In this episode of the IC-DISC Show, I sit down with Randy from Trinity Bay Capital to talk about how specialized capital advisory bridges the gap between growing companies and the financing they actually need.
Randy spent 17 years in traditional banking at First City and other institutions before moving into capital finance in the mid-1990s. His transition came from frustration with banking silos that prevented common-sense solutions for growing companies. After traveling extensively as a capital finance professional and later serving as president of a bank, he launched Trinity Bay Capital to help companies access everything from asset-based lending to purchase order financing. His approach differs from typical brokers because he pre-qualifies deals using his banking expertise, then targets just three carefully selected lenders rather than shotgunning dozens of institutions.
What makes Randy's work compelling is how often he solves problems without charging fees. One client I referred received three competitive term sheets that gave him leverage to renegotiate with his existing bank, getting everything he wanted at no cost. Randy's focus on matching companies with conventional banks whenever possible, even when capital finance would pay higher fees, demonstrates how his business model prioritizes client outcomes over transaction volume. His internal 48-page reference guide of specialized lenders reflects decades of relationship-building across oil and gas, maritime, manufacturing, and distribution sectors.
Randy's philosophy that "I don't need to work, I do this because I enjoy it" explains why 75% of his pipeline comes from Texas energy companies that conventional banks won't touch, and why he celebrates when clients find better deals elsewhere.
SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
- Randy turns down fund management opportunities that would pay more because accepting them would recreate the banking silos he left to escape.
- Trinity Bay Capital targets just three carefully selected lenders per deal instead of shotgunning 12-20 institutions, achieving 95% term sheet success rates.
- A construction mat company couldn't get financing because their primary assets wear out quickly, until Randy found lenders who advance directly on depreciating equipment.
- Randy helped a frack pipe manufacturer secure $30 million after eight conventional banks declined, simply by knowing which bank was allowed to do oil and gas deals.
- One client found a better deal independently, and Randy celebrated it instead of pushing his commission, telling him "as long as I can work with you, that's awesome."
- Randy's success fee from conventional banks is often reduced compared to capital finance companies, but he always takes clients there first because it's what they deserve.
Contact Details
LinkedIn - Randy Gartz
LINKS
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Randy Gartz |
TRANSCRIPT
(AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors)
Dave:
Good morning, Randy. How are we today?
Randy:
We're doing great. How are you?
Dave:
I am doing great. Thank you. Where are you calling in from today? What part of the world are you in?
Randy:
Houston, Texas.
Dave:
Okay. Me as well. So I was just trying to think, how long have I known you? I think it's been over 20 years.
Randy:
It's been since the mid nineties.
Dave:
Has it been that long? Wow. So more like 30 years.
Randy:
Yes.
Dave:
We're getting old, my friend. Hey, I look a lot older than you did. That's subjective. So I've got some questions for you. Some I think I know the answer to, some I don't. Why don't we start? I'm a sequential learner. Let's start at the beginning. Where are you from originally? Are you from Southeast Texas? Originally?
Randy:
I'm an Air Force brat and I was born in El Paso, Texas.
Dave:
Okay.
Randy:
And we moved about every two years after that until I was in high school. Well, actually in high school I was at three different locations. And then starting from college on Texas a and an, I've been in Houston ever since.
Dave:
Why did I forget that you're in Aggie? Because where I went to school and I guess we've been able to get past that.
Randy:
I don't talk about that much. It's probably one of the main reasons a and m was good to me, but in my past.
Dave:
Yeah, no, I hear you. I'm just having fun with you. So I suppose moving every two years, that will help you learn rapport, building interpersonal skills, I suppose.
Randy:
Absolutely. That helped me go to city to city when I was traveling for capital finance companies and just introduce myself about a problem and just, hi, how are you? Who are you? What do you do? So yes, absolutely.
Dave:
So your degree from Texas a and m? Finance.
Randy:
Finance. And then I went to U of H and worked on an accounting degree.
Dave:
Okay. So what was your first job out of college?
Randy:
Oh, it was at credit training program for First City and Texas.
Dave:
Oh wow. They really had a great training program, didn't they?
Randy:
Two years long. Yeah, absolutely. We were working sometimes seven days a week and Saturday and Sunday the air conditioner wasn't working, wasn't on in building. And it's enough like it is today.
Dave:
No, I remember when I was at Arthur Anderson working one of our clients' weekends, those high rises had air conditioning on the weekends. You had to pay for it and we were not, were deemed worthy of air conditioning on the weekends.
Randy:
That's right. That's right.
