Curtis Sutherland with TAB Bank

Industrial Talk is talking to Curtis Sutherland, Senior Vice President at TAB Bank about “Financial Solutions for Scaling your Industrial Business“.
Scott Mackenzie hosts an Industrial Talk podcast featuring Curtis Sutherland from Tab Bank, a virtual commercial bank serving small to medium-sized businesses across the U.S. since 1998. Curtis, with a background in computer programming and business development, explains Tab Bank's unique approach to lending, focusing on assets like receivables and inventory rather than cash flow. He highlights the bank's flexibility in providing customized financing solutions, especially for companies affected by tariffs and supply chain disruptions. Curtis emphasizes the importance of understanding regional business needs and the bank's responsiveness in supporting manufacturers through various economic challenges.
Action Items
- [ ] @Scott MacKenzie – Stay informed on the latest developments in capital markets, tariffs, and other factors impacting the manufacturing industry through the Industrial News Network.
- [ ] Reach out to Curtis Sutherland, Head of Business Development at TAB Bank, to discuss financing options for your business.
- [ ] Explore TAB Bank's virtual banking model and how it can potentially benefit your manufacturing or industrial company.
Outline
Introduction and Purpose of the Podcast
- Scott MacKenzie introduces the Industrial Talk podcast, emphasizing its focus on industry professionals and innovations.
- Scott thanks the listeners for their support and highlights the importance of industrial professionals in solving today's problems.
- Scott introduces Curtis Sutherland from Tab Bank, emphasizing the need for capital and financing in the industrial renaissance.
- Scott discusses the development of an Industrial News Network to provide fast and trusted information about the market.
Curtis Sutherland's Background and Role at Tab Bank
- Curtis Sutherland introduces himself as the head of business development at Tab Bank, a commercial bank started in 1998 in Utah.
- Curtis shares his background, starting in computer programming and transitioning to business development over 20 years.
- Curtis explains Tab Bank's model, focusing on lending to small to medium-sized companies and being a virtual bank with a headquarters in Ogden.
- Curtis highlights the benefits of being a virtual bank, such as lower overhead costs and the ability to serve customers nationwide.
Challenges and Opportunities of Being a Virtual Bank
- Scott and Curtis discuss the challenges of deposit gathering for virtual banks and the importance of a good deposit strategy.
- Curtis explains how Tab Bank has been successful in deposit gathering and the benefits of being a virtual bank.
- Scott and Curtis talk about the flexibility of Tab Bank in understanding the needs of businesses across the United States.
- Curtis describes the role of business development officers in specific regions and their importance in understanding local market needs.
Impact of Tariffs and Manufacturing Trends
- Scott and Curtis discuss the impact of tariffs on manufacturing and the need for capital to reposition and build up inventory.
- Curtis explains how Tab Bank helps companies release working capital locked up in inventory and provides financing programs.
- Scott and Curtis talk about the uncertainty in the market and the optimism among companies despite the challenges.
- Curtis shares an example of a well-known brand in home gym equipment considering different plans due to tariff uncertainties.
Tab Bank's Flexibility and Customized Solutions
- Scott and Curtis discuss Tab Bank's flexibility compared to traditional banks, which often have strict lending mandates.
- Curtis explains how Tab Bank focuses on receivables, inventory, and other assets of the company rather than just cash flow.
- Scott and Curtis share an example of a bottling company struggling post-COVID and how Tab Bank helped them with financing.
- Curtis highlights the importance of understanding the unique story and needs of each company to provide customized solutions.
Process of Working with Tab Bank
- Scott asks about the process of working with Tab Bank for potential customers.
- Curtis explains the different ways to contact Tab Bank, including the website, email, and phone calls.
- Curtis describes the initial steps of learning about the company, reviewing information, and putting out a term sheet.
- Scott appreciates the frictionless and painless process of working with Tab Bank.
Curtis Sutherland's Contact Information
- Scott asks Curtis how potential customers can get in touch with him.
- Curtis provides his email address and cell phone number, encouraging potential customers to reach out to him directly.
- Scott and Curtis discuss the importance of being responsive and available for potential customers.
- Scott thanks Curtis for being on the podcast and highlights the importance of having experts like Curtis on the Industrial News Network.
Conclusion and Call to Action
- Scott wraps up the podcast, emphasizing the importance of having experts like Curtis Sutherland on the Industrial News Network.
- Scott encourages listeners to reach out to Curtis and connect with him for their financing needs.
