260: How to Launch and Scale to Success Quickly - with Omar Jordan

Matt Wolach: 0:10

From zero to 425 Community Bank customers this quickly is really impressive. You're gonna hear the story of Omar Jordan Coviance and what he was able to do to launch get everybody on board, get early customers, get them excited, get them started, get them signed, and then scale his company and how he implemented a team to help him grow. Really cool story of a founders journey. You're gonna like this one, if you're looking to grow yourself.

Intro/ Outro: 0:37

Welcome to Scale Your SaaS, the podcast that gives you proven techniques and formulas for boosting your revenue and achieving your dream exits brought to you by a guy who's done just that multiple times. Here's your host, Matt Wallach,

Matt Wolach: 0:53

and welcome to Scale Your SaaS. Super excited to have you here. Thank you very much for coming. If you are on the podcast network, thank you for being there. If you're on YouTube, thanks for watching. Make sure you are subscribed to the show. You do not want to miss out on any of the tips or secrets that we're going to be sharing with you now and over the next few weeks. So definitely hit that subscribe button. You will be all set. And I am really really jacked about today's show. I've got Omar Jordan with me today. Omar, how're you doing?

Omar Jordan: 1:20

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, man. Excited to be on.

Matt Wolach: 1:23

Absolutely. I'm so glad to talk to you. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Let me make sure everybody knows who you are Omar. So Omar is the founder and CEO at Coviance. That's a FinTech company that's transforming the home equity lending process with its cloud based platform home equity Express, it's an out of the box out of the box solution. It's proven to increase lenders efficiencies, and productivity output combines partners with more than 425 credit unions and community banks nationwide to meet accelerating digital transformation curve and automate their home lending process. So they're doing some awesome stuff within their industry. Once again, Omar, thanks for coming on the show.

Omar Jordan: 2:01

Thank you. It's nice to hear you say it and what a mouthful that was. But that was a good way to explain what we do and what we've been working on for a while. And it happens so fast to 425 plus community banks and credit unions. This thing was sorted. You know, we kicked off the gas. So we hit the gas in 2018. And here we are, it's just been growing like crazy ever since.

Matt Wolach: 2:24

That's so cool that I want to I want to talk about that. Because sometimes we get so deep into building our companies. And then we step back and like, whoa, okay, so 425 already. That's cool. Yeah, tell me, first of all, how did you come up with the idea for this? Where'd that come from?

Omar Jordan: 2:41

Well, back in 2009 2010, there was some talk about this new governmental entity that was being created called the CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And the intent behind what the CFPB requires was terrific because it allowed, they put some guidelines that guide rails for how lending is done. But the challenge that most community banks and community lenders credit unions, is they didn't have a floor of attorneys and compliance pool of talent like maybe Wells Fargo would have, or HSBC or some of the big brands would have. So I saw that as an opportunity to come in and help bring some industry experts, some some of the industry providers into a single technology platform that allows credit unions, community banks to then lend and be on a on a compliant level. So initially, the idea was to, again, just be the one hub for everything you need when it comes to real estate lending, home equity lending, refinance, purchase, lending, and then it just became and it grew, grew from there, and you onboard some really, really amazing talent and to help you with the journey and the vision of where we're headed. And you know, that's starts to something still the same, but it's much better today.

Matt Wolach: 4:11

Yeah, I love it. It's super cool. How that works. Sounds like you've done a great job with it. I want to ask you, because, you know, there's, there's the niche of banks and lending institutions, but then you're almost in a sub niche, a niche of a niche with community banks and credit unions. Was that scary initially to think? Did you did you ever feel like oh, no, are there enough for us? Is it big enough? I know a lot of people who talk to me and they come to me and say, Hey, Matt, we want some help growing. And I talked to him about get into a niche and they say, I don't know if that's going to be enough for us. Did you have that fear? Omar?

