Do not ever, and I mean EVER, mistake a banker or finance person as a friend or ally with your interests in mind. I've had bankers who were very friendly, and

Do not ever, and I mean EVER, mistake a banker or finance person as a friend or ally with your interests in mind. I've had bankers who were very friendly, and whose entire marketing pitch was how much they were there to help the small biz/startup turn around and pull things like call loans early because their other Real Estate dept f*ked up and lost tens of millions in the state -- even tho we were in an entirely different business sector (software/ networking) and had a PERFECT payment and reporting record. A medium-large biz I did some co-development project had an interesting story from it's early days decades ago. The President was going to the bank for an expansion loan, and was turned down because they said the business was too uncertain. A few days later, he found out that an employee went to the same bank and got a loan for a motorcycle no problem because his paycheck was regular. Since this was obviously stupid as his paycheck depended on the same business, he vowed then and there to not use bank leverage to grow. The biz now owns a good portion of a town not to far away, and has plants all across the US and several other countries. Keep them at great distance, and use them absolutely as little as possible.