La Jolla, California, Dec. 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Peter J. Burns, III, the CEO and founder of Burns Funding, a venture debt lender that helps entrepreneurs and investors creatively obtain funding for their businesses, has written his latest column for Forbes Magazine about best practices for selecting a bridge loan provider.

Peter J. Burns III

The article can be viewed here: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2025/12/18/a-business-leaders-guide-to-finding-the-right-bridge-financing-provider/

The timing couldn’t be better as Burns Funding has become a leader in the field, identifying leading bridge loan providers that can help clients utilize bridge financing to both improve their credit score and facilitate the purchase of shelf corporations.

With regard to the latter, Wikipedia defines shelf corporation as an entity that “was created and left with no activity. (It was) metaphorically put on the ‘shelf’ to ‘age.’ The company can then be sold to a person or group of persons who wish to start a company without going through all the procedures of creating a new one.”

The shelf corporations can also be used, with the help of Burns Funding and its partners, to secure upwards of $1.6 million in alternative financing.

Bridge loans are an attractive option for entrepreneurs, who are struggling or need capital to fuel the growth of their business. This issue has become even more vexing because of the recent government shutdown - https://calbizjournal.com/expert-the-government-shutdown-caused-irreparable-harm-to-the-lending-climate-for-small-business/ But bridge loans can unlock the capital necessary to purchase shelf corporations.

In Burns’ column about bridge loans, written as a member of the Forbes Business Council, he writes that “technological innovations have changed the landscape (for bridge loans). For example, online platforms and lenders have simplified the application and approval process. This has made bridge loans more accessible to many businesses.”

He goes on to elaborate on the following key questions one should ask of a good provider, including:

“Do they perform soft credit pulls? Many borrowers seek providers that only perform soft pulls from the credit agency until the actual loan is made. This is important since hard pulls drag credit scores down.

“Are there any upfront fees, and what are the success fees? Not everyone charges upfront fees. In my experience, brokers who charge upfront fees often lack confidence in their abilities to perform and/or don't have upfront vetting. The competitive landscape has made it a borrower's market for those who need capital. Many providers also charge anywhere from 10% to 20% for success fees.

“What connections do they have? Access to a large network of lenders who are competing to provide loans can create more competitive options for borrowers.”

Burns Funding has seen an onslaught of demand for bridge loans for a number of reasons, one of the most prominent being that he is now applying the Burns Funding Method (BFM) to bridge loan and shelf financing.

With BFM, clients can remit a percentage of the capital back to Burns Funding to deploy in an array of passive investment vehicles, with Burns Funding’s commitment to service the entire note through revenues from the passive investment. This was recently written about here (https://www.nationalbusinesspost.com/burns-funding-is-helping-startups-secure-capital-at-zero-interest/)

ABOUT PETER J. BURNS III

Based in La Jolla, California, Peter J. Burns III grew up in a well-established New England family in New Canaan, Connecticut. He was briefly educated at the United States Military Academy Preparatory School at West Point, the University of Virginia (UVA), and finally, Harvard Business School's Owners and Presidents Management Program. While his two younger brothers went on to have very successful traditional business careers, Burns chose the life of a startup entrepreneur.

Burns started hundreds of businesses over the ensuing decades. In the early 2000s, he moved to Arizona and became a pro bono adjunct faculty member at the highly respected Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University. In 2006, Burns took his teaching practice across town to Grand Canyon University and its entrepreneurial founder Brent Richardson, where the two men would launch the nation’s first College of Entrepreneurship at GCU.

In recognition of his work, the Arizona chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America named Burns its Businessperson of the Year in 2007.

Shortly thereafter, Burns started Club Entrepreneur to unite entrepreneurs in an “open-source entrepreneurship” platform. The Phoenix chapter attracted 10,000 members.

In 2016, Burns moved to the West Coast and started Burns Funding to help entrepreneurs secure hard-to-get funding for their businesses.

Taken as a whole, Burns says all the businesses have a “common thread.”

“Every business I start represents my desire to help existing and would-be entrepreneurs reach their full potential,” said Burns. “Too often, they give up because of a lack of capital. I set out to solve that problem and won’t rest until every entrepreneur who needs money can secure it.”

About Burns Funding

Burns Funding is an innovative financial services company, offering a suite of alternative lending products. 

Press inquiries

Burns Funding
https://burnsfunding.com/
Holt Hackney
hhackney@hackneypublications.com
5126320854
7514 Girard Ave Suite 1416, La Jolla, CA 92037