Why this exists

Most companies raising debt capital are negotiating against a process they can’t see.

They know what they’re asking for. They don’t know what’s actually being evaluated, which terms are genuinely movable, or why two lenders looking at identical financials arrive at different answers. That asymmetry is expensive, and it persists because the people who understand it have no particular reason to explain it.

I spent two decades on the other side of that table. This publication is where I explain it.

Who I am

I’m Derek Brunelle. For nearly twenty years I’ve helped companies raise and manage the debt capital they need to grow, much of that work with technology and life science businesses. I’ve originated, structured, and managed more than $1 billion in debt commitments, working with founders, CFOs, and boards to get deals done.

Before founding 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 adapt to keep up.

I’ve underwritten hundreds of companies at every stage, from pre-revenue startups to mature businesses. I’ve always thought of it as a privilege to sit across from founders and CEOs, ask the difficult questions, and watch how companies actually get built and financed.

What you’ll find here

Profiles in Credit — Conversations with lenders who specialize in one corner of the market. Each episode works through how deals in that niche really get underwritten. What counts as collateral, what advance rate is defensible, where there’s room to negotiate and where there isn’t. Free, always.

The Underwriter’s Read — A sequential series on how lenders evaluate a business, in the order they evaluate it, from first call to funded. It isn’t a course in doing the analysis yourself. It’s about understanding how the person across the table is thinking, so you walk into the room knowing what they need to see. Start at episode one.

Deal Teardowns — Once a month, one real transaction worked through end to end using that framework. What the lender was looking at. Where the terms landed and why. What the borrower could have pushed on and didn’t. Names and identifying details are changed. The reasoning isn’t.

Working together

Alongside the publication, I advise companies raising debt capital through Synthase Capital Partners.

That work looks like structuring the ask before you take it to market, preparing for diligence, reading term sheets against what’s actually achievable, and sometimes sitting in the room.

Sector matters less than you’d expect. The questions a lender asks are remarkably consistent across markets. What changes is which answers carry the most weight, and that’s a knowable thing.

If your next raise is close enough to be real, let’s talk.

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