Omar Jordan: 4:45

I think not one bit because initially we were on a mission or I was on a mission to really provide some level of support passionate about the you know, the community lending, and and part of what drove the passion was the fact that I am I'm the borrower that borrows from community bank from the credit union. So I owned a few rentals back then. And I went through multiple processes of purchasing a real estate, acquiring mortgages refinancing taken out home equity loans. And man, the process was so convoluted, it takes too much we don't know where we're at in the process as a borrower. So the passion behind fixing that problem is what drove to, you know, put the fear away. And what I knew was that our customers who are community lenders are going to be far more receptive to the technology that we bring, then maybe the big, the bigger banks, and I think you'll see a lot of fintechs, enter this space of real estate lending with sometimes the wrong thought in mind, you know, you look at a mortgage originations that happen, real estate originations that happen on assuming it's a pie chart, about 80% of the pie chart, or what we call the GSEs, the government backed security loans that get insured and underwritten on a Fannie Mae Freddie Mac standard, right. But then there's a there's about 20% of that. That's what we call portfolio lending, it's loans that get underwritten and originated and to sit on their credit unions and community banks. Portfolio, the credit union, the Community Bank has the power, or have the power to basically create their own metrics and underwriting requirements and policies around that as long as it meets the minimum CFPB. Requirements, FDIC, NCUA and all of the above, it's a fun place to be to be able to help them navigate through some of these areas. So no, did I ever have any fear that it wasn't enough? No, I think it's a massive opportunity for us. And it's been, it's been great, we've been able to penetrate a market that most major fintechs today, wish they have access to. Because everybody always wants to go after Bank of America, HSBC, Wells Fargo, you know, the huge volume. And we're focused on what really matters the most our community within and we're making, you know, we're growing a business in the process of hiring good people and just keep scaling.

Matt Wolach: 7:23

I love it such a fun time, I can see the joy that you have in it, I want to ask you, because you mentioned some of the people who start a software company were in that role. And they saw struggle, and they felt the struggle. So they went out created a software you came from outside. And that's where other people come from, they identify an issue from somewhere else outside of the role. But what you need to do in that sense, is understand those people and get to know them and become like them. So how did you learn about these bankers and these people that were your target, so that you could understand how to approach them and how to work with them?

Omar Jordan: 7:57

Well, I'll take it back maybe a step further. So that's what happened in 2009. Prior to that, I was a loan officer. So I was on the lending side of things. And I learned how things are done. And I was loan officer for, you know, top pipe bank in the world. So I learned how things done at a level where technology and, you know, a process intersect. When, when the market when the economy collapsed in 2000 789, I just took out my 401k. And I tried to get a job as matter of fact, prior to that at a another big bank, and they said, No, we won't hire you as a manager, because I was a manager at that point. I didn't want to take a step back. And, you know, you'd have to work your way up and say, You know what, let me just take a crack at this entrepreneurship thing. And, you know, one company led to another one company led to another and here we are today. But, and then post the lending experience that I had I dabbled into title and closing. So I was, I was on both sides of it. Right? I saw the lending side of it. I saw the title and closing side of it. And then that's when the aha moment came together. You know, I've been on both sides of that. And the third side was the fact that I'm a borrower, I'm the customer for my customers, right. And I wanted, I knew that it was possible for us to take a loan application a home equity loan application, from clear to from point of sale to clear to close in hours, and it doesn't doesn't have to be weeks or days and and that's what we're working hard on to do. In fact, I know too much today. Every time I want to refinance my house or take out a home equity loan. Like hey, we're, we're gonna get this done tomorrow, right? So because I know how possible things are in this industry.

Matt Wolach: 9:46

That's awesome. I love that. That's pretty impressive to go from weeks to hours, and I've been a borrower Of course with my own home, but I also have rental properties. So it does, it's annoying. It takes forever the whole process is frustrating and then Yeah, it's weeks until you finally figure out, can we actually get this deal done and the product brings it down to hours.

Omar Jordan: 10:08

It does. And then a huge reliance on automation hurts us reliance on data and algorithms and data intelligence. And, you know, there are so many ways for us to take a process that is so manual, and automate most of it, if not all of it, to help benefit not only the borrower, but create efficiencies for the for the lenders, the challenge most lenders have is when interest rates go up, home equity lending goes up, when interest rates go down, refinance, or purchase transactions start to go up so they can't keep up. And we talked to some of our customers two, three years ago, as they were onboarding, some of them had to turn off the ability to accept loan applications because they didn't have the bandwidth, the human capital to process all of these applications coming through. And so relying on technology to help automate and, and help provide efficiencies for your staff, ultimately, benefits your borrower experience of benefits your your organization, it's a great opportunity for growth. Nobody wants to keep pushing paper, people want to have relationships, especially the bar was with their loan officers and vice versa.

