Building a successful SaaS business is no easy feat. It requires hard work, dedication, and a deep understanding of the market you serve. In this episode of the SaaS Fuel™ Podcast, Jeff sits down with Omar Jordan, the founder and CEO of Coviance (formerly LenderClose), a fintech company revolutionizing the home equity lending process for community lenders. Omar shares his journey as a multi-time founder and the challenges he faced along the way. He also discusses the importance of focusing on underserved markets, the power of community in the lending industry, and the value of hard work and talent in building a successful business.
Before establishing Coviance, Omar initiated several entrepreneurial endeavors, including National Loan Closings, which underwent acquisition in 2018. Tune in to gain insights from an entrepreneur who has scaled multiple companies and is making a significant impact in the vertical SaaS market.
[00:01:49] - Toast targeting restaurant market.
[00:03:43] - Specialization and becoming an expert.
[00:09:03] - Simplifying home equity lending.
[00:13:58] - Transforming the lending experience.
[00:17:30] - Moving from on-prem to cloud.
[00:21:04] - Partnering with CUSOs.
[00:26:19] - Raising money and giving shares.
[00:28:28] - Capital efficiency and success.
[00:34:00] - Challenges of entrepreneurship.
[00:38:33] - Talent and Hiring Smarter
[00:40:17] - AI in the lending industry.
[00:45:12] - Expanding the total addressable market.
"Know them so well that you use the same words and phrases that they do when they talk about the problem and the solution." - 00:04:56 Jeff Mains
"I'm no longer an Excel row. I am Omar that they've trusted and known for a long time." - 00:30:29 Omar Jordan
"And believe me, I know it costs double, and it takes twice the time to build technology. And every startup founder will tell you that. You think it will cost a million, it's going to cost you three. And you think it's going to be six years. And that's just how it works." - 00:21:26 Omar Jordan
"And if it's not going according to plan, we're going to reel it back a little bit. We're going to slow it down. We're going to get back on the horse and make sure we're on plan. Let's restrategize." - 00:27:20 Omar Jordan
"We got to be careful. Because I got to deploy capital efficiently in a smart way. I'm not going to do the metaverse, spend $10 billion on it and then shut it down" - 00:44:45 Omar Jordan
Omar Jordan (Linkedin): https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarjordan
Omar Jordan (Twitter): https://twitter.com/OmarQJordan
Coviance (Website): https://www.coviance.com/
Coviance (Twitter): https://twitter.com/coviance
Coviance (Website): https://www.coviance.com/
Toast: https://pos.toasttab.com/
CFPB: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/
AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/?nc2=h_lg
Azure: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/
Gary Vee: https://garyvaynerchuk.com/
Wells Fargo: https://www.wellsfargo.com/
Bank of America: https://www.bankofamerica.com/
If you could use a higher quality B2B SaaS community experience and strategic advisors on your SaaS journey check out today’s sponsor Champion Leadership Group. The ultimate resource for SaaS founders and C-suite executives to continue to develop themselves, scale their companies, and never walk alone on the journey. Supercharge revenue by leveraging our time-tested SaaS growth principles, toolkits, playbooks, and frameworks designed to help you scale ARR from 7 to 8 and 9 figures. Collaborate with an elite network of SaaS visionaries as we uplevel ourselves our teams, and have some fun along the way. Confidently take that right next step, that turns into a quantum leap of profitable growth, premium valuation, and freedom.
Small Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel’
Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/
Website - https://championleadership.com/
Jeff Mains on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkmains/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffkmains
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thesaasguy/
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