Can I Take Your Orders? You have no assets. You have no receivables. How do you get financing? Make purchase orders your entry-level collateral.

For modular office furniture manufacturer Design Resource Group International Inc., timing was everything. Though its niche was small office installations, the Pine Brook, New Jersey, producer wanted to bid on larger projects when the right opportunity presented itself.

Larger competitors, however, had an advantage. Deep pockets allowed them to offer customers flexible financing terms, while Design Resource Group used deposits to fund orders for the three- to four-month period it took to get paid. Meanwhile, some potential clients, particularly government agencies, rarely made down payments.

Even with bank credit, constricted cash flow hampered growth. "Banks tend to say, 'Make money slowly and build your own cash flow so that, at some point, you can do these jobs off of your own profits and your own cash,'" says David LaTorre, CFO of the $50 million company. "The window of opportunity is generally short, and if we're not there to at least bid on these projects, they may not be there next year or the following year."