Dave:
So you started out at traditional banking,
Randy:
Started at traditional banking, did that for about 17 years. First City and all of its precursors. First city in bank. Bank one, they finally sold to Chase. And then right after they sold to Chase, my manager at the time had gone to a capital finance company and he asked me to follow 'em. And that's when I got involved with Capital Finance. That was back in mid nineties. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being on help companies. It wasn't like you're in silos at banks and the regulators can only allow you to do so much that there's so much more out there for companies to be able to provide them with growth capital, turnaround capital, acquisition capital that most people, most CFOs don't even know. And so I really enjoy that. I went back to conventional banking when I'm woman by the name of Mary Bass and I think you might know her.
Dave:
I know Mary. Yeah.
Randy:
She followed me for two years trying to get me to go to Redstone.
Randy:
Redstone was a small little bank. I didn't want to have anything to do with it. I didn't want to go to back to banking after I'd gone to Capital Finance and after two years of her calling me every two, three days a week when I was traveling three and a half weeks out of every month for four years Earth saying stuff like, rainy, where are you? When's the last time you saw your son pitch? When's the best time you were with your wife? What'd she do tonight? It's like, Mary, I'll interview. I've got to know that if I say no to this interview, you're not going to call me anymore. Well, I went on an interview, I met with David Chin Decker and he got me to go back to conventional finance and it was a good thing at the time, both he and Bob Hendrickson, who was president at the time of Redstone, had both grown up in the national division of First City's asset-based lending.
Dave:
That's
Randy:
What they were trying to bring over to this very small bank. We grew that bank from 58 million to 1,000,000,002 in three years.
Dave:
That is serious growth
Randy:
And most of those customers are still there. So it worked. But when you go on to other banks and all the silos that they have, you can't grow. You can't help companies as much as you would like if you know what's available. And I don't mean that to be mean to conventional bankers. Conventional bankers, I have all their respect or I respect them tremendously, but I just think that don't know what's still available. So
Dave:
It's
Randy:
Right going out there and trying to educate them to know, Hey listen, if you can't do this, here's what we can do.
Dave:
Yeah, no, I get it. And I know that as is typical in the banking business, most bankers don't serve at one bank for 40 years. There's always movement. And what I'd like to do though now is I'd like to skip forward to your May gig. I mean, I think the bottom line takeaway was your career was split between traditional corporate lending from the banker level all the way up to senior executive level. You've done the capital finance piece. It sounds like you wanted to create a new combination, new offering to the marketplace. So talk to me about what prompted you to start Trinity Bay Capital.
Randy:
I think, and I won't name his name, but I had just come back one day from booking an $85 million deal. I was by myself. I was doing all the settlement work. I was there for eight hours at this closing. And when I came back to the bank with all the paperwork and I walked in and I was really happy we got a large deal done, which eventually turned into a much larger deal. The first words out of my president's mouth was, Randy, any more deposits well understand. But this was a pretty good deal. And that together with all the silos that conventional banks have, the inability to do things that should be done, common sense things, but just conventional banks can do because of the regulators and because you can't put a hundred bankers out there and just let them be run out there and do everything they want to do. You can't do that makes conventional bankers conventional. But after being an capital financed group and also being at Redstone's Mezzanine and Equity Group, it taught me all the additional options that we have out there to be able to provide. So I thought at the time I was 63 years old, do I want to go to another bank? Am I tired of these silos? Yes, I am. I decided to just start my own company. I've been asked to take on funds and be able to lend our own money, but that would put me right back in the silos.
Dave:
Sure.
Randy:
I just enjoyed helping companies. It just makes me happy. And I wake up every morning, I come upstairs to my third floor office overlooking the bay and no silos, no having to sell every little credit card option that's out there. It just makes me happy. And so I know David, I don't know what I'd do if I retired. I never even considered it. I am enjoying what I'm doing now. I'm happy where I'm at and I'm happy making people happy.
Dave:
That is awesome. So help me understand who's like your ideal customer? What are the characteristics of the person you can help the most
Randy:
Fast growing companies, I mean, when you think of me as a broker, which I hate the term, there's 55,000 brokers out there. I trust five. Understood the difference. Lemme first start with the difference. The difference is that I've run credit departments, I've been on credit committees, I've been ping a bank. I know what banks can do and what they can't do. So when a bank can't do something, that is who should come to me,
Dave:
That
Randy:
Is who the banker should send me to. And it's not just because it's turnaround, it's not because they're in trouble. Maybe they're growing too fast, the lines of credit are going to be diminished, convince somebody just can't liven to leverage themselves up to the extent they need to take on the growth that they're seeing, acquisition growth where they're going to have to leverage your company with asset base collateral. Those are the type of things that we can do so we can actually help really good companies. For example, and unfortunately I say unfortunately for me it is, but 75% of my pipeline is oil and gas. I've been in Texas for 45 years. Oil and gas just follows here in Houston, Texas. And so just they call me that and maritime. So those two industries really can run our business alone. Although I would much rather have a lot of other manufacturer distribution and service companies than a lot of those companies. A lot of those CFOs owners of the companies, they have no clue what is available out there or why they can't get financing at the time. Maybe that's changing today, but at the time a lot of banks weren't allowed to venture into oil and gas. Oil and gas is a very cyclical industry,
Randy:
The ups and downs. If you don't do an oil and gas company in an asset based selection, you're bound to have trouble later on when the SLE falls because a lot of those assets can disappear.
