Nathan Garcia and Pocket Planner Inc. — Building the AI Layer for Better SBA Loan
Readiness
Some of the biggest barriers to small business funding are not flashy. They are buried in
paperwork, weak presentation, and loan files that take too much time for a lender to sort
through.
Nathan Garcia saw that problem up close and decided to build for it.
With 16 years in financial services behind him, Nathan founded Pocket Planner Inc. to turn that
expertise into practical technology. Over the last three years, Nathan and his team worked with
the Maryland Small Business Development Center to sharpen strategy, strengthen business
positioning, and support growth around a fintech solution tied to SBA lending. The client activity
history shows continued counseling and follow-up during this period, including support related to
planning, funding readiness, and business development.
That work took shape through Express Underwriter, a Pocket Planner solution designed to help
community lenders, CDFIs, and SBA-focused intermediaries review loan opportunities more
clearly and efficiently. Nathan captured the problem directly in his public post dated April 23,
2026:
"We built Express Underwriter to solve a problem most people don't see: Small business
owners get turned down for SBA loans — not because their business isn't viable, but because
the paperwork is wrong, the financials aren't packaged right, or the lender doesn't have time to
dig." – Nathan Garcia, 4/23/26.
That quote gets to the heart of Pocket Planner's work. The company is focused on a practical
lending problem with real consequences for small business owners. A strong business can still
lose momentum when the application is incomplete, confusing, or difficult for a lender to
process. Pocket Planner's answer is to build tools that help make those files cleaner, clearer,
and easier to assess.
Maryland SBDC support helped Nathan keep pushing that idea forward. The uploaded record
reflects sustained engagement from 2023 through 2026 tied to counseling, planning, funding-
related questions, and follow-up support.
Then came a public milestone.
In 2026, Express Underwriter earned second-place recognition at the AWS AI Pitch Competition
hosted alongside Maryland SBDC and Howard County Economic Development Authority. The
uploaded newsletter notes that Express Underwriter finished in a second-place tie among the
finalists, marking a visible win for a company tackling a problem that often goes unseen in the
funding process.
For Pocket Planner, this is not simply a story about an award. It is a story about traction. With
SBDC support over the last three years, Nathan Garcia and his company continued to refine the
business, tighten the message, and gain recognition for a product aimed at making SBA lending
work better for the people trying to access it. That is the kind of progress that matters: a
stronger company, a clearer market position, and a solution built around helping viable small
businesses get a fairer shot.
Posted: 07/21/2026