With new tariffs already taking effect—and more on the way—I wanted to unpack how this shift is affecting small businesses, capital flows, and ultimately, how we're adapting our lending strategy at Percent to navigate these changes. From forced supply chain changes to increased capital needs, these policy moves are reshaping the economic landscape. I also share listener questions on team dynamics, hard deals, and leadership under pressure.

March 27, 2023

Some stats came out recently about just how difficult it is to fundraise in this environment, particularly for Series Bs. Historically, Series Bs have always been the most challenging as companies at this stage are moving beyond product market fit and for the first time are using the new growth capital to scale the business.

Small businesses are already being hit hard, but here’s what these tariffs could mean for the global economy in the long run. Since the Trump administration took office on January 20, immense changes have overwhelmed business owners of all sizes. Perhaps most impactful are the tariff policies President Trump was touting before election and is now enacting—theoretically to prioritize American business, but possibly upending businesses of all sizes.

March 20, 2023

This past week, across continents, across time zones, across teams, we came together to solve the many different challenges and problems thrown our way. Over the last weekend, we put ourselves out there as a viable bridge financing platform for startups staring down a situation where their operating company cash was trapped at SVB.

In this episode, I’m joined by Lucas Keefer, VP of Originations and one of the earliest team members at Percent. We talk about what it really takes to build a company from the ground up — wearing multiple hats, embracing uncertainty, and learning by doing. Lucas shares his journey from JPMorgan to Percent and how “filling the gaps” helped shape both his career and our company. If you’ve ever wondered how startups actually scale, this one’s for you.

March 13, 2023

It's certainly been a hectic last few days so I wanted to share our weekly team email with you earlier than the usual at 8AM on Monday mornings. It was an almost unbelievable week but not in the conventional sense of the word. In what felt like shades of 08/09, we had the second largest failure of a bank in US history when Silicon Valley Bank shuttered its doors on Friday.

March 6, 2023

Another month in the books and another month of further validation of the diversity of revenue streams we have at our disposal. Revenue came in at [ ] and more importantly, we had initially forecasted a [ ]d increase month over month from Jan to Feb in terms of revenue and we were still able to meet these lofty targets. As a result, we're coming in ahead of our YTD forecast of $[ ]K in revenue by [%, the first time we've ever been able to meet and exceed targets on a consistent basis.

February 27, 2023

It’s going to be a busy week as our team is dividing and conquering several conferences and events in Park City, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. The theme for all three is driven entirely by our search for capital from investors, particularly those Qualified Purchasers we had mentioned in the last all hands.

In this episode, I share the four core mantras that have guided me through building Percent from the ground up. From embracing market feedback over rigid vision to recognizing how small mistakes compound, I dive into the principles that have helped me navigate the unpredictable terrain of fintech entrepreneurship. Whether you're just starting out or scaling a venture, these battle-tested principles offer a framework for making clearer decisions and building with intention in today's rapidly evolving market.

February 21, 2023

There's certain weeks where everything just seems to be humming and this past week was most definitely one of them. Everything was in sync (even with some mini crises along the way) and we managed to have a few chips fall our way as well. 

February 13, 2023

Ahead of our board meeting on Tuesday and the subsequent all-hands on Thursday, I thought it would be helpful to recap our results in January as the board is keen to track every single metric we're measuring ourselves against.

Breaking down our January financial results and it's a tale of two narratives. On the one hand, we missed on Borrower Platform Fees as deals from existing borrowers we underwrite were downsized more than we had anticipated and we also predicted we would be able to ramp up our new higher fee structure faster than we actually were able to.

In this episode, we speak with Nelson Chu, Founder and CEO of Percent, which is unlocking private credit and providing unparalleled access through its modern private credit market, empowering investors, borrowers, and underwriters with innovative technology to increase the speed and frequency of transactions at a fraction of the cost.

In this candid conversation, I sit down with Charlie Lienau, Percent's Head of Operations, to explore the art of building for longevity in fintech. From his early days in Argentine investment banking to scaling our global team, Charlie shares insights on measured growth, data-driven decision making, and why focus beats speed when scaling a fintech. We dive deep into lessons learned from five years of evolution at Percent and why sometimes the riskiest decisions lead to the greatest rewards.

In an article last year, the International Monetary Fund said that the global private credit market topped $2.1 trillion globally in 2023, with 75% of that in the U.S. That number has been rising rapidly for many years as more companies look beyond banks and the public debt markets to raise capital. Along with this rise in private credit, some fintech companies have taken advantage of this growth, bringing new opportunities to investors.

February 6, 2023

We’ve officially kicked off the conference season in 2023 as we made our way down to Miami for the iConnections Global Alts conference for family offices and other institutional investors. This is a fairly unique conference as there are two sides of our market in attendance - investors looking for debt opportunities and also underwriters / credit funds who manage debt funds and are looking for capital but also have opportunities to underwrite against.