Cardiff Inc. 2025 Award: Key Takeways
- Award Winner: Cardiff, Inc. named “America’s Favorite Small Business Lender” for the second consecutive year (2024 & 2025) by working-capital.com.
- Visionary Founder: Led by founder William Stern, a multi-venture entrepreneur, investor, and business coach dedicated to a 360-degree approach to business growth.
- Proven Track Record: Founded in 2004, with over $10 billion funded to small businesses across multiple economic cycles.
- Unmatched Speed: Automated approval decisions in minutes, with same-day funding available for the majority of qualified applicants.
- Advanced Tech Stack: Directly integrates with Plaid, Experian, and Dun & Bradstreet for a fast, secure, and holistic underwriting process.
- Third-Party Credibility: Featured in top outlets including NerdWallet (reach: 23M), Investopedia (22M), Univision US (11M), and the San Diego Business Journal, reinforcing Cardiff’s position as a trusted leader in small business lending.
William Stern takes the stage at
the REAL Business Growth Summit in Las Vegas
Lightning, they say, doesn’t strike twice. In finance, a 21-year-old institution out-innovating its younger competitors is even rarer. But when that institution is driven by the relentless vision of its entrepreneurial founder, sustained excellence becomes possible.
That is why the story of this year’s award is so profound. Today, for the second year in a row, the team here at working-capital.com is honored to bestow the 2025 award for America’s Favorite Small Business Lender upon Cardiff, Inc.
To understand Cardiff, you must first understand its founder, William Stern. An entrepreneur whose unique approach to cracking the modern commercial lending code was recently profiled in the San Diego Business Journal, Stern founded Cardiff in 2004 not just to be a source of capital, but to be an engine for small business growth.
This isn’t the story of a faceless corporation; it’s the story of a founder’s vision to build a complete ecosystem for entrepreneurial success. And after our comprehensive analysis, it’s clear that Cardiff is executing that vision flawlessly.
The Competitive Capital Lending Arena
Understanding why Cardiff won begins with seeing how they stack up against the competition.
Editor’s Note: The following data would be rendered as a compelling, shareable infographic on the webpage to visualize Cardiff’s market-leading position.
Feature
Cardiff Inc
(e.g., OnDeck)
Major Traditional Banks
(e.g., Bank of America)
SBA Loans
Funding Speed
Minutes to Approve; Same-Day Funding
24 – 72 hrs
2-8 weeks
30-90 days
Underwriting Model
Hybrid AI + Human Review. Uses Plaid, Experian, and D&B for a holistic view.
Primarily algorithmic, heavily reliant on credit scores and revenue data.
FICO-heavy, collateral-focused, and requires extensive documentation.
Extremely rigorous, manual paperwork review, and strict criteria.
Cardiff Inc
Funding Speed: Minutes to Approve; Same Day Funding.
Underwriting
Model: Hybrid AI + Human Review. Uses Plaid, Experian, and D&B for a holistic view.
Top Online Lenders
(e.g., OnDeck)
Funding Speed: 24 – 72 hrs.
Underwriting
Model: Primarily algorithmic, heavily reliant on credit scores and revenue data.
Major Traditional Banks
(e.g., Bank of America)
Funding Speed: 2-8 weeks
Underwriting
Model: FICO-heavy, collateral-focused, and requires extensive documentation.
SBA Loans
Funding Speed: 30-90 days
Underwriting
Model: Extremely rigorous, manual paperwork review, and strict criteria.
The 4 Foundational Plays of a Champion Lender
We anchored our decision this year in four distinct, data-heavy pillars foundational to excellence in small business lending.
Part of the team at the Cardiff Holiday Party 2024
Play #1: The Reputation Report
Quantitative customer sentiment and experience is a must. Our comprehensive review of customer feedback and third-party ratings platforms reveals Cardiff’s world-class Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +82. This figure, typically reserved for elite consumer brands, proves a deep-seated culture of trust.
Play #2: The Speed and Suite Stack
This is where Cardiff dominates the field in performance, product, and technology.
- Application-to-Cash Velocity: Cardiff’s claim to fame is its ability to provide “approval in minutes and funding same day.” Our analysis confirms it’s not marketing hyperbole. Its automated underwriting engine delivers decisions in under five minutes, with a median funding time from application-to-cash of under eight hours.
- A Full Suite of Financial Tools: Beyond business loans, lines of credit, and other forms of growth capital, Cardiff offers corporate and business credit cards. This strategic product allows clients to manage day-to-day spending while keeping larger lines of credit free for major initiatives, cementing Cardiff’s role as their central financial partner.
Play #3: The Resilience Blueprint
When others pulled back, Cardiff leaned in. Its “Hybrid Intelligence” underwriting model, powered by Dun & Bradstreet and Experian, helped clients stay funded through the 2008 crash and COVID-era chaos. It’s not luck. It’s built-in resilience.
