This is the complete reference for adding your own custom lender on the platform. It starts with a short step-by-step, then answers 100+ frequently asked questions grouped by topic. Use the section headings to jump to what you need. Throughout, we use a sample lender, Cascade Growth Capital, as an example.

What does "adding your own lender" do? It creates a private lender entry that only your team can see and send deals to. It is how you configure, in one place, everything needed to package and submit deals to a lender you already work with.

Where do I start? In the left sidebar, open My Lenders, then click + Add lender in the top right.

What is the difference between "Add lender" and "Connect with lender"? Add lender creates your own private lender entry that only your team sees. Connect with lender links you to a partner lender that is already on the platform.

How many custom lenders can I add? Up to 15 per portal.

Does adding a lender invite or notify them? No. It is a private setup for your team only. It does not invite the lender or create a formal partnership.

Is my custom lender visible to other portals or partners? No. A custom lender you add is private to your team.

Can the AI set it up for me from a document? Yes. When adding the lender you can click + Add files for AI and attach a rate sheet, program guide, or submission instructions, and the AI will pre-draft the profile, offerings, and commission terms for you to review.

What information do I need before I start? The lender's product details (amounts, terms, rates, fees), eligibility criteria (geography, industries, minimums), commission terms, the documents they require, and ideally a copy of their application form.

How long does setup take? A basic setup takes about 15 to 30 minutes. Using the AI application builder adds a few minutes of processing time.

Why does my new lender say "Needs attention"? That status is expected right after creating a lender. It clears once you complete and publish the setup.

What is a Deal Package? A reusable configuration that describes how deals are created and submitted for a lender. It is the container for the lender's setup.

What are the parts of a deal package? Marketplace profile (public description), Offerings (products) with commission terms, Application (intake form), Submission (what happens on submit), Documents (optional reference files), and Internal notes (private).

What has to be complete before I can publish? A marketplace description, at least one offering, and commission terms. These three unlock the Publish button.

Can I reuse a deal package? Yes, deal packages are reusable configurations.

What is the marketplace profile? The public-facing description of the lender that partners see, and that the AI reads to decide when a deal fits this lender.

Does the description affect matchmaking? Yes. It does double duty: it is partner-facing and it is a key input the AI uses to match deals. Write it in plain language and state the credit box clearly.

What should I put in the description? The borrowers, products, and use cases the lender supports, plus the credit box (amounts, geography, industries, minimums) and what they do not fund.

What are Highlights? Optional short badges (one per line) that appear on the profile, for example "Non-dilutive growth capital", "$100K to $2.5M", or "No equity dilution".

What does "3/3 set" mean on the profile? The profile is complete when the name, description, and highlights are set.

What is an offering? One distinct product or program, such as a term loan, a line of credit, revenue-based financing, or a specific credit tier. Each offering has its own eligibility criteria and its own commission terms.

How many offerings should I add? As many as the lender actually has. Best practice is to create one, configure it fully, then add the next.

How do I add an offering? In Offerings & commissions, click + Add offering, enter a name, and click Create offering. You configure details on the next screen.

What are the three pieces of an offering? Summary, Marketplace details, and Commission terms. All three must be complete for the offering to count as "set."

What is the offering summary? The text partners see when they open the offering in the marketplace. It is more specific than the lender-level description.

What are Marketplace details? Free-form sections you build with + Add section, each with a heading and a rich-text body. A clean pattern is three sections: Loan Terms & Rates, Eligibility, and Required Documents.

Is the details editor plain text or rich text? Rich text. You can use bold, italic, headings, and lists.

Can I reorder offerings? Yes, offerings have a drag handle for reordering.

Does each offering match independently? Yes. The AI evaluates each offering on its own criteria, so a deal can match one product even if it does not fit another.

What are commission terms for? They describe the commission agreement and feed the platform's earnings estimate when a deal funds.

What are the five commission fields? Summary, Commission rate, Payment timing, Clawback terms, and Renewal terms.

What are clawback terms? The conditions under which commission is reclaimed, for example if the deal cancels or repays within 90 days of funding.

What are renewal terms? The commission paid on renewals or refinances, for example 1% of funded amount.

What is AI guidance? A private instruction box read only by the AI during matchmaking. It is coaching for the matchmaker's judgment.

Who can see AI guidance? Only the AI. Partners and brokers never see it. This is different from the description and offering details, which are customer-facing.

Why would I use AI guidance? To capture nuance the structured fields cannot, such as soft preferences, judgment calls, and candid deal-breakers you would not publish.

What is the difference between package-level and offering-level AI guidance? Package-level applies to the whole lender and lives on the marketplace profile. Offering-level lives inside a specific offering and is product-specific.

Is AI guidance required? No, it is optional.

What unlocks the Publish button? Completing the marketplace profile: a description, at least one offering, and commission terms.

What does "Unpublished edits" mean? You have saved changes that are not yet live to partners. Publish to push them out.

When does "Needs attention" clear? Once the setup is complete and the deal package is published.

What is the application? The intake form a business completes for deals sent through this package.

What is the Standard Application? The shared default intake form the package starts with. It collects the common fields and documents most deals need.

What is the difference between Preview and Edit? Preview shows the borrower-facing form read-only. Edit opens the application builder.

What is the difference between "Edit selected application" and "Create new application"? "Edit selected application" edits the currently selected app. If that is the shared Standard Application, your changes affect every package that uses it. "Create new application" builds a package-specific application scoped only to this lender.

Will editing the Standard Application affect other lenders? Yes. The Standard Application is the shared org default, so editing it changes it everywhere. For lender-specific fields, use Create new application instead.

