About Prevail Finance
Built the
long way.
From a migrant student who couldn't make rent, to the bank's credit desk, ten-plus development sites, and a book with Chris Voss. This firm is what that road built.
Priyank's story
The banker who
became the borrower.
I arrived in Australia in 2007 as a migrant student with a dream, a work ethic, and very little else. Within months I couldn't pay rent and wasn't sure where the next meal was coming from. I worked construction sites, sold phones and internet connections door-to-door, and took a job as an assistant chef in a fifty-year-old Italian restaurant in Melbourne — whatever it took. That season taught me what no textbook could: empathy is born from experience, and trust is the most valuable currency there is.
I built the career the long way. A Master of Commerce in accounting, years working as an accountant, then inside the lending machine itself — Commercial Credit Analyst at La Trobe Financial assessing $5m-plus portfolios, then Lending Manager at Bank of Melbourne with my own Delegated Lending Authority.
I was the person your file had to convince.
Then I crossed the desk. I started developing property — townhouses, subdivisions, co-living, ten projects and counting. I bought a loss-making business, rebuilt it over eighteen months, and sold it at 2.5 times the purchase price. And I learned something uncomfortable: even knowing exactly what the credit committee wanted, getting complex deals funded was harder than it should be. Not because the deals were weak — because the industry between borrower and lender mostly shops rates instead of building files.
So in 2017 I founded Prevail Finance to be the firm I couldn't find: forensic on structure, honest on day one, staffed by people who treat your deal like their own capital is in it. In 2026, Chris Voss and Success Books invited me to co-author Lead with Empathy — because the way we work here turned out to be worth writing down. Australia and I have built something on mutual respect. This firm is part of it.
— Priyank Thakkar · Founder, CVO & Finance Broker
Operating principles
What we believe.
Decline reasons are usually structural. Structure can be rebuilt.
Timelines, outcomes and written pathways — not adjectives.
If your deal doesn't work, we say so in the first meeting, and we say why.
Entity, SMSF and tax-adjacent deals run alongside your accountant and adviser — never around them.
WITH
EMPATHY
Published 2026
Written down with Chris Voss.
In 2026, Priyank joined former FBI lead international hostage negotiator Chris Voss — author of Never Split the Difference — and a select group of professionals worldwide as a co-author of Lead with Empathy (Success Books). His chapter carries the discipline this firm runs on: listen first, then structure. All author royalties go to the Entrepreneurs International Fund.
The team
The people
on your file.
Founder, CVO & Finance Broker
Former Commercial Credit Analyst and bank Lending Manager with his own approval authority. Active property developer — ten-plus completed projects — and co-author of Lead with Empathy with Chris Voss. Personally runs every Forensic Audit and sets the structure on every file.
Client Delivery
The engine room. Sunil builds the serviceability case, prepares every application to audit standard, and negotiates directly with lenders on pricing, valuations and policy exceptions. Client reviews keep naming him — usually for updates that arrive before anyone thinks to ask.
Growth & Client Acquisition
Your first call and your weekly update. Sanskriti runs onboarding, documentation and settlement day itself — then the check-ins that continue after the money moves. Nothing on your file goes quiet.
Accreditations & Memberships
Finance Brokers Association of Australia
SMSF Association
Australian Institute of Business Brokers