As one of the most prolific dealmakers in the asset-based lending industry over the last 30 years, Paul Schuldiner of Rosenthal & Rosenthal plays the long game, eschewing quick fixes in favor of solutions that truly address client needs.

During his one and only time playing golf at Pebble Beach, everything came together for Paul Schuldiner. The sun shone brightly, there was a breeze off the water, and in one of golf’s cathedrals, Schuldiner played one of the best games of his life.

Normally, when everything comes together for Schuldiner, it’s at the negotiating table, as over the course of more than 30 years, he has been winning business throughout the specialty finance industry.

Getting Stronger

Schuldiner started his professional career as a certified public accountant and first got into the asset-based lending industry in 1989 as an account executive at Intercontinental Credit. Over the next two years, Schuldiner underwent a crucible of sorts, learning all aspects of the ABL business. He also got his first taste of the workout side of the industry when an office supply company client abruptly shut its doors and metaphorically handed the keys of the business to Schuldiner.

Undeterred, Schuldiner got to work. He identified that he had the receivables and inventory for the business as well as payment direct letters to ensure collections would not be diverted and that customers would keep paying. He then hired his father and a friend to help count and control the inventory, eventually allowing him to navigate to a successful workout. Schuldiner still looks back fondly on those early days in the industry, noting that becoming well-rounded in ABL has helped him throughout his career.

“Do each job, work hard, realize that you’re there to learn and, even if you don’t like what you’re doing, take the opportunity to learn from it,” Schuldiner says. “I think it makes you a more well-rounded and more effective business development person.”

The PO Financing Path

Schuldiner has made a name for himself as an expert in numerous forms of lending, but purchase order finance is his true specialty. He first learned what PO financing could really do while working on a deal with a seasonal company in the early 1990s. Due to the intricacies of the business, the client needed a more complicated financing structure. Schuldiner worked with a PO financing company and a foreign trading company to construct a deal that required multiple intercreditor agreements and significant collateral administration and tracking.

That deal opened Schuldiner’s eyes to the potential of PO financing, and he would become much more intimately familiar with the product when he joined Transcap Trade Finance, a Chicago-based PO financing firm in 1996.

When Schuldiner first joined Transcap, PO financing was still a niche product, but over the course of the next decade, PO financing became more widely acceptable and, in turn, Transcap grew, in no small part because of Schuldiner’s ability to market the product and win business.

“The more that you can demonstrate that your product that you offer will help to solve their problem, then you have the foundation, in my opinion, for a longer-term and more mutually beneficial relationship,” Schuldiner says. “You really need to understand your value proposition. That’s the art of consultative selling to prospects.”

Entrepreneurial Nature

Schuldiner eventually became a principal at Transcap, a business he and his partners would sell to Wells Fargo in 2008. He would then work at Wells Fargo and King Trade Capital for before joining Rosenthal & Rosenthal in 2016 to launch and lead its PO financing division.

Schuldiner’s own entrepreneurial nature is reflected in his passion for working with business owners and learning about their objectives. In one of the largest deals of his career, Schuldiner closed a $30 million PO finance facility with an apparel distributor that required a complex structure and a creative trade financing solution. By taking the time to truly get to know the business, Schuldiner had the insight to structure the deal so that all parties could win, including the bank that referred the transaction.

“I enjoy working with entrepreneurs. I love listening to their stories, learning about different industries and products, and really understanding how their businesses work,” Schuldiner says. “If I have a full view of their business, it enables me to offer that consultative approach.”

Schuldiner’s role at Rosenthal & Rosenthal has expanded in his time with the company, as he was promoted to chief lending officer at the end of 2021. In the role, Schuldiner oversees far more products than PO finance, including Rosenthal’s expanding ABL footprint, its recently launched recourse and international factoring products and more. It’s a hefty responsibility, but Schuldiner is laser-focused on continuing to push Rosenthal & Rosenthal to greater heights.

“If, ultimately, I leave the company in a better place than when I started, then I know I’ve contributed to building lasting success,” Schuldiner says. “For me, that’s the end game.”