One of the largest challenges when starting or scaling a business is raising capital, and many brilliant business ideas are unable to get off the ground because of a lack of funding. As part of his mission to promote American entrepreneurship and help aspiring business owners obtain crucial funds for their new or existing ventures, Peter J. Burns III, a serial entrepreneur, and investor, has created the Burns Funding Method, which uses unique financing and investing techniques to give business owners access to private unsecured debt capital – something many new entrepreneurs have difficulty obtaining.
To date, Burns Funding has provided almost $1.5 billion to successful applicants, allowing them to start or grow their businesses. It has also partnered with IdeaPros, a business incubator and accelerator company that specializes in helping entrepreneurs and startups turn their ideas into successful businesses.
In order for an applicant to qualify for the Burns Funding program, they need to have a FICO score of 700 and a household income of $75,000 (preferably W-2 income). Applicants can bring on a business partner to help meet the income threshold and, in case they do not meet the credit score requirement, Burns also has a state-of-the-art credit repair service that has helped almost 36,000 individuals repair their credit standings.
Once an applicant has submitted proof of their income and credit score, they fill out a one-page application and submit it to Burns Funding's banking team, which uses a proprietary algorithm to analyze the application and reach out to members of its lending database, consisting of around 400 banks, credit unions, angel investors, and private individuals. Each applicant typically receives between eight and 10 offers from the database. Combining these offers, applicants will be able to receive around 6 to 10 times more than if they searched for business loans on their own. For example, Burns Funding has helped entrepreneurs secure loans of $220,000 and $300,000.
Within 24 to 48 hours, the loan is approved, and a fee of 16% is charged by the banking team. The remaining 84% is then split, with one half going to the applicant and the other half going into passive income investments that Burns himself has vetted. He then utilizes those investments to produce enough income to repay the entire loan. Once the loan has been repaid, Burns will split the profits generated by the investments 50-50 with the borrower for a period of three years.
"In a sense, it's like having your cake and eating it, too," Burns says. "This is my way to help aspiring entrepreneurs have a piece of the pie and achieve business success, and it's a win-win situation, because I benefit from it, too, because I am able to leverage the money I've arranged the loans for, and I receive part of the passive income once the loan has been repaid."
Aside from giving access to funding, Burns also helps borrowers make the best use of the capital. He provides valuable business mentorship to borrowers, drawing on his almost 50 years of experience in entrepreneurship and an extensive business and professional network.
Coming from a well-established New England family, Burns served in the US Army during the Vietnam War. After the war, he was granted an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point and attended West Point Prep. He then won a four-year Army ROTC Scholarship to the University of Virginia, and it was there he had his first brush with entrepreneurship after taking a course on it. Burns decided to take the hazard pay he received from his service as a paratrooper and started a moped rental business for tourists at Nantucket Island, where his family's summer home was located. In just 10 weeks, he made $55,000, and he never looked back. Across his almost 50-year business career, Burns has started and invested in more than 150 businesses. He also taught business classes at multiple educational institutions, including Arizona State University and Grand Canyon University.
According to Burns, he uses the Burns Funding Method not just to help others but to fund his own business ventures, one of which is a nonprofit that studies the use of orcas to prevent shark attacks in human-frequented beach areas.
"Even though I am a financier by nature, I still am my own best client because I still have ideas that I want to take to market and require capital," Burns says. "I go through the same process to capitalize my own businesses – which proves that it works."