Matt Wolach: 11:18

Yeah, absolutely. And that's a scary situation that what your market was in. It's something that people say, Hey, Matt, what if our onboarding slows down, or our training slows down, and we're not able to bring on as many to we stopped sales. And I'm always so worried about, you never want to stop sales. It sounds like some of your customers were in that scenario. That's how bad it got. But just for everybody listening at home, you do not want to ever stop sales, because it's not always like a spigot that you can just turn on and off. And so I always preach like, do whatever you can to not stop sales. So I'm glad Omar that you arrived with a solution to say, Hey, you don't have to stop sales. Let's make this process much easier. Let's make it more efficient for you. That's awesome.

Omar Jordan: 12:02

Yeah, and we're, you know, we always say we're not done yet. Right? It's, we tackle one island, it's what's the next island, we're gonna go conquer. And we really do it for love of process, love of community. And, and as I said, in the meantime, we got tremendous growth in the company, our investors are happy and our employees are happy.

Matt Wolach: 12:25

Yeah, that's awesome. Good for you on that. So I want to go back to some of those early days. Yeah, it's great. You learned this yourself from from, you know, doing it, you were on the title side as well, you were on the borrower side, you saw sides. But still, once you have the idea, and you have the product, it still can be hard to get those early customers, what did you do to find some early customers and get people to trust you?

Omar Jordan: 12:46

So I think the biggest thing is, I'm not afraid to rejections. Before long time ago, I sold vacuum cleaners door to door. So wow, you know, you know, I've had doors slammed in my face so many times, it doesn't hurt anymore. So you just you've got to make the ask. And I think just be pragmatic and ask for meetings. And hey, if I'm working on this idea, if I was to do something, would you consider it. And we still do it today, by the way, we're we go to our clients and present technology solutions that we built, that were maybe skeptical if the market would be receptive to it, but offer it at no cost to them right or at a very low cost to them. So that they could try and be able to help us formulate more ideas around it and be able to go to market knowing what the feedback from our users are. So I think it starts there. I was talking to a credit union CEO not too long ago out of Texas. And she said to me, she said one of the things I do when I meet a FinTech that wants me to leverage their technology or buy their technology. And their startup is I say, hey, why don't we use it for free. And you can use this as a reference. And so there are customers out there that will be willing to be a voice for you, right? If you're trying to prove a concept, then what's in it for the other side, because they're the ones helping you get there. And so being able to bend some of the business rules and given the product away for just a small segment, until you actually create a story to be able to go to market with is one way that I've always supported and done.

Matt Wolach: 14:29

I think it's genius. And it's super smart. It's something I've done as well and a lot of people just call it their beta period or what have you. But you know, if you think about it, having those success stories is critical for your marketing having people who've actually using say, yep, what they're actually saying is true. It worked great for us. We loved it. And even internally to have some early users so that they can tell you yes, this is good change this we need this feature. Add this and I think all of that is critical. And so a lot of times people come to me and say hey, we don't even have our first time so you got to give it to somebody like have somebody's using it. So you can get the feedback you can improve the product and you'd create some, some some trust within your marketing I, I think well done Omar, your best champion, your best salesperson is your customer today, inviting them on a journey as well. You know, we've

Omar Jordan: 15:19

we do conferences and panels and speaking engagements and me on stage doesn't really make as big of an impact as me on stage with one of our customers on a panel or panel of our customers speaking about the product. So again, kudos not to me to the to the sales and marketing team that think about these ideas. And every time we implement them, it's just, it just helps tell the story better.

Matt Wolach: 15:48

Yeah, for sure. So those are some good things. What were some of the mistakes that happened early that you wish you could go back in and change?

Omar Jordan: 15:57

Yeah, did I make a lot of mistakes, and then we build products that we thought would be great. And then nobody ever buys them, right. And I think just number one rule around that is, is never be afraid of failure. But it's hard to go back and reflect on the big mistakes we've done. And the little ones, you know, you make you make some good hiring decisions, you make bad hiring decisions, you make some terrible investments and spend time here, you give up too much equity, you don't give up enough equity, you know, you go raises money when you don't really have to raise money. So there's a lot every entrepreneur makes. And then you think, you know, my next company, I'm going to do it that way. But it really never works out the way you want. And you know, that's that's the beauty of entrepreneurship is its ups and downs, ups and downs. And you just learn how to deal with the punches and get back up and keep going keep punching back, it's fun, process.

