Welcome to The Credit Bubble
Hi, I’m Derek.
For more than 20 years, I worked in commercial banking—originating loans, structuring deals, and competing for relationships across a wide range of industries and borrower types.
I’ve underwritten hundreds of companies and managed relationships with borrowers across every stage of growth, from early-stage startups to mature, cash-flowing businesses. I’ve always seen it as a privilege to sit across the table from founders and CEOs, ask tough questions, and get a front-row seat to how companies are built, capitalized, and scaled.
This newsletter is an extension of that experience.
The Credit Bubble is where I share observations from the front lines of commercial lending—how markets are shifting, how lenders are responding, and how capital is flowing through the system. It’s part perspective, part pattern recognition, and part storytelling from years of underwriting deals and building borrower relationships. My goal is to create a space for honest, practical conversations about credit—rooted in experience, focused on the real work, and never too far from the next good deal.
💼 Loan of the Week
Each week, I highlight a real credit deal, usually pulled from public filings or lender disclosures. It could be a venture loan with unusual terms, a stretch piece of growth capital, or a surprisingly aggressive ABL facility. I’ll walk through the structure, pricing, and what stands out—sometimes it’s the covenants, sometimes it’s the borrower, and sometimes it’s just a great example of how credit actually works in the real world.
It’s a quick, practical look at the kinds of deals getting done and how lenders are thinking about risk, structure, and competition right now.
🎙️ The Credit Bubble with Derek Brunelle Podcast
This is my interview series with the people who shape the credit markets. Lenders, underwriters, credit officers, and lawyers — professionals who’ve built careers making judgment calls about risk, structure, and borrower relationships.
These conversations are less about headlines and more about how people actually think. We talk through credit frameworks, career-shaping deals, tough calls, and lessons learned from both wins and losses. It’s a chance to step back from the spreadsheets and hear the stories behind the decisions.
🛠️Agentic Underwriting (Coming Soon)
This is where I spotlight emerging tools, workflows, and real-world techniques for using AI to support credit underwriting. Each post will unpack how specific agentic AI platforms are being used to analyze, size, and price real-world transactions—from venture debt and ARR lines to complex structured credits.
📬 How to Subscribe (and What You'll Get)
When you hit Subscribe, you unlock full access to everything I publish — a rotating mix of credit market insights, deal analysis, and behind-the-scenes commentary across lending and structured finance.
Here’s what’s inside:
Loan of the Week (L.O.T.W.) – Fast, structured breakdowns of real-world credit deals — borrower, lender, terms, covenants, and risk insights.
The Credit Bubble with Derek Brunelle Podcast – Candid conversations with the underwriters, lenders, and capital allocators shaping the credit economy.
Agentic Underwriting (Coming Soon) – Tactical walk-throughs and frameworks to sharpen how you think about structure, risk, and opportunity.
You’ll get a few posts each month — some short and tactical, others more reflective or strategic — all designed to help you become a sharper, more thoughtful credit professional.
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👋 About Derek
I’ve spent nearly two decades working with technology and life science companies, helping them raise and manage the capital they need to grow. Over the years, I’ve originated, structured, and managed more than over $1 billion in debt commitments, partnering with founders, CFOs, and boards to get deals done and build long-term relationships.
Before launching Synthase Capital Partners, I was an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan and a Managing Director at Silicon Valley Bank. Those roles gave me a front-row seat to how innovative companies think about risk, scale, and capital—and how lenders need to adapt to keep up.
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