- Scott reiterates the importance of capital and financing in the industrial renaissance and the role of Tab Bank in providing solutions.
- Scott thanks the listeners for joining the podcast and invites them to stay tuned for future conversations.
If interested in being on the Industrial Talk show, simply contact us and let's have a quick conversation.
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CURTIS SUTHERLAND'S CONTACT INFORMATION:
Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtissutherland/
Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tab-bank/
Company Website: https://www.tabbank.com/
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Transcript
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Industrial Renaissance, manufacturing finance, capital markets, virtual bank, business development, small businesses, commercial lending, inventory financing, tariffs, working capital, default interest, receivables, manufacturing lines, regional insights, industrial news network.
Scott, welcome to the Industrial Talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots and let's go
Hello and welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you so much for your continued support of this platform, this number one industrial related platform that celebrates industry professionals all around the world. Yes, you are bold, brave and you dare greatly, you innovate, you collaborate, you are solving today's problems, industrial Renaissance, I might add. Thank you very much for what you do. You are the heroes in this story, this continuous story of industrial stuff. Thank you very much. All right, in the hot seat, we have a gentleman by the name of Curtis Sutherland tab bank, T, A, B. Bank is the organization, and I don't think we get enough play of this. We're talking about this industrial renaissance and all around that requires capital, requires the money, requires a partner that can work with you to be able to sort of fulfill those dreams and expand your business. Tab, bank. Curtis Sutherland, let's get cracking with the conversation. We don't we don't have enough conversations around financing, manufacturing finance, industrial financing. Where's those you know, what's happening in the capital markets? What? What access Do you have? You know, we talk about it. We talk about this incredible future that we have. We're talking about reassuring and near shoring and doing all the shores that we need to do within manufacturing and and the energy market and data and you name it. It's happening requires money. How do we get that money? What do we do? How do we fulfill those visions? Curtis, tab, bank. Great conversation. It's cracking. It's a good one. He he knows what he's talking about before we get into that conversation. One Industrial Talk is developing an industrial news network. What that means is that you need information as quickly as you possibly can. We need to be able to find trusted individuals, trusted people, trusted companies, to be able to deliver on that message, to be able to say, Hey, this is what's taking place in in the market today. Why it's important and make it fast. Speed is the key here, because we can't go, you know, as well as I do this, it's, it's blistering fast out there, ah, it's, it's exciting, but it's fast, and that requires an information channel that can keep up with that, that realities in the marketplace. Industrial news network, be on the lookout if you want to contribute, if you want to be a contributor, a correspondent like saying, I want to talk about the latest that's taking place in the big, beautiful bill and how it's impacting manufacturing. I think we need to talk the same thing with tariffs, the same thing with capital markets, the same thing with everything that's going to be impacting the market. Be a correspondent. I'm only asking for six minutes of your time to share your incredible insights and wisdom right there. Industrial news network, onto the conversation Curtis Sutherland. And because of my finance background, I pretty much geek out on this, and I see the necessity to be able to find a real good banking partner to fulfill your you know, dreams and tab has a incredible model to do, that they're nimble. They definitely understand, they understand what you need, and they are able to execute on that, which is really pretty cool. All right, here's Curtis. Curtis, welcome to Industrial Talk. I am looking forward to the Yeah. Listener, it's going to be about banking and financing and money stuff and and I'm all geeky about it, because I don't care where you're at. You need help. You need you need a reliable source of capital to be able to. To fulfill your dreams. I just sort of threw that in there. It's a good app. I like it. I'm just rolling with it. Hey, thank you for being on the podcast. Really, really appreciate it all the way from you. Yep,
Thanks, Scott. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and looking forward to doing the podcast today and and worst case scenario, we can always talk about Utah, if we don't get too deep into the banking
ski.
I do, yep, I love, I love to snow ski.
I don't, but I always, I always dreamt that I would.
It's a lot of fun. Yeah, I bet I definitely need to put it on your bucket list. For sure. I'll
put it on my bucket list. There it is. I'm gonna write down. Speaking of writing dang down, just just for the for you. I look down. I have a notebook. I'm not as sharp as you, so sometimes I have to take notes. So don't be distracted by me looking down. It doesn't mean I'm not listening.
Sounds good. I've got notes too. I might have to do the same thing at some
we're on the same page, but I'm not sharp as you that's for sure. All right, before the listeners out there give us a little background on who Curtis is, you know, let's set that table right now on Curtis,
ommercial bank. We started in:just, just tap bank, go beyond the the confines of you talk to. Do you have any parameter? I know you're not going to, you know, Eastern Europe, but within United States, that's your market.