Randy:
But on an asset based business, conventional banks can't do that. But not a lot of conventional banks are allowing their asset based lenders to do it today. So for example, I had a company that was a pipe manufacturer. They supplied from the pipe all the way to the dynamite and they had gone to eight different conventional banks, been declined every single time. When they came to me, I asked them, who'd you go to? Well, none of those guys have been to your deal because they're not allowed to. Their ownership was not allowing to do it. Took 'em to the first bank that I knew would do it, and we got that deal closed this year. A 30 million line of credit was with a $20 million accordion and well potential accordion they didn't need at the time because they were on the downhill run. But that bank knew how to do it. That bank, that lender knew how to do it. We knew who to go to. That deal got done.
Dave:
So let me just take a step back to make sure the audience understands. So your company doesn't actually yourself lend money. You're basically an intermediary between the capital markets, I guess primarily debt markets. Do you guys do any equity?
Randy:
We do some equity on the oil and gas side. I don't have that many providers on manufacturing distribution service, not oil and gas.
Dave:
It's mostly, yeah. And impart of what makes you unique is that you have, because of your background, you're able to match up the deal with the bank and want it simple
Randy:
For probably over 35 years. 35 years ago, a man by name of John Flatow at that time was at Briggs.
Dave:
Yeah,
Randy:
Put out this spreadsheet for me. And on the vertical column it had all of his customers on the horizontal column. It had everyone they could refer him to. What that did for me was realize that in the capital finance side where I was traveling throughout the United States, Canada, and sometimes Mexico, I was relating with so many financial providers and I've started taking down names and I've got a book, single page, probably 48 pages now of who does what likes, what their rates are, what their structure is. And so what makes us different than most other brokers is that, number one, I know what a bank can do and what they can't do.
Randy:
And when banks, we put together or I request all the financial information, all the documents that a banker would need in order that a financial officer would need, we put that together. We do our own pre-flight, which most all bankers now need to do to get credit to allow them to offer term sheets. We decide where the risk level is of each one of our customers after we decide if we can help 'em or not. Some customers don't have cash flow, they don't have collateral. Those two items combined make it a tough deal, impossible deal to do. But if they haven't waited too long, they're still survivable. There's so many options. We put together a pre-flight and then I go to that book and then we decide three up to three opportunities to take these financial providers. The difference between most brokers is most brokers don't know what they're looking at, don't know what's available, and they just chunking it out to 12 or 20 different institutions hoping something sticks.
Randy:
We go to three 95% of the time, we'll get three term sheets. Those are going to be at the right rate that the customer deserves and they're going to be the right structure. And then we take the closing and after closing, we help them negotiate or before closing, we help them negotiate the documents. We help 'em negotiate their term sheet and we get them through the entire process. Because most CFOs, well, I'm not going to say most, it's surprising how many CFOs don't know what's possible, don't know why a conventional bank can't help them and don't know why this other opportunity that's going to be 2% higher or more if the company's risk level is higher, why they have to do that. Many times, David, we'll have someone say, no, we're not going to take any of those term sheets. They're just too high. That that just doesn't make any sense to us. The structure's too tough, the administration's too tough. Okay, well get to more banks, go to more conventional banks, see if you can get your loan and if you can't come back, and that's where it's an education. It's an education that these CFOs need to go through it and they need to understand it to instruct their owners why they're doing what they're doing.
Dave:
And so you only get paid if you're able to successfully,
Randy:
We only get paid at closing at the closing table. We'll either obtain a success fee if it goes to conventional bank because if it goes to conventional bank, that's where I'm going to take it. That's what the client deserves. And it's always going to be a lower rate. It's always going to be less administration. And if I can do that, that's a win. Even though our fees are a lot of times going to be reduced because it's going to conventional bank and for that banker to be competitive, they can't pay our full fee. But if it goes to a capital finance company, the capital finance company is who's going to pay us. So the other doesn't have to pay us. If it goes to a capital finance company
Dave:
And if it goes to a bank are they
Randy:
Say bank, we need a success fee agreement
Dave:
From the
Randy:
We're going to be able to invoice the bank and at closing they'll pay us.
Dave:
Okay. So my listeners like stories. So let's talk about some examples. And again, I'm sure the client name will be anonymous, but give us just some stories to give us a sense of the types of deals that you guys can do.
Randy:
David, I'm going to throw out one that you referred to me yourself in front of some of your clients
Dave:
And
Randy:
We had a nice little discussion and at a later date, one of your clients called me for help.
Dave:
Yep, I know who you're talking about.
Randy:
Well, what we ended up doing is finding three other banks that could have helped him. Conventional banks. The client was definitely bank worthy, but his existing bank wasn't really working with him as much as they should have. While the client wanted the release of his personal guarantee at the size level that he was at, I had to educate him and convince him that since you're making every decision, you rule the company, you can do whatever you want to do with the company. They're going to want your personal guarantee to make sure that you stay in long.
Randy:
But that on the side, he deserved everything. He was, everything else he was asking for. He deserved a lower rate. He deserved a re amortization. So when he received the three term sheets that we provided him from other conventional banks, he went back to his existing bank and said, this is what I've got. And he got everything he was asking for the release of his personal guarantee. Well, he offered to pay me. There was nothing I could, I didn't do much. I didn't do anything extraordinary. It didn't take long to realize who he should be working with. So no charge. He went back to his original bank, got what he wanted and everybody's happy. So that's point.
Dave:
I know he was very appreciative of that. And that really goes to show the power or the ability you have to help clients. I mean, you effectively made a couple phone calls, I'm simplifying it, but you reached
Randy:
Out, it wasn't much more.
Dave:
You reached out to a couple people. You told 'em, Hey, this is a bankable deal. Their current banks may be taking advantage of 'em or doesn't see how bankable they really are, and this may be an opportunity for you. They threw out some turn sheets that was a wake up call for his current bank and they went ahead and because of the leverage he had of the other term sheets, his current bank suddenly became more reasonable
Randy:
And for no cost at all. He didn't have to get any appraisals, he didn't have to go through the underwriting process. The existing bank helped him. And yeah, bank that he was at is known as one of the most conventional banks in Texas. That's where he deserved to be because he deserved it.
Dave:
And I know of which bank you speak. Okay, well that's helpful. What about a deal, an example of somebody who wasn't as bankable and yet to go to the capital finance markets. Do you have an example of a deal like that?
Randy:
Sure. And it's not just because, I mean the company was doing well, but they were a provider of construction mats. So in other words, utilities are being put in, it's really muddy. It's been rainy. They provide their huge construction mats, large yellow equipment can go over, can drive over and not get stuck in the mud. Those mats are not that usable as collateral because they wear out real quick. Sure, sure. So who's going to do that? So we found a few companies that were willing to advance on those mats directly. Their existing company wasn't, their existing bank was not going to give them any more availability. If this company is growing and once we found them additional availability, the company has been able to grow. It's been able to find additional equity if they want it because once it started growing, they exists, said, I'm happy you're uncle and hunting. So they didn't want to do everything that we expected them to do was to go out and acquire other companies. We could have helped 'em grow to 200, $300 million.
Dave:
I've got you.
Randy:
Leon owner
Dave:
Just wasn't interested in
Randy:
All of a sudden the pressure was off his shoulders. I've got a great family, everything's taken care of. We're good.
Dave:
Okay.
Randy:
Now the issue with that is during the next dry season, he's not going to have the working capital to continue what he's doing.
Dave:
Right, right.
Randy:
He'll come back.
Dave:
Yeah.
Randy:
We expect that he'll come back.
Dave:
Okay.
Randy:
Is that what you were looking for?
Dave:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I think you've kind of answered this question indirectly, but let me just ask you directly. So what is it that you enjoy the most about serving your clients in this capacity with your own gig? What do you enjoy the most about it?
Randy:
Well, even in my conventional bank days, I've always enjoyed ringing the bell and a deal gets done when we get a customer what he wants. And that is always endless. A struggle thing I can do.
Dave:
Yeah. Yeah. I knew that's what you were going to say. I know you John Flatow me, my wife. I mean we all relish serving customers in helping solve business problems for them. So that answer does not surprise me.
Randy:
Great.
Dave:
So that's coming from your perspective, what makes you different? What do your clients tell you about what makes you different? What are some feedback you've had from your clients?
Randy:
Well, we have an existing client right now that we're going to help him get purchase order financing
Dave:
And
Randy:
We're going to provide him an asset base loan and they purchase order facility on the side. And he found a conventional bank that agreed to do his deal that no other conventional bank would ever done at a fantastic rate, gave him 15 million instead of the 5 million he was asking for.