Matt Wolach: 16:59

keep punching back, just like a lead behind you. So as a motivation for everybody listening on the podcast, he's got Muhammad Ali picture behind him. But as you were saying some of those things, my own experience was flashing through my head of all those things I did as well, and all the ups and downs and mostly downs and things that you thought this would work, and then it didn't work. And I thought this product would be great. And then it didn't. And it's crazy, but you said it, you know, it's just all a matter of taking that experience and learning so that you can grow and you can improve for next time.

Omar Jordan: 17:32

And John, genuinely STOP LYING yourself. I think, Boy, I don't remember who I heard, say entrepreneurs just lie to themselves. And this is a great idea, I'm gonna keep going. I mean, at some point, the market will tell you if they're gonna buy your crap or not. So just just, you know, understand what the market is for listen to your customers, if they're not buying it, and they haven't bought it yet. Even if you're giving away for free, then we got a problem in here. And we've had some of these mistakes, too. So it's okay to recognize them and just get up and get going.

Matt Wolach: 18:04

Yeah, I totally agree. So what's the future look like for compliance? How do you guys plan on getting there,

Omar Jordan: 18:10

we're working on some really cool stuff. And my biggest achievement that I have day in and out is the team that I was able to assemble and they make my job so much easier than it was I'm no longer doing a lot of these things, I get a chance to speak to you and cheer lead them on. But they're the ones who are doing most of the hard work. So working on some really, really cool technology to continue to build on what we've already built. And then beyond that, you know, you think, what island can we conquer next? It's a really, really good space to be in love our customers, community banks, credit unions, they're just down to earth, people who really want to make an impact on their communities and just keeping things local in being able to really help one another word, I feel like we're in a place where that's all we need right now is just to stand up for one another and continue to support each other.

Matt Wolach: 19:14

That's great. I would agree with that. What advice would you have for some early stage software leaders who are just getting started and seeing your story and they're wanting to build a successful business like you did?

Omar Jordan: 19:25

Well, I think number one, just my big thing is I have a plan C for my plan D and I'm always thinking ahead, you know, 20 steps, if this happens, what happens next and what things need to take place. The other one is make sure you surround yourself with the best talent you have access to and lean on some advisors in your community and show up to events and if you can't, to, you know, to connect and network but there are a I just remember starting out, there was so many people in our small community and we live in Des Moines, Iowa, we call it Silicon Valley. Corner. But you know, you there's so much, there's so much so many champions within the community. And luckily, I was small enough to where someone as big as a governor of Iowa would support and get behind FinTech and entrepreneurship, not just fintechs. But entrepreneurship in general. And there's some state local senators that champion us as well and some C level people from publicly traded companies that I talk to every now and then don't even have the time for me, but make the time to answer my call. And I asked, Hey, did you go through this? What do you do now? My board of directors are terrific. My advisors are always asking questions. But But I know when not, you know, too much is too much. And I know when to ask and reach out and really be precise, because everyone is busy. But everybody wants to help at the end of the day. And so

Matt Wolach: 21:12

I think that's great advice. And obviously lean on your resources. That's something I've always been taught is user resources. You have people who are wanting to help you, you have mentors or community leaders or anybody who wants to kind of help you along. I think that's great. I also am going to take that as a plug for coaching with Matt Wallach. So you heard it right here. Omar said go find somebody to help you do it. But no, Omar, this has been awesome. I really appreciate you coming in and sharing your story. And what you guys have done with compliance is fantastic. So how can our audience learn more about you and compliance?

Omar Jordan: 21:46

Oh, well check us out on LinkedIn, follow me on LinkedIn. That's only a social media platform that I just really spent too much time on. Not too much time, any time on. So LinkedIn, Omar Jordan Cove ions as well on there. And then if you're a lender or or community bank or credit union that's interested in learning about our product, please go to our website called blinds.com. And check us out we'd love to show you what we do.

Matt Wolach: 22:13

Perfect. We'll put all that in the show notes as well. So if you're listening, you'll be able to see it there. Omar, this has been fantastic. Thanks for coming on the show.

Omar Jordan: 22:21

Thank you so much, man. This is fun. Please invite me some more.

Matt Wolach: 22:24

Absolutely. Absolutely. It's been fun for me as well and everybody out there. Hope you enjoyed it also. So make sure you're subscribed. Don't forget to do that. And then we will see you next time. Take care.

Intro/ Outro: 22:36

Thanks for listening to Scale Your SaaS. For more help on finding great leads and closing more details go to Mattwolach.com