Step 1: Add a Sender
On the top right corner of the MCA Pilot sidebar, you'll see the name of the logged in user and a circle with their initials.
Click on the name and select "View profile." This will take you to your profile page, which is specific to each user (not to be confused with the Settings page, which is for the whole Workspace).
Near the top of your screen are multiple tabs. You'll be on Details, but you need to head to the Senders tab.
Once there, click the + New sender button in the top right. The form to create a new Sender will appear.
Here's an overview of each Sender field and what it means:
Field name | Description | Example value |
Users | The users in MCA Pilot who will be able to send emails through this Sender |
|
The name of the sender in MCA Pilot | ||
Username | Your full email address | |
Type | The connection type | Custom SMTP |
From name | The name that the email will appear from | John Galt |
Password | Your SMTP password (see below) | haig dcoi efen edxa |
Host | The server address (see below) | smtp.gmail.com |
Port | Typically depends on SSL/TLS settings | 465 |
Requires SSL/TLS | Whether to encrypt the message | TRUE (checked) |
Instructions for Common Email Providers:
Google Workspace / Gmail
Important: If you change your Gmail password, Google automatically deletes all app passwords. You'll need to create a new one and update it in MCA Pilot.
Quick Reference
Username | Your full email address |
Type | Custom SMTP |
From name | The name you want emails to appear from |
Password | App password (not your Gmail password—see below) |
Host | smtp.gmail.com |
Port | 465 |
Requires SSL/TLS | TRUE (checked) |
Getting Your App Password
Quick steps:
Enable 2-Step Verification: Google 2-Step Verification
Create app password: Google App Passwords
Name it "MCA Pilot" and click Create
Copy the 16-character password (no spaces)
Paste into the Password field in MCA Pilot
Show detailed instructions with screenshots
Show detailed instructions with screenshots
Step 1: Enable 2-Step Verification (if not already enabled)
App passwords require 2-Step Verification to be turned on for your Google Account.
Click
Get Startedif 2-Step Verification isn't already onFollow the prompts to set up your second authentication method (phone number, authenticator app, security key, etc.)
Complete the setup and confirm 2-Step Verification is active
Step 2: Create an App Password
Once 2-Step Verification is enabled, you can create app-specific passwords.
Scroll to the bottom of the page
Click the arrow next to "App passwords"
In the text field, type "MCA Pilot" (or any name that will help you identify this password later)
Click the
CreatebuttonGoogle will generate a 16-character password and display it on screen
Copy the password to your clipboard
Make sure not to copy any extra spaces at the beginning or end of the password. This password will only be shown once—if you lose it, you'll need to generate a new one.
Step 3: Use the App Password in MCA Pilot
Now paste the app password into the Password field when creating your sender in MCA Pilot.
When you test the connection (see "Verify Connection" section below), you should see a "Verified" status with a timestamp.
Common mistake: If you use your regular Gmail login password instead of an app password, it may work initially but Google will eventually reject your emails with error: Invalid login: 534-5.7.9 Application-specific password required
Microsoft Outlook
Username: Your full email address
Type: Custom SMTP (recommended)
You can also use type
Microsoft, which connects via OAuth 2.0, but you may run into throttling issues when sending many emails at a time.
From name: The name that you want your email to appear from
Password: [the password that you use to login to your Outlook account]
Host:
For business: smtp.office365.com (recommended)
For personal: smtp-mail.outlook.com
Port: 587
Requires SSL/TLS: FALSE (unchecked)
Sendgrid
Username: apikey
Type: Custom SMTP
From name: Your full email address
Password: Your API key
Host: smtp.sendgrid.net
Port: 587
Requires SSL/TLS: FALSE (unchecked)
Verify Connection:
To make sure your email account is connected, return to your profile page under the Senders tab. Hover over the Sender you'd like to verify and click Send test email.
Enter a different email address to receive the test email at and click Confirm.
If your email account is successfully connected, you'll receive the test email and the Sender's status will say something like "Verified at 2024-09-11T20:45:54.506Z".
But if the connection could not be verified, the Sender's status will display the error message from your email provider.
Step 2: Configure Default Sender
Let's return to the Profile page, but instead of the Senders tab we'll switch back to the Details tab.
On the bottom you'll see a collapsed section called "Defaults." Click on it to expand the section.
Now click on the Edit button at the top right corner of your screen. All the fields should immediately become editable.
The first field in the Defaults section is called "Default submission sender." Click the dropdown and select the Sender that you'd like as your default for submitting deals.
What this means is that whenever you open the Submit window on a deal, the "Send from" field will pre-populate with your default Sender.
You'll still be able to change the Sender for that specific deal if necessary. But setting a default speeds things up when you're almost always using the same Sender.
Step 3: Start Submitting Deals
Navigate into any single deal page and click the Submit button on the top right.
The first field in the Submit window will be "Send from," which is required. You can leave the default Sender selected, select a different one, or create a new Sender.
Before you submit, make sure that:
your files are in order (using the "App and banks" field under the Underwrite tab)
and all the funders you'd like to submit to are added (under the Funders tab).
Then whenever you're ready, click Submit and Confirm. A separate email will go out to each funder, and you can keep track of them under the Submissions table.
To test your setup without actually sending emails to funders, hover over
just create a Test Funder and add your own email address under it.
Then you can select that Funder under a deal and submit as you normally would.
Common Errors and How to Fix Them
Sometimes, an email will fail to go through. The submission will have a status of errored and you can click "View error" to see the error message given by your email provider.
Here are some of the most common errors and how to fix them:
Error | Problem | Solution |
[Google] Invalid login: Username and Password not accepted | Your app password was deleted (happens automatically when you change your Gmail password) or you entered the wrong credentials. | Create a new app password and update it in MCA Pilot under Settings → Senders → Update Password. |
[Google] Internal error | Same as above—app password is invalid or was deleted. | Generate a new app password in Google and update it in MCA Pilot. |
[Google] Message too big (552 5.3.4) | Attachments exceed Gmail's 25MB limit. | Keep total files under 18MB (due to encoding overhead). Compress PDFs if needed. |
[Google] Application-specific password required (534-5.7.9) | You used your regular Gmail password instead of an app password. | Create an app password (see Gmail instructions above) and use that instead of your login password. |
If something isn't clear in this article or you have a question about any related topics, feel free to send a message to us and we'll get to it as soon as we can.
Now you can get back to funding more, with MCA Pilot!