Customer Story · Commercial finance broker
A processor's worth of work — roughly $40K a year — handled by Kaaj
The Funding Booth runs lean. Kaaj acts as its junior underwriter and processing agent: any application, from any vendor, in any format, spread and decision-ready in minutes — even from Bob's phone.
Bob Booth on video. Chapters and full transcript
~$40K/yr
in processor costs replaced
Bob Booth
CEO, The Funding Booth
~$40K
a year in processor savings, by Bob's estimate
3 min
from forwarding an app to reviewing the spread deal — even on his phone
24/7
applications processed after hours, on the road, at vendor sites
100%
consistent — every app checked for signatures and compliance
“I recommend Kaaj to anybody processing a fair amount of apps on the broker side. It saves you a ton of time and headaches, keeps you in more compliance — it really has everything you need to be successful.”
— Bob Booth, CEO, The Funding Booth
The Challenge
A small team wearing every hat, tied to the office
The Funding Booth is a small leasing brokerage where Bob Booth does a bazillion things a day — and processing was the one that ate the hours that should have gone to vendors, marketing, and funded deals.
Every vendor has its own application format, many of them handwritten. Working a deal meant manually pulling credit, looking up Secretary of State records, and scrolling bank statements — work that only happened when someone was physically at a desk. An application that arrived at 9pm waited until morning. And when you're moving fast, things like a missing signature slip through.
“Do I focus on the deals that are funding and making us money, or where do I find the time to implement new systems? There's only so much time in the day.”
The Solution
A junior underwriter that lives in his pocket
Bob's description of Kaaj is the simplest one we've heard: a replacement for a junior underwriter or processing agent. Whatever application comes in — handwritten or electronic, any vendor's format — he forwards it to the Kaaj submissions address. Within a couple of minutes the file is spread: credit pulled, SOS checked, bank statements analyzed, everything in one secure place.
Because it's all phone-accessible, the office stopped being a requirement. Standing in front of a vendor, Bob forwards the app, makes small talk for three minutes, then opens the analyzed deal and tells them on the spot whether he can get it done — and on what terms.
Kaaj also catches what speed misses: unsigned applications get flagged every time, and the lender matching tool confirms where a deal fits across his funding partners.
“I've been in front of vendors, sent the app to submissions, and three minutes later — 'hey, the deal's ready to be looked at.' Right then and there you can say: this is a deal I can get done.”
The Results
Speed as the differentiator, consistency as the moat
In Bob's words, speed is everything in his industry: most brokers use the same lenders, so turning deals around faster is what separates one shop from another. After-hours applications now get triaged the moment they arrive — he knows by 9:05pm whether a 9pm application is worth jumping on.
The economics are blunt. A processor or two would run about $40,000 a year; Kaaj does that work with total consistency — processing multiple applications at once, never busy with something else, never out sick.
It's also a product that grows with him: the payment pricing feature The Funding Booth uses for instant customer quotes was built from Bob's own request — one of several asks that he says were simply delivered, without nagging.
“It's a consistent model that shows up every day to work — and it's never sick. Those things make a difference.”
Beyond the software
A partner that knows lending — and picks up the phone.
The Kaaj team — including founders Utsav and Shivi — works hands-on with every customer. No retrofitted generic tool, no AI chatbot standing between you and an answer.
Responsive support
“I've asked for several things and you've always delivered — in a timely manner. It hasn't been something where I have to nag you about it. If I ask for something, right away you guys are on it.”
Built for this industry
“Shivi and Utsav were really responsive from day one. You're open and willing to listen to recommendations — you don't have a closed mind that says 'no, this is all we're going to do.' The payment pricing feature? You guys created it on my request.”
In Bob’s words
The transcript of the video above, by chapter. Watch with chapters
Full transcript
A junior underwriter in his pocket
So we use it mostly as like a replacement for, I would say, like a junior underwriter or a processing agent, right? So, you know, it's a great system in the sense of whatever application you have, all vendors have different applications, right? So whatever application you have, whether it's a handwritten one or electronic, as long as it's signed properly and it has the information that's needed, we just send it to Kaaj using that submissions email and attach the application. And then from there, within a couple minutes, I'm able to spread the file out and look at everything right out of the get-go. So I don't have to manually pull credit. I don't have to look up the SOS. If I have bank statements, I don't have to, you know, scroll through the banks to see everything's analyzed there. And those are things that
A credit read in front of the vendor
If I'm on the road too, I can send in the application and I can look right at it on my phone. I've been in front of a few vendors before and, you know, they have an app and I'm like, okay, cool, let me take a look at it. And I'll send it to the submissions portal. And then within like three minutes, you know, you know, just small talk the vendor for a few minutes. And then I'm like, oh, hey, the deal's ready to be looked at. Let me take a look and see what we can do. And then right then and there you're able to say, this is a deal I can get done. It's going to be a good, solid rate or this isn't a deal I can get done or this is a deal I can get done, but it's not going to be the prettiest terms. So to be able to do that in a matter of minutes versus, you
The ROI: about $40K a year
I would say the bigger your firm is, and the more applications you process, the more money you're going to save, right? The more time you're going to save. For us, I think what we pay is definitely worth what, you know, what's being offered. And it saves us a ton of time. It saves us the anxiety of getting an application at night and not being able to process it after hours, you know, for out of the office or something. So all in all, it's, you know, it's hard to put a number on the, you know, return on investment. But I mean, if we really wanted to quantify it, if we have a processor or two processors, you know, that could be like 40 grand a year, just in savings, you know, for the processor, right? Obviously, Kaaj comes with a price too, but yeah, I mean, it's time is money. And for us, it saves us a lot of
Why he recommends Kaaj to brokers
Oh, yeah, I have many times. Yeah, I recommend you guys to anybody who is processing a fair amount of apps. On the broker side, it's going to save you a ton of time. It's going to save you a bunch of headaches. It's going to keep you in more compliance. It really has everything that you need to be successful. And the platform is really about what you put into it too, which is cool because the more lenders you have, the more complex your decision making gets and Kaaj makes that really easy to navigate, especially if you have a, you know, a lot of lending partners that you lean on. From a lender's perspective, I mean, I was, I worked for a direct lender first in this space. And, you know, there was a handful of people sitting at desks processing applications manually.
Consistent, and never out sick
So, if you can replace that with consistency and, you know, everything about Kaaj is consistent, right, you know, in five minutes, you're going to get the decision. Whereas if you have a human behind the scenes making the decision, or, you know, processing the application, it may not be five minutes, maybe they're busy doing something, you know, Kaaj has the ability to to process multiple apps at once. And it's just, you know, it's a consistent model that shows up every day to work, you know, it's never sick, like, you know, those things make a difference.
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