Yeah, the entire United States is, in fact, our market, because we're a essentially a virtual bank. We do have a headquarters in Ogden. We have 350 ish employees, but most of our customers, I'd say 75% of our customers, are actually just scattered throughout the United States, but by being a virtual bank, it lowers our overhead costs. We're able to pass on that savings to our customers. See, I like that.
How come it's how come it's not? I mean, there should be more virtual banks. You guys are leading the way right with a virtual bank,
especially when we started in the late 90s, yeah, that was, that was a, really a foreign concept. You know, the challenge that a virtual bank has is deposit gathering. Right? Banks need to have core deposits in order to lend money. So a virtual bank must have a very good deposit gathering strategy, which we've we've been able to accomplish, but that's probably the biggest challenge. Why you don't see more, but companies that figure out how to do that, or, I should say, banks, can be very successful at
that interesting. See, anybody can be a smarter person with that said, How does, how does a business development guy like you, you're looking your role is to look for customers that need capital, right? Correct? Is that? Yeah, sort of yep, yep. That's accurate. And, and because you're a virtual bank, and I hate to sort of, sort of relive you're you're able to pretty much go anywhere in the United States,
correct, correct. That's just correct, yep, how does
a bank like yours take in I mean, it wouldn't be easier to understand the needs of a local market more than the needs of a a more, you know, scattered market. How does how does tab do that? I mean, to see the needs up in Northeast Ohio. Great
question. Question, How do you do that? Yeah, it's, it's because we're more accustomed to working with businesses. We still do accept consumer deposits. Of course, in fact, we have very good savings rates on CDs and competitive money market savings accounts all the, all the typical things that you'd expect. But we're so dialed into the needs of small businesses, specifically in manufacturing, industrial type companies, that we can take and apply what we've learned there across the country. We do have a team of business development officers in specific regions across the United States. For example, we have someone in Georgia, we have a guy in California, we have a guy in New York, and we rely heavily on those business development officers and their referral networks to find deals that would be good customers, good fits for both of us, and we and those guys specifically work with, whether it's loan brokers or other bankers. We're very good at helping customers that might have traditionally been with a very, let's say, JPMorgan Chase, yeah, Bank of America, very traditional bank, very stringent type of credit. And if you trip a covenant or have one bad year, they'll ask you to leave. So a lot of these guys that I work, that I work with, that are on my team. They work with the workout officers or the special assets divisions of other banks. And so if somebody's in that position where they need to find a new home, hopefully we're their first call, and we can find a structure within tab that's a better fit for that company and gets them out of default. They'll save a lot of money on default interest and set them up with a line that actually helps them grow, instead of just wasting money, you know, on default fees with some of these bigger banks.
So So these regional individuals, they have probably the best insights on what takes place from a from that region, you know, like, like, how business, what are the the issues happening or impacting business? Like, I said, Northeast Ohio, big manufacturing base. But you, you really have to understand what is taking place in those, those regions. You just apply your view of what's happening in Utah and apply it to Northeast Ohio. It because it's different state. Yep, different demands need Correct.
Yeah, we, we rely very heavily on those individuals and corresponding regions. They they're, they're working with the local chambers of commerce, attending all sorts of local industry events, and specifically those ones that relate to industrial and manufacturing, and they'll attend those specific events and try to get to know the business owners. What are the common issues that they're facing? Of course, with the recent talk of tariffs, a lot of companies have been trying to reposition or build up on inventory. Of course, when you do that now, you're working capital locked up in inventory. We can help release some of that with some of our financing programs. But to your point, it's real important that they're very active in the regions to understand the needs, to network and to hopefully spread aware awareness of how we can help some of these companies. Yeah,
yeah. I think the topic of what you're talking about doesn't get enough exposure, I believe, and you're the expert, given what has taken place in DC with the new bill, for me, I'm having a hard time finding out what does that mean financially, if I'm a manufacturer, what does that mean? How do I if there's going to be a greater demand for me to manufacture more whatever, and I'm where we're reassuring more manufacturing, right? That's a capital equation. I Yeah, how do you? How do you as tab? How do you see the the the economics going forward?
