders do, we help you make your case before anyone can reject you.
This is why CFOs are leading capital decision-making with real data.
Don’t Take Capital Advice From Someone Who Hasn’t Built Anything
If your banker has never owned or scaled a business, they shouldn’t be advising yours.
Green Zone™ fills the gap—with experience on both sides of the table.
