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Use-case library

CSBFP by what you’re actually doing.

Eleven detailed pages on the file shapes operators bring to the Canada Small Business Financing Program — acquisitions, build-outs, second locations, equipment, working capital, ownership restructures, relocations, and lease conversions. Each page covers what the program funds, what it doesn’t, how the sub-limit math works for that file shape, where files commonly stall, and the realistic timeline.

Find the page that matches your file. Each one is written for the operator side of the table, not the lender side.

Buy something

Acquisitions covered by the program: an operating business, a building, equipment, a competitor, or a buyout of the founder by the management team.

  • CSBFP for buying a business

    First-time acquisition mechanics. Asset versus share, the goodwill problem, deposit and closing-day cadence, sub-limit math on a typical acquisition file.

  • CSBFP for buying a building

    Owner-occupied real property under the $1,000,000 ceiling, with the 50% business-use rule, AACI appraisal expectations, and how the real-property line interacts with the rest of the file.

  • CSBFP for buying equipment

    The program's sweet spot. Eligible categories across every sector, what doesn't count, useful-life amortization, and the 365-day refinance pattern for already-purchased equipment.

  • CSBFP for acquiring a competitor

    Strategic-roll-up file shape. Related-borrower combined-exposure rules, customer-base retention risk, cannibalization analysis, earnout and retention-payment structures.

  • CSBFP for a management buyout

    Management team acquiring from the founder. Asset-purchase structuring, the management team's collective personal-guarantee capacity, vendor takeback stacked alongside CSBFP, the founder's transition role.

Restructure ownership

When the entity stays intact but ownership changes — typically share-purchase structuring outside CSBFP's asset-purchase orientation, with the program playing a supporting role.

  • CSBFP for a partner buyout

    One co-owner buying out another. Why share-purchase consideration usually doesn't fit CSBFP, where the program does play (existing-loan restructure, departing-partner guarantee release, post-buyout working capital).

Build, expand, or move

Capital investments in premises and operating footprint: new build-out, opening a second location, relocating an existing business.

  • CSBFP for renovations and build-out

    Leasehold-improvement scope, landlord-versus-tenant work split, lease-term-to-amortization constraint, contractor deposit and progress-payment bridge.

  • CSBFP for opening a second location

    Expansion file with the first location's operating history strengthening the underwriting. Operator-capacity-for-two-units, working-capital ramp planning, related-borrower limits across both units.

  • CSBFP for relocating a business

    Moving an existing operation to new premises. What's financeable at the new site versus the substantial unfinanceable move costs (movers, lease-cancellation penalties, restoration, business interruption).

Fund operations

CSBFP's narrow working-capital provisions: two distinct $150,000 caps with specific eligible uses and an explicit list of what they won't fund.

  • CSBFP for working capital

    The two distinct working-capital lines under the program (term-loan sub-limit + separate LOC), what they actually pay for, the disqualified uses (existing payables, shareholder loans, tax arrears, dividends).

Convert existing arrangements

Where an existing non-CSBFP capital structure converts into CSBFP-financed ownership — typically exercising a purchase option on a leased asset.

Start with the program fundamentals.

The use-case pages assume you already know what CSBFP is and roughly how it works. If you don’t, the program overview and the eligibility rules are the right place to start before diving into a specific file shape.

Ready to start?

Pick the use-case page that fits your file shape, then start with the thirty minutes of free education. The videos walk through how lenders actually underwrite each piece.