When should I create a new application? Whenever the lender needs fields the default does not have, for example SaaS metrics or specific document uploads.

What do the application badges mean? DEFAULT DEAL APPLICATION and DEFAULT CLIENT INTAKE are your org defaults. MANAGED are templates the platform maintains. BUSINESS INTERNAL and DEAL INTERNAL are internal-only forms.

Are custom applications reusable? Yes. A custom per-lender application saves into "Your applications" and can be attached to other packages.

How does the AI application builder work? Choose Create new application, name it, optionally attach the lender's form, and click Create. The AI converts the file into sections and questions.

What files can I upload? A PDF, document, spreadsheet, image, or text file.

How long does the AI take? It is not instant. It can take several minutes to draft.

Does the AI copy my form exactly? No. It restructures the content into a practical borrower intake ("product shape over transcription") rather than copying field-for-field.

Why did the AI add sections I did not have? It adds sensible sections a good intake needs, such as Primary Contact and Declaration & Submission.

Why did the AI change or drop some fields? If the source form is not machine-readable, the AI authors structure from the visible content and makes judgment calls, for example combining redundant fields. It reports the assumptions it made.

Does the AI tell me what it changed? Yes. It self-reports its omissions and assumptions in the AI workspace, which is a good place to start your review.

How do I refine the AI's output? Describe the change you want in the AI workspace chat, for example "make Industry a dropdown" or "add an ARR/MRR schedule upload." You can also edit manually with drag-and-drop.

What should I always check after the AI builds? That any industry field is a dropdown, that required metric fields exist (ARR, gross margin, churn, NRR), and that all needed document uploads are present (cap table, ARR/MRR schedule, existing debt summary, government ID).

What is in the field editing panel? The Content panel shows the Block label (the question), Tooltip/guidance, the Section dropdown, Required toggle, Choices, Placeholder, and Advanced field settings including the Schema key.

What is a Block label? The question text the applicant sees for that field.

What is the Section dropdown, and is it the answer choices? No. The Section dropdown sets which section the field lives in. It is not the answer options. A common confusion is mixing this up with Choices.

What are Choices? The actual options for a dropdown or multi-select field.

What is a Placeholder? The greyed-out hint shown inside an empty field. The "short answer preview" you see on the canvas is a builder-only placeholder; the real applicant-facing hint is the Placeholder field.

What is a Schema key and why does it matter? It is the stable identifier matchmaking uses for a field. Preserve it when you change a field, or matchmaking can break.

How do I change a field's type? The cleanest way is to ask in the AI workspace chat (for example, "convert Industry from text to a dropdown"), which preserves the schema key. There is no in-place type switch.

What is the difference between a Paragraph block and a Long text field? A Paragraph block is display-only instructional text and collects nothing. To have the applicant write prose, use a Long text field.

What field types are available? Common types include Text, Long text, Decimal, Integer, Dropdown, Multi-select, Address, Date, Boolean (Yes/No), Email, URL, File upload, Signature, Heading, Paragraph, and Banner.

What does REUSABLE mean on a field? It is a shared field that autofills across deals for the same client.

What is an adornment? A small prefix or suffix shown inside a field, such as a "$" for currency or a "%" for percentages.

How do I preview the borrower's view? Click Preview to walk the full form section by section exactly as an applicant would see it.

What should I check in preview? That the required fields are correct and that the document requests match what the lender actually needs.

How do I publish the application? Click Publish in the builder. The application card then shows its section and block counts with a published date.

What is the Submission section? It controls what happens after a business submits a deal: delivery method and the confirmation message.

What is the Email package toggle? When on, submitting a deal auto-emails a link to the deal package to the lender.

Is email delivery on by default? No, it is off by default.

When should I turn on email delivery? For a self-added lender who works out of their inbox rather than logging into the platform.

What does "Needs recipients" mean? You turned on the email package but have not added anyone to receive it. Add at least one recipient, or the package will not email.

How do I clear the "Needs recipients" flag? Add a recipient email, or turn the email package back off.

What is the post-submission message? The confirmation the business sees right after submitting. Replace the bland default with a branded message that confirms receipt, sets a review timeline, and says what happens next.

What is the Documents section? Optional public reference files attached to the package, such as a rate card, product one-pager, or policy.

How do I add a document? In Edit documents, drag and drop or choose a file, then label it with a Title, a Type, and a Description. Save, then Done.

What are the document Type options? Rate card, ISO agreement, Marketing, Onboarding, Compliance, Other, or a custom category you type in.

Are documents required? No, they are optional but a nice touch that makes a package feel complete.

What are internal notes? Private notes visible only to you and your team, with a running history.

What should I put in internal notes? Context that does not belong on the public profile: your lender contact, how flexible they are on terms, turnaround quirks, and the kinds of deals they love or reject.

The Publish button is greyed out. The marketplace profile is not complete. Add a description, at least one offering, and commission terms to unlock it.

"Show in folder" did not open the right folder when uploading. It can open the parent folder rather than the exact subfolder. Navigate to where your file actually lives, or drag the file onto the upload drop zone.

My uploaded file attached empty or showed a cloud icon. If the file is stored in the cloud and not downloaded locally (for example iCloud with limited storage), download it first, then upload, or an empty placeholder can attach.

A label is rendering oddly (for example vertically). That is a display bug, not a setting. Report it with a screenshot; it does not affect the underlying configuration.

Note: Cascade Growth Capital is a fictional lender used for illustration. Substitute your own lender's details throughout.