Great, great question. Because there, there are so many variables that go into that, and every company we work with is so unique and has their own story and their own procurement process. And what I've seen the most Scott from the type of companies that we've dealt with, especially if the goods are being sourced from China, what we've noticed is the manufacture. In China have agreed to absorb some of that cost. Our customer agrees to absorb some of that cost, and then they pass on some of that to their customers. So what I've seen, I see a lot of back and forth of who's actually paying for it. From what I've seen from working with these customers and seeing a lot of different companies, their P and L their balance sheet, it's a little it's kind of being spread across all those pools. Now, some of those companies have have been able to source from other other countries where the tariffs are not as significant, and that's been a solution for some of them. Some of them are on shoring more of that. However, in order to do that, they're needing to build their manufacturing lines. Got to invest in equip equipment. They're needing to expand their warehouse, they need to do all these sorts of things that require capital. And that's where we like to come in and and work with them to find a way to help them accomplish those goals. Because there's, there's kind of a little bit of all of that in play, and it's, it's unique for every customer. What we try to do is really understand the customer story, their journey and where they want to go, and then help them find a solution to that.
See this renaissance that I I see, I think it's happening, and it's an industrial Renaissance, and I think that there has been, it's interesting, because people will park their capital. It's sort of, I'm sort of holding back. There's this balance between I need capital. I need another line of I'm in a manufacturer. I need another line, but I have to, as a manufacturer, accept the fact that the market will help support my new line will, will and, and that's sort of I is it still sort of squishy out there in the marketplace? Are they are are we getting, are we getting closer to people feeling more confident in deploying capital and building that line because the market is going to be there? What I it, I don't know
what I'm seeing is still a lot of uncertainty, yeah, but with a with a greater slant of higher optimism, there's been just a lot of, I've got several customers that are interested in doing something with us. There's, there's one I'm looking at in particular. They, it's a well known brand in home gym equipment that you would most likely recognize. Well, they source a lot of the products from, from China. They're trying to decide what to do next. They're not, they're not sure if they should do a working capital with us right now, or just sort of wait things out and see where the chips land, and then make a decision. So we are still seeing a lot of customers just sort of in this holding pattern of not quite sure what to do move kind of slowly, but I do think it's very wise. For instance, this customer, they're hedging their bets by having a few couple things, couple plans going if, if they're unable to resource their goods elsewhere, or if a tariff deal isn't struck to where it it helps them, we'll step in, help them, give them the working capital that they need, and They'll probably start moving more of this manufacturing onshore.
Why? Why are you tab able to be have more flexibility a little bit you're you're far more nimble than your traditional why? How come you can do it, and you know the traditional institutions are not to deal with?
Yeah, I think that's the greatest question. A typical brick and mortar mainstream either whether it's a national bank, the JP Morgans, the chases, the wells, or then you get down into the regionals, UMB, Zions Bank, you know, even Silicon Valley, they all kind of have their little niches that they've they've got for themselves. They're, they're under a pretty strict mandate on how they like to lend, and many of those lenders require positive cash flow. So what that means is they want to see a positive EBITDA, year over year, low leverage, and they're mostly lending against what they consider to be the cash flow. Yeah,
the risk. There's no risk,
very little risk. They take very little risk. Yeah, so so that we we consider that that's a true traditional banking type line. It's more of a. Revolver, a line of credit. It's looking at that cash flow. Well, if you have a manufacturing company, in fact, I'm looking at a bottling company right now in California. It's been around for years. And if you were to walk into a Costco and buy a Kirkland, I won't mention what it is, but that's what they're they're doing. They have a massive contract with Costco. Companies just was successful for 60 years, but really struggled post covid. Well, their traditional bank, because they had a rough couple of years, said, You need to find a new home.
Harsh, That's harsh.
Yeah, it's, I can't imagine the phone call one day in your you know, hey, this is your banker. JP, Morgan, you've got 60 days to leave. Yeah,
I'd hate to be that person that has to deliver. Yuck.
Yeah, this the worst kind of phone call you can you can almost receive as a business owner. And then, where do you start? You know a lot of these people, where do I? Where do I go to help solve this equation? So that's where a lender like tab can come in. We can help cure the default, because when that happens, you're in a default interest rate, you're going to add at least 5% to whatever your rate is today. That's kind of typical, and then they'll probably be charging you a forbearance fee monthly, maybe even semi weekly, just to continue to service you until you're you're in a new home. So when you when you come to a bank like tab bank, where we're more focused on your receivables, your inventory, the assets of the of the company, we look at that more than we look at the cash flow. We put a greater emphasis on that. So especially if you know this bottling company that has Costco as their biggest customer, Costco is not going to default. That's, I haven't pulled their credit rating lately, but I think it's probably a triple A rated credit. It's, yeah,
I Well, I've been, I've been helping out with that. Quite frankly, when I go there and I 500 bucks for beef.
oing to save them hundreds of:borrow. Don't they just want to hug you, that's, that's and you know, from from what I'm listening to you, and that that cash flow is everything. So can't survive without something in place to be able to help you with the ebb and flow of what takes place financially. And if your customer is Costco, that's a serious that's a serious, that's serious. So let me ask you this, yeah, low risk, yeah. Let me go. Let's so I'm a manufacturer. I knock on the door. Well, I wouldn't knock on him because you're virtual. I'm I'm in another town, another state, and take us through just sort of the general. Process of saying, Hey, I'm I need help, and then sort of help us through this journey.
Yep, so there's, there's a few different ways to do that, given that we don't have a physical door to knock on. Yeah, a lot a lot of potential customers that hear about us in some way, shape or form. Best Ways to hop on our website, and we like to make it easy. Not everyone wants to fill out a website form. That's fine. You can click on our sales team. Find the the business development officer that's closest to you. His contact information is right there. You could ping him, send him a quick email, he or her a quick email, what you're looking for, and that individual will reply within hours. If it's during the day, we're going to be very responsive to that. The other option, of course, there is a form you can put. A little bit more information about your company, what you're looking for. If you hit submit on that, those actually come directly to me. I'll look at that and then decide which of my team members would be the best fit for the type of financing that you're looking for. And once we get connected, we'll learn a little more about the company. We'll talk about some things that we'd like to review. And once we do that, we can put out a term sheet and see what we can do from
there. Yeah, that's that's painless. It does. It's frictionless, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now that's good stuff, man. I really, I I can appreciate that. I can't give it my back. Thank you. I can appreciate very well done.
Every every entrepreneur's business is so unique. At the end of the day, we want to geek
out on that. I mean, is that I love that? Yeah, is that that's
pretty cool. The best part of my job was learning their story, how they got into it? Yeah, that's, that's my most favorite thing that I do at work every day. But we, at the end of day, we want to get on a phone call you tell us about your company and how, what are the problems you're trying to solve? We want to take an individual approach. We're not going to just send a term sheet that one size fits all. We are going to customize that. Maybe you have seasonal fluctuations with inventory. Maybe you really have to flex up before the holiday season, for instance, and need to borrow more against inventory. Well, we can do that. We've got customers where we allow them on certain times of year, they borrow even more against the inventory to meet, to meet the cells.
That's cool. Yeah. See, I like that. I like that a lot. Curtis, how do people this is, this is a feeding question. I am interested in answers, and I need some expertise. How would people get a hold of you? Curtis, what's the best way?
-:hours. I like it. Yeah, cool. You didn't disappoint at all. You did a great job with the first podcast you've ever done in your entire life. This is number one. Oh no, and it only goes down from there, because I am the best. I'm the number one industry related podcast in the universe. I say it all the time. Number one in the universe. It's all backed up by data.
Oh, Google Analytics, I'm sure is all over that, right? All over it, all
over it. Yeah, this is number one guy. Absolutely. Thank you Curtis for being on Industrial Talk.
Absolutely, thanks. Let me Scott, I love it.
All right, listeners, we're gonna have his contact information. Curtis is all over the place. You you need to put Curtis on your team. So make it happen. We're gonna have his contact information out on Industrial Talk. You know that, so go out to Industrial Talk, find Curtis, connect with Curtis. And as you can tell, he's a nice guy. So make it happen, Captain. All right, we're gonna wrap it up on the other side. Stay tuned. We will be right back.
You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.
Yeah, lot going on in industry. It's happening fast. It's, it's, it's snappy out there. And I love it. I love individuals like Curtis tab bank, being a part of that solution that get you need their they need to be a part of your team. Curtis Sutherland, get the contact information, reach out to him, have a conversation. Yes, needs to be a part of your team. All right. Again, Industrial Talk is here for you. You desire to be on the podcast, you need to reach out to me. Go out to Industrial Talk. You have a story to tell yes, you go out to Industrial Talk, reach out to me. Chirp, we'd be able to have that conversation. Industrial News Network. Make a note of that. All right. Be bold, be brave. Dare greatly. Hang out with Curtis, and you will be changing the world. Thank you very much for joining. We're going to have another great conversation shortly. So stay tuned.