June 20, 2023

As we've built up 4 years of track record and knowledge about how private credit transactions work from start to finish, we've been able to whittle down one by one all the major tasks that we have had to do manually. Whether it's chasing down signatures for subscription documents, confirming investment requests, sending out compliance attestations, the list is lengthy but these were all the things we knew we had to build in order to run an efficient and effective marketplace.

June 12, 2023

It's an interesting time in technology as we've seen AI come at full force to the point where it almost feels like that's all anyone can talk about. To its credit, it has done an incredible job at bringing a sense of wonder as we are in awe at its potential. Still, we're very much in the early innings and it's a technology that has delivered uneven results.

In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on Percent’s chaotic origin story—from having investors lined up with zero borrowers to closing our first deal for a few hundred thousand dollars we now laugh about. I share the unglamorous truth about playing the two-sided confidence game every marketplace founder knows, why we chose to be exponentially better rather than revolutionary, and the critical lessons about flexibility that saved our company. This is the real story of how we built Percent, scramble and all.

June 5, 2023

Building a company with longevity can often be compared to getting a massive freight train to move. You’re adding cars to the train by building all the components of the product and you’re priming the engine by putting in place all the operational structures it takes to scale. Every little win, every small success, and the gears start to turn but it’s still slow going early on. The train crawls forward inch by inch and all the effort being put into it doesn’t seem to compare to the results.

May 30, 2023

In a year like this where markets are volatile and being able to predict how things are going to play out is harder than ever, it's inevitable that it won't always be smooth sailing. We managed to clear our lofty revenue targets in January, February, March, and April by grinding on all fronts and also catching a few lucky breaks along the way (as we always seem to be able to do). 

What does it take to be approved for a deal on Percent? This week, I chat with Bina Shetty, who leads our originations team and brings decades of investment banking experience to the table. We cover how we underwrite non-bank lenders, why Latin America is a breakout region for private credit, and why the best founders keep things simple and scrappy. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how our marketplace works—and what we look for in every borrower.

May 22, 2023

It's been a long road to get here and I recognize that the path itself has been difficult. We were forced to make hard decisions, rein in our spending, and oftentimes that has led to us having to change our culture to adapt to the new normal. While we've been able to hit the ground running this year with an incredibly strong start, we've also ended up losing some of what makes our team tick.

May 15, 2023

Today marks an important milestone in our company’s life. Five years ago to the day, we officially incorporated ourselves in our small office in Tribeca that we shared with a few other companies. Five years later and I could have never imagined we’d be what we are today.

The traditional startup playbook—raise big, spend fast, swing for the fences—is fading. In this episode, I unpack why the VC model is under pressure, how AI is fueling a new era of smaller, faster, more profitable startups, and why debt might beat equity for founders who want to scale on their own terms. If you’re still raising like it’s 2013, this one’s for you.

May 8, 2023

As we've been wrapping up the last remaining items for the Series B, we've seen palpable demand from so many investors who were forced to be left out. In market conditions that are more favorable, it's normal to just leave the demand as is and prime them for the next round of financing. In times like this though, it's never a bad idea to pad the war chest and prepare for the what ifs that could happen in the coming quarters ahead.

May 1, 2023

Companies are defined by key milestones in their history where their business evolved and took the next step towards their future. We've had many in our past, the most recent of which was our shift towards taking a step back away from underwriting our own deals and pushing for every new borrower to be paired with an underwriter starting in January of this year.

The startup playbook that built Uber, Airbnb, and DoorDash is becoming obsolete in real-time. As AI compresses jobs that once required hundreds of employees into algorithms, we’re witnessing the birth of a new company archetype—capital-efficient, immediately profitable, and surprisingly small. With a variety of software to use for all aspects of building a business—from Shopify for e-commerce to Stripe for payments—and low operating costs, innovation just keeps making everything that much more efficient.

April 24, 2023

And that's that. We're done. We've successfully closed on our Series B. There's of course still a few administrative items to get to the finish line but all the commitments are in and ready to be signed for and wired. Amazingly enough, we were actually oversubscribed, with several groups this past week trying to figure out how to squeeze into the round with checks as large as up to $[ ]M beyond this $[ ]M we already have committed.

Nelson Chu is founder and CEO of Percent—a capital markets platform bringing transparency, liquidity, and standardisation to private credit.

Nelson’s path started with a $1,000 “experiment fund” from his dad and early side hustles in design. After stints at Merrill Lynch and BlackRock, he left corporate life behind, built a consulting firm that helped raise over $1B, and used that momentum to launch Percent.

April 17, 2023

It was a good week. Starting things off on Monday with a $[ ]M commitment from [ ] was a huge win. Following that up with another full day of diligence with [ ] on Wednesday just kept that momentum going. [ ] has done a tremendous amount of diligence work on us already, with many of you involved in that process.