Dave:
Wow.
Randy:
Yeah. But he went there and he called me to tell me, Randy, I'm sorry I got bad news for you. I said, no, you found a great deal. As long as I can work with you. That is awesome. We'll get you the PO financing you take care of closing that deal at that bank and if they can't service it in the future, we'll take you back to through the banks that want to do it. Fact. That's great. That's still fine. So before he hung up, he said, Randy, you've really surprised me. I knew you wanted the sale of the asset based loan, but you're happy for me. You got the deal you wanted. I don't need to work. I do this, I enjoy it and it's I going to get the company the best thing I can get 'em. That kind of goes back to why did I start my own company, the stand my own company? Because conventional banks can't always do the common sense thing that the company means or we're doing it here.
Dave:
No, that is awesome. Yeah. I remember when you reached out to me and you started, I remembered thinking what a great fit, what great service you're offering that you're able to bring all of your expertise and because really what they're paying you for isn't your time, it's your knowledge is what they're really paying you for. They're not paying you for your time to reach out to 20 banks. A less the experienced person would do it is like the joke about the factory machinery that was down and they called in an engineer the story and he looked at it and he turned one screw, like half a turn and then gave him a $10,000 invoice and the owner was flabbergasted, why so much money? I need a detailed invoice. And his detailed invoice was turning the screw $1, knowing which screw to turn, $9,999. It's kind of the same way. Right? They're really paying you for your knowledge and your relationships, right?
Randy:
Correct. Absolutely.
Dave:
So what else, as we're kind of wrapping up here, what did I not ask you that you wish I had or I should have asked you?
Randy:
David, you're very good at what you do. You've asked me all the right questions. I've been able to tell you what we offer, why we're different, what we do. You've covered it. Okay,
Dave:
Well good. Well, I know you have helped many of my clients over the last 30 years in all of your different capacities, so I just wanted to thank you for that. You've always made me look good with my clients when I say, Hey, let me introduce you to Randy. Randy will take care of you. And that always makes me look good like this client, you had mentioned that you basically gave him leverage to renegotiate with his current bank. He'd been working on this problem for years and just was kind of hitting a wall because he sensed he could get a better deal, but he didn't really know how to go about that. He didn't really have the time and he didn't know if he just starts in the Yellow Pages. Well, I guess we don't have the yellow pages, but just starting at the eighties and just start calling all the banks. And then the problem is who you call at each bank. You can't just go to a retail branch and talk to the retail branch manager. So yes. Anyway, I appreciate over all these years you making me look like a star.
Randy:
You are one. David, I promise. Thank you for this opportunity.
Dave:
So I've got just one, two more questions and they're both fun. One is, if you could go back in time and give some advice to your 25 or 30-year-old self, what advice might you give to yourself
Randy:
And do what I'm doing now earlier?
Dave:
Yeah. That's the number one answer I get from my entrepreneur clients because almost, or my guest, almost all my guests had a similar path. They didn't just graduate from college and start their business. They didn't know, they didn't have any experience that always worked for somebody else for a while. Then they went on their own and they always have the same regret. They wish they'd been more courageous and done it sooner. So last one more. We're in Texas TexMex or barbecue?
Randy:
TexMex.
Dave:
Yeah.
Randy:
But worthy, I'll probably have both every week.
Dave:
Yeah. What's really good is if you find a place that's got great brisket tacos or brisket enchiladas, that kind of gives you a sense of both. So here's what a guest told me that I would have to agree with. He said it depends if it's average, I'm going to take the Tex-Mex. He goes, if I know that the option is too the barbecue place that's exceptional, and a Mexican restaurant that's exceptional, I take the barbecue because he said Tex-Mex has more capacity, more tolerance for average use, right? I mean, average Tex-Mex is still good, but average barbecue, not so much.
Randy:
I agree you 100%.
Dave:
That is great. Well, Randy, I really appreciate you taking time and I'm really excited to hear about what you're doing now and hopefully this episode will cost some people to reach out to you. We'll have your contact information in the show notes. So thanks again, Randy. Really appreciate it.
Randy:
Thank you David. Really appreciate it.
Dave:
There we have it. Another great episode. Thanks for listening in. If you want to continue the conversation, go to ic disc show.com. That's IC dash D-I-S-C-S-H-O w.com. And we have additional information on the podcast archived episodes as well as a button to be a guest. So if you'd like to be a guest, go select that and fill out the information and we'd love to have you on the show. So it we'll be back next time with another episode of the IC Disc Show.