How Guimont Capital’s Equitable Strategy Disrupts the Private Lending Industry

As a business owner for 25 years, Dan Guimont admits he was forced to learn the hard way how to scale a company that would eventually go on to generate a billion-dollar lifetime revenue.

As the founder of Bothell, Washington-based DTG Enterprises, an early innovator in the waste space, Dan said that despite the company’s success, the climb to the top was steep due to a lack of backing from institutional lenders and traditional banks.

“For the first 20 years, banks and private lenders wouldn’t talk to us, so we had to build the business without their help,” he said. “In the last six years of the business, the banks, seeing our success, started throwing money at us. At that point, though, we were well on our way.”

During an interview with the Originate Report, Dan shared that as he looked back on the two and a half decades building DTG, he was inspired to pivot into an industry where he could work with other entrepreneurs and developers to find financing solutions earlier on in their endeavors. Having experienced the frustration himself, and watching others struggle to establish financial help because they were less experienced or their ideas were nontraditional, Dan was determined to level the playing field.

Now as the CEO and founder of Guimont Capital in Bellevue, Washington, Dan and his team of professionals seek to disrupt the industry by filling the void for borrowers and generating business for investors. “In the final years of DTG, we had to bring in private equity firms to back us and a bank to support us. We had to lose equity to gain strong bank relationships,” he said. “We decided this time around to get into a space where we could back people without them having to give up their hard-earned equity. We want to give those people and businesses more flexible options and more creative opportunities and stand beside them.”

Championing the Underserved

Guimont Capital launched into the commercial private lending space in early 2024, serving the financial needs of a range of borrowers: from larger community and resort projects to fix-and-flip ventures. The company lends in all 50 states, closely following each state’s rules and regulations, and offers loan solutions for the development of raw and vacant land and construction as well as short-term bridge and investment property loans.

Dan said that, unlike bigger banks that want to see a record of success, Guimont Capital’s approach is, instead, a more personal methodology.

“Experience isn’t the only thing we look at. We listen to their entire story. We dive in and research who they are and what they want to do. Then we see if we can get behind them,” he said. “We want to help the people who have had a tough time finding funding. Just because a customer doesn’t have years of experience doesn’t mean they aren’t going to pay back a loan. We want to get behind these folks in need of capital to grow their businesses.”

Dan said he and his team are already experiencing the thrust of what he likens to a racecar going zero to 100 miles per hour instantly, reaffirming the need for the innovative business structure of Guimont Capital. As a young company with a powerhouse team at the helm, Dan said he credits Guimont Capital’s ability to keep pace with the deal flow to the experts he has brought on board.  These experts include Brian Thompson, who has worked alongside Dan as his right hand for over 25 years;  Kirsten Koester as in-house legal, a trusted legal partner; Tom Walker, a talented and collaborative chief financial officer; and Kari Burns, an amazing lending and administrative professional.

Regarding Guimont Capital’s business structure, Koester said, “Guimont Capital appeals to those who fall outside the parameters of what other less innovative lenders have traditionally deemed more appropriate clientele. We are operating within an area where you have either personal lenders who do smaller loans or institutional banks that do the big loans of hundreds of millions for the well-established,” she continued. “We are filling that in-between area right now and the demand is huge. We are willing to invest in areas that are outside of the traditional lending box.”

Deal Flow and Capital Raise

The majority of Guimont Capital’s deal flow is generated organically and from a handful of talented brokers and referral partners including Scott Henderson with HenderX Capital based in Utah; David M. Morgenstern, managing director of RE Strategies LLC based in Colorado and correspondent David DiNatale, managing partner and attorney at Capital Funding Financial LLC based in Florida. The company prides itself on being nimble and can process preapprovals, approvals, and loan distribution, with closings occurring on tight timeframes if needed. A collaboration between Geraci Law Firm and Guimont’s in-house counsel ensures that the company’s legal services needs are top-notch, Dan noted.

In its operational infancy, Guimont’s focus is on supplying funding straight from the company, intending to raise capital from accredited investors soon and invest alongside their capital partners. As a family office, a commitment to having “skin in the game” is one way to differentiate the company from its competitors and establish trust within the private lending community.

“We put our own capital in every deal. When we do start raising capital, that’s going to be a new opportunity for us. We will always be a substantial investor in every loan that we do,” he said. “We are never going to raise capital to fund loans and not be in the loan ourselves. If we don’t stand behind it, and can’t put our own money in it, we won’t do it. That lowers the risk for everyone in the portfolio.”

Dan said it is important that he and his team take this time to learn how to effectively and profitably grow in the private lending industry and meet people whose vision aligns with that of Guimont Capital. Acknowledging that the game will change significantly when the company moves to work with outside investor capital later this year, he said he wants his operation to be able to demonstrate a track record before going out to the larger investor community.

Creating a Legacy

In the short term, Dan said he envisions Guimont Capital reaching one billion dollars under management within 10 years. During that time, he wants to ensure the company continues to give back to the state of Washington through the company’s philanthropic division, Guimont Giving.

“DTG wasn’t a legacy company for any of us. But this is the industry from which we want to retire. This go-around, we want to make sure we are creating something that serves both the greater community and our own families,” he said. “At the end of the day, we want to build a strong team at Guimont Capital so that every year that goes by we are proving our value to the private lending community.”