Making business credit visible, useful, and fundable.

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Guest: Levi — Founder/Builder at Nav
Topic: Making business credit visible, useful, and fundable.

Key Takeaways

• Business credit ≠ consumer credit. The ecosystem is opaque; owners often don’t know what’s being scored—or why. Nav makes it legible and actionable.
• Visibility first, capital second. You can’t optimize what you can’t see. Pull your business credit data, fix errors, and understand how banks read your file.
• Cash-flow signals matter. The wrong checking account or weak deposits can silently disqualify you from entire categories of financing.
• Right product, right stage. Lines, cards, term loans, and revenue-based financing each fit different business seasons. Matching beats “spray and pray.”
• Data > guesswork. Nav’s approach reduces randomness by aligning real business data with lender criteria—moving you from “no idea” to “next step.”

What We Cover

• The “blind spot” in traditional small-business credit and how Nav closes it.
• How to build a real business credit profile (beyond your personal FICO).
• Cleaning up silent killers: bank account choice, thin files, mismatched signals.
• Funding ladders: which instruments to use and when to move up.
• The future of business credit data and where underwriting is headed.

Practical Actions for Owners

1. Pull your business credit reports (all major bureaus) and correct inaccuracies.
2. Bank where you build: choose accounts that strengthen underwriting signals.
3. Sequence your funding: start with the product that fits today’s data, not tomorrow’s hopes.
4. Separate personal and business credit early; establish consistent trade lines.
5. Monitor monthly so you can course-correct before you apply.

Memorable Lines

• “You don’t know it’s eliminating you from financing—until someone shows you.”
• “Visibility isn’t vanity; it’s eligibility.”
• “Match the capital to the stage, not the dream.”

Resources Mentioned

• Nav – business credit visibility and funding matches.
• Major business credit bureaus (e.g., D&B, Experian, Equifax).
• Business credit cards, lines of credit, term loans, revenue-based financing.

About the Guest

Levi is the founder behind Nav, serving 2.4M+ small-business users and backed by $200M+ in capital. He’s an operator-investor who’s sat on multiple fintech boards and spends his time solving real owner problems with clean data and clear decisions.

More from Jim:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mccarthyhatch/
https://www.mccarthy-hatch.com/