How Stokeview Advisory Uses Wayflyer to Fund Three Very Different Businesses

Robb Harris is a fractional CFO based in the UK with 30 years of financial experience, advising a portfolio of founder-led businesses with revenues up to £10 million. Three of his clients use Wayflyer: a fast-growing health food brand, a London events venue, and a premium swim academy, each for an entirely different reason.

The challenge: Profitable businesses that banks can't fund fast enough

Robb Harris spent the early part of his career putting in facilities with NatWest and HSBC. Large organisations, long processes, credit teams that could never be reached. When he moved into fractional CFO work, advising founder-led businesses from the inside, the mismatch between that world and what small businesses need became hard to ignore.

"The big banks have a place, but they don't particularly have a place in this SME space. They can't move quickly enough. They're too constrained by processes, structures, risk aversion."

Three of his clients each hit that wall in a different way.

The Gut Stuff sells high-fibre health products into Tesco, Ocado and Amazon. The business is growing fast and the model works. But overseas production has to be paid for before a single unit reaches the supermarket shelf, and major multiples are not known for paying their invoices quickly. Profitable business, but the timing of cash in and cash out creates a gap that has to be funded.

Shuffle Club is a corporate events venue in London with strong December trading and lean months from January through August. The bank debt carried over from COVID comes with fixed monthly repayments regardless of how the business is performing. Wayflyer could flex to the business's seasonal rhythm in a way the bank would not.

Get Set Swim is a premium swim school in South West London, opening two new sites simultaneously. Equity funding was confirmed from an existing shareholder. The delay was legal: the lawyers needed time. The builds could not wait. Wayflyer stepped in with a three-month facility to keep construction on schedule while the paperwork completed.

Three profitable businesses. Three entirely different needs. The same underlying problem: capital that could not arrive at the speed the business required.

The solution: Speed, clarity and talking to people

Robb was introduced to Wayflyer through The Gut Stuff, which already had a facility in place when he came on board. After years of navigating bank account managers and credit teams that never spoke to each other, the contrast was immediate.

"To go from standing start to funds in account in maybe 72 hours. The bank is like 72 weeks."

He manages the relationship largely over WhatsApp. His account manager responds the same day, often within hours.

"90% of my comms with Anna is on WhatsApp. Again, dead easy, response times are certainly same day, which is helpful even if it's just 'that might take a day, I've got it, I'll come back to you.'"

The way Wayflyer communicates matters as much as the speed. Robb works with founders who have never taken on external financing before. The language used by a bank (credit committees, security requirements, covenant structures) can make borrowing feel like a risk in itself.

"It's presented in a way that the founders understand as well, take away some of that fear of borrowing."

On price, Robb is direct. Wayflyer costs more than bank debt. Short-term, unsecured facilities run at around 1.2 to 1.5% per month. But the comparison he draws is not with bank debt. Bank debt, when available, comes with security requirements and timelines that rule it out for most of the situations his clients face. Against emergency lenders and private facilities, Wayflyer is competitive and considerably more transparent.

"The businesses that are investing this money, their returns are way in excess of that."

The results: Three businesses kept moving

The Gut Stuff used Wayflyer to bridge the working capital gap between paying overseas suppliers and collecting from supermarkets, freeing the business to grow at the pace of demand rather than the pace of its cash cycle.

Shuffle Club drew a facility to carry it through the lean months of early 2027, bridging the seasonal gap while it continues to pay down its post-COVID bank debt. By the time that debt is cleared, Robb expects the business to be cash self-sufficient.

"Wayflyer will have provided exactly what we needed when we needed it to keep a profitable business moving forward."

Get Set Swim used a three-month bridge to keep two site builds on schedule during an equity funding delay. The equity arrived. The Wayflyer facility was cleared within weeks. Two more profitable locations are now open and trading.

Robb frames it the way a CFO would: in terms of what each facility had to do, not how it felt.

"Short term, fulfilled quickly. Profitable businesses move on."

Interested in following in Stokeview's footsteps? Wayflyer has funded over 6,000 businesses worldwide with $6 billion worth of working capital, backed by world-leading financial institutions. Apply in minutes and access funds in hours. Start your application today.