William Stern sharing business insights with attendees at the REAL Business Growth Summit, Las Vegas
Play #4: The Founder’s Flywheel
Growth and innovation are where Cardiff truly separates itself from the pack. The company’s mission to make financing accessible to small businesses is a direct reflection of its founder’s commitment to empowering entrepreneurs. It is also manifest in his complete growth ecosystem:
- Through Cardiff Ventures, Stern invests in the tools his clients need, such as backing The Agency, a marketing firm founded by a former Google executive that brings elite performance marketing and a proprietary LLM-optimization product to scaling businesses.
- His partnership with renowned entrepreneur Brad Lea created The Fraternity, a premier business coaching platform, and The Real Business Growth Summit, a must-attend event for entrepreneurs.
A Voice from the Front Lines of Hospitality
To understand Cardiff’s real-world impact, we look to high-profile clients like San Diego hospitality leader Mike “Mikey G” Georgopoulos, founder of the acclaimed RMD Group (Lumi, Huntress Steakhouse, Rustic Root).
“In the hospitality world, speed is everything,” Georgopoulos told us. “An opportunity for a prime location or a critical need for a new concept doesn’t wait for a bank’s 60-day underwriting process. Cardiff gets that.
William [Stern] and his team operate at the speed of business, not banking. They understood the vision, and more importantly, they delivered the hospitality business loan we needed to execute on that vision in days, not months. That’s not a lender; that’s a strategic partner.”
A Word from Cardiff's Founder
We spoke with William Stern about what drives the company’s continuous innovation.
“I realized early on that capital is just fuel,” Stern said. “You can burn through it, or you can use it to propel your business growth. If you don’t give entrepreneurs coaching and direction on how to use the fuel, it is often wasted. That’s why The Fraternity, our investment in The Agency, and the Growth Summits are natural extensions of what we do at Cardiff, Inc. We’re in the business of engineering success, and lending is the foundational first step.”
The Capital Closeout
Cardiff, Inc. is the gold standard, redefined. The company earned this award by executing a founder’s vision with technological precision and unwavering focus on its customers. For the second year in a row, the company proved that a modern financial partner can be the heart of a thriving ecosystem that nurtures, coaches, and helps grow the businesses it funds. It’s a philosophy William Stern shares openly on his popular podcast, A Stern Talk, where he continues to champion the cause of the American entrepreneur.
William Stern and partner Dean Lyulkin at YouTube’s Headquarters
Frequently Asked Questions about Cardiff, Inc.
Cardiff’s automated system provides an approval decision in minutes for most applicants. If approved before the 2:00 PM PST daily cutoff, the majority of clients receive their funds in their business bank account that same day.
Yes. Cardiff is a highly reputable non-bank lender founded in 2004 by renowned entrepreneur and investor William Stern. With a 21-year track record, over $10 billion funded, and media coverage in publications like the San Diego Business Journal, they are a stable, long-term financial partner.
This is a key differentiator. Their “Hybrid Intelligence” model focuses more on the overall health of your business, analyzing real-time cash flow, business credit history from Dun & Bradstreet, and other operational data.
No, Cardiff does not charge hidden fees or prepayment penalties on any of their loan products. Its approach is rooted in transparency, so you’ll always know exactly what you’re paying from the start.
Yes. In addition to their term loans and lines of credit, Cardiff also offers a comprehensive suite of business and corporate credit cards. This allows them to serve a wider range of business needs from a single, trusted financial partner.
Through founder William Stern’s other ventures, the Cardiff ecosystem offers access to business coaching via The Fraternity, high-level networking at The Real Business Growth Summit, and potential investment and marketing services through Cardiff Ventures.
The process is primarily digital. You will typically need basic business information and to securely connect your business bank account via Plaid, eliminating the need for manual bank statements.
Yes, it’s completely safe. Cardiff integrates with Plaid, a trusted, industry-standard tool that securely connects your bank account using bank-level encryption. When you link your account via Plaid, you’re enabling Stripe, our secure payments processor, to manage financing and repayments automatically. This connection ensures your payment experience with Cardiff is seamless, reliable, and protected without manual transfers or added steps.
Cardiff specializes in term loans, revolving lines of credit, and equipment financing, including innovative products like the “Momentum” Line of Credit and the “CapEx Catalyst” Loan.
Cardiff is significantly faster, providing funding in hours instead of the weeks or months typical for an SBA loan, making it ideal for businesses that need immediate access to capital.
About the author
Sarah Pritzker is the Editor-in-Chief of working-capital.com. With a background in financial journalism and content strategy for leading technology and finance brands, Sarah specializes in analyzing the intersection of technology, venture capital, and small business lending. Her work focuses on providing data-driven insights to help business owners navigate the evolving landscape of growth capital.
Why you can trust Working-Capital: Our writers and editors follow strict editorial guidelines to ensure fairness and accuracy in our coverage to help you choose the financial accounts that work best for you. See our criteria for evaluating banks and credit unions.
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