FTV Management Company, L.P.
  • News
  • Insights
  • Company
  • Growing Companies
    • Overview
    • FTV Propel®
  • Global Partner Network®
    • Overview
    • Strategic Advisory Board
  • Team
  • Portfolio
Investor Portal
Port Co Hub

Search

Think Forward

LoanPro CEO Rhett Roberts on Bootstrapping, Brainstorming and Building a Better Mousetrap

07.27.2022
Share this...
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

ThinkForward-header_Rhett-Roberts

Americans hold tens of trillions of dollars in outstanding debt, from mortgages and credit cards, to student, auto, and small business loans. For mortgages alone, U.S. consumers collectively owe more than $18 trillion, and another $1 trillion more in credit card debt. Few people think about the backend servicing – sending statements, collecting and remitting payments, chasing delinquencies – required to collect on all these loans, but it’s a massive business worth more than $6.7 billion annually. And, now, fintech apps are enabling entirely new types of lending, including point-of-sale finance and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), creating a surge in the number of loans needing servicing. Yet legacy servicing platforms have not kept pace with this new digital-first world. 

That’s why LoanPro, an API-based loan management platform hosted entirely in the cloud, is growing so fast. Founded in 2014 by brothers Rhett, Ben and Lloyd Roberts, LoanPro’s platform manages billions of dollars, millions of loans, and hundreds of lenders including traditional and alternative lenders and servicers, covering almost every type of loan – from prime and sub-prime, to BNPL, personal and auto. 

FTV led LoanPro’s $100 million Series A in July 2021, as the company’s first institutional investor, and has since helped the company source new customers, hire top talent and expand into new segments. We recently sat down with Rhett, CEO and co-founder of LoanPro, to discuss bootstrapping, brainstorming and building a better mousetrap. 

QUESTION 1

You’ve been in the loan business for a long time, having previously co-founded an automotive dealership – for which you built your own loan software – and then two different automotive finance companies. What drove you to start LoanPro?

About 20 years ago, as lenders ourselves, we couldn’t find a loan-servicing platform that provided everything we needed. We had software for loan applications and underwriting, but the problem was getting the money back; no software existed to help us keep track of and collect on the loans once they were issued. This led us to build a loan-servicing tool for our auto-lending business, but then lenders in other spaces – construction finance, mortgage lenders, banks and more – kept asking if they could use our software too. Eventually, we realized “there’s a business here.” In a nutshell, we power financial innovation, and we’re very proud of improving the loan repayment process for both lenders and borrowers.

QUESTION 2

LoanPro has grown incredibly fast, reaching a milestone of processing more than a billion dollars in payments a month, but you bootstrapped the company until FTV provided your first outside financing. Would you recommend this approach to aspiring entrepreneurs?

If you’re patient, flexible and committed for the long term, then bootstrapping is a great approach. But it requires a lot of sweat equity and doesn’t work if you just want to scale quickly and get to an exit. Though it’s now in sight, we didn’t originally set out to build the world’s biggest loan servicing software company. At first we just needed a tool to solve a problem we had ourselves. We pivoted a few times, put some features out there for others to try (several of which didn’t pan out) and over time applied our learnings, failures included, to build and improve a scalable product. 

By the time we raised capital, we were already cash flow positive and profitable, so we didn’t exactly need the money to continue growing and being successful. Rather, we took a strategic investment from FTV to help us expand into new markets and bring our product to more financial institutions around the world. 

Tons of bootstrapped companies that end up wildly successful are very different from the original vision. We’ve always been in this for the long haul. One of our core values is “The Goldilocks Rule” – the idea of sustained momentum to achieve a goal.

QUESTION 3

Embedded finance has quickly revolutionized lending with the future of lending moving to digital. How does LoanPro work with fintechs and what is your outlook on the future of lending?

Fintech has already upended the front-end for consumer transactions – payments, money transfer, applying for credit cards, mobile banking, the list goes on. But the backend of the financial services industry is much harder to shift because it’s dominated by legacy platforms created 30, 40, even 50 years ago. When it comes to loans, both lenders and consumers are frustrated. If you’ve taken out a mortgage recently, you know it’s still a very analog experience; you can’t see your money in escrow, can’t make electronic payments, have to wait days for checks to clear and then don’t get online access for weeks or even months after your loan has been finalized. 

We believe digitizing the entire back office of loan servicing is the only future that will work for both lenders and borrowers. With digital loan servicing, lenders get lower costs, more efficiency and fewer missed payments. They can also reach new markets through digital outreach, increasing financial inclusion. For their part, consumers get a better, more transparent, self-service loan repayment experience, accessible 24×7 online or mobile. 

QUESTION 4

What is a unique aspect of LoanPro’s culture that you have worked hard to instill and why is it important to you personally and to the company’s long-term growth?

Fundamental to our culture is our belief that you can turn an idea into reality with support and hard work. We encourage all of our employees – in every department and at every level – to come up with ideas and then take action to bring them to life. We have a specific structure in place for employees to officially propose ideas and get the support they need to make them happen. We value constant brainstorming and embrace failure, and for us it’s never about one individual’s ideas but about having a tapestry of ideas. There is nothing that endears employees more to our company than the practice of welcoming their ideas and helping see them to fruition; I’m convinced that’s why we have such low turnover. 

Key-takeaways

Recent Insights

  • Why We Invested

Revolutionizing Digital Wealth Management: Our Investment in Masttro

Giovanni Bacarella
03.09.2023
  • Think Forward

LogicSource’s Niki Heim on Cutting Costs, Not People, to Fuel Growth and Investment

02.07.2023
  • Think Forward

From Idea to Global Leader in E-Gift Cards

12.01.2022

Keep Up-To-Date on the Latest FTV News

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

SAN FRANCISCO

601 California Street, Floor 19
San Francisco, CA 94108

415.229.3000


CONNECTICUT

10 Titus Road, Suite 5B
Washington Depot, CT 06794

NEW YORK

535 Madison Avenue, Floor 33
New York, NY 10022

212.682.4800

CONTACT

General: Info@ftvcapital.com
Media: PR@ftvcapital.com

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
Investor Portal
Port Co Hub

© 2023 FTV Management Company, L.P.
All rights reserved.

  • Privacy & Cookie Policy

  • Keep Up-To-Date on the Latest FTV News

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Our website uses cookies that are essential for the website to work. By using the website and continuing to navigate, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Read our PRIVACY POLICY to learn more.
ACCEPT
Select Cookies
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT