Irvine, California, United States
I am seasoned fintech and software entrepreneur with over 20 years experience in building companies from start to successful exit. FINTECH MILESTONES • Point person on taking credit card, POS embedded finance, Lending-as-a-Service, national bank partnerships and online acquisition channels from 0 to 1 at Oportun. • Co-Founder & CEO of Sociogramics, a pioneering social/alternative data platform for underwriting and fraud management. Investors included Greylock, Trinity and QED. • First marketing executive and employee #7 at Clean Power Finance, the first solar financing platform to include SaaS-based account quoting tools for installers. The company has raised over $1B and is now known as Spruce Finance with funding from Kleiner Perkins and Google Ventures. • Co-Founder and President of FastFind, an online account acquisition service for mortgage and credit card lenders. Our lead investor was Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans, and we sold FastFind to Bankrate.com in <2 years. • Vice President of Corporate Development at Providian Financial. Our team invested in PayPal pre-IPO, lead all company initiatives in P2P, EBPP, online account aggregation (e.g. Yodlee) and e-wallets. Lead multiple transactions to spin-off card portfolios and non-core assets (e.g. GetSmart sale to LendingTree). FUNCTION-SPECIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS • Built FP&A teams from bottom-up at three startups. • Grew sales from $0 to $6mm in less than 12 months at FastFind. • Grew EBITDA from negative $500k to positive $1.5mm and sales by 50% in less than 12 months at ClickSafety. • Reduced shipping costs 40% and FTE 30% while increasing package throughput 40% at Elemental LED. I have been a speaker at multiple fintech events to include Money 20/20, CFSI EMERGE and Online Lenders Alliance, been quoted in articles re the impact of social data on lending and hold a US Patent on the use of social data in employment verification for lending.
Getting us from 0 to 1 and beyond as fast as possible.
99FT is led by a team of very experienced financial services executives who have advised, built and operated global fintech companies. Comprised of former CEOs, CFOs, CRO, a regulator, and partners from the largest consulting firms in the world. The 99FT team has previously launched and stood up fully regulated, operational fintech, payments and lending solutions in under 12 months.
Our mission is to help Americans achieve their financial goals. Millions of people rely on our financial tools and resources to make better financial decisions. We’ve built the most comprehensive financial services comparison site available, and we’re just beginning. I am responsible for all marketing and sales programs, teams and conversion rate optimizations across all product verticals. • Improved conversion rate 3x in the personal loans funnel in six months. • >50% improvement in revenue per visitor in less than six months. • Successfully launched an outbound call campaign to improve overall unit economics. • Conceived and implemented A/B testing framework within all primary verticals to create a company culture focused on conversion rate optimization.
Sampling of strategic advisory and interim executive services provided: • GTM mapping for Series A payments fintech. • Sales team audit and restructuring for subprime installment lender.
I led and built the company’s new LaaS business unit as “employee #1” through the successful launch of the program in multiple partners in 500+ retail locations who were offering our unsecured installment loans. • Grew the initial 6-store pilot with one partner into a 250-store program in 12 months and 550+ stores across multiple partners in 24 months. • Exited the first 12-month period on a >$60M in annualized loan originations run-rate. • Developed the business plan, org structure, GTM strategy and long-term product vision. • Building on the success of our “retail” partnerships, my team built and led the launch of Oportun’s first online POS installment program with Sezzle as our first partner. • Built a robust pipeline of dozens of future partners for unsecured installment loans and POS financing.
Oportun is a mission-driven, technology-powered provider of inclusive, affordable financial services and a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). I was responsible for the company’s strategic plan, developing and incubating new products, sourcing potential acquisitions and leading the company through the acquisition process from LOI to integration. • Completed to company’s first acquisition, SpringboardAuto, in less than four months. Direct auto loans were available to Oportun customers in Q2 2019. • Developed the initial product plan, built the financial projections and gained BOD approval to launch a new secured installment loan program. The first loans were issued in Q2 2020. • Developed the initial product plan, sourced partner relationships, built the financial projections and gained BOD approval to launch our credit card program. The first cards were issued in Q4 2019. • Led the company’s entry into strategic online marketing and BaaS partnerships.