This is a blog dedicated to building in public, where founders can see what goes on behind the scenes at a venture-backed startup. Weekly internal team emails (on a delay) are juxtaposed against interviews and articles published in real-time.
Workouts are inevitable
January 29, 2024
As many of you know, we’re navigating a number of deals that are either in workout or at risk, none more significant than [ ] as the rest have a relatively clear path to recovery. For [ ], the situation is a bit more complex as the path to recovery is contingent on the viability of the company long term and whether it can either raise more venture capital or turn profitable.
New year, new initiatives
January 22, 2024
As we head into another board meeting this week, we are coming off of one of the most successful quarters in the company's history. The recap for 2023 will be short and sweet but it's about what we do with 2024 that is going to make all the difference. The key themes for this year that we will be going over with them are below:
Fiscal responsibility
January 16, 2024
Beyond just growing revenue in 2024, the name of the game is expense management as both levers have the ability to turn our company profitable. We're well versed in exactly what it will take to increase our revenues at this point so the big area of focus is going to be on ensuring we keep expenses flat to down.
Why prediction markets may be bad for your wallet—and your mental health
The parallels to casinos are drastically obvious.
BY Nelson Chu
Prediction markets are all the rage right now. Weekly trading volume on prediction platforms just surpassed $2 billion, and apps like Polymarket are being treated as the “next big thing” in consumer finance and entertainment.
Optimizing for efficiencies
January 8, 2024
With a year of history under our belt with third party underwriters bringing deals to market, we have to take our reporting one step further. In the same way that we've been keen to track investor behavior (cohort performance, churn, etc.), we're going to need to begin tracking the performance of our borrowers and underwriters across their entire lifecycle as well.
A record end to a record quarter
January 2, 2024
2023 is in the books and what better way to end it than with a stellar month of December performance. We started in January booking just $[ ]K in revenue and we're ending December with over $[ ]K in booked revenue for the month (excluding the usual year end accounting write-offs and deferrals), a testament to just how far we've come in 12 months.
What a year
December 26, 2023
Not much more needs to be said for this week because the numbers speak for themselves... what a year.
Striking a nerve
December 18, 2023
Bryan and I went to [ ] last week to visit a huge asset manager with thousands of advisors. Thanks to an introduction from one of our board members, we spent the day with them walking them through our story, our history, and what we could offer them with our blended notes. For an organization as large as this, they were incredibly receptive to what we could do for their advisory clients.
Staying vigilant
December 11, 2023
As we round out the year, there's been no shortage of predictions for 2024, including from us in our most recent private credit outlook. Most calls for an outright recession have faded but there is an undertone of volatility and general market uncertainty that is permeating throughout.
The start of a trend
December 4, 2023
Another month and another one for the record books. We're coming in for November at $[ ]M in AUM, a $[ ]M increase from October. This makes for the best month ever for AUM growth, pushing last month into second place. Even more importantly, this is $[ ]M above the forecast we had just made and shared with the board, translating to a revenue beat of $[ ]K above forecast as well.
Nelson Chu: Transparency and Risk Are Reshaping Private Markets
The private markets landscape is rapidly evolving, driven by increased transparency and demand for liquidity. With Wall Street giants investing heavily to shed light on private equity and credit, this sector is becoming a focal point for both institutional and retail investors. Adding to this dynamic shift are prediction markets like Polymarket and Calci, which have blurred the lines between traditional finance and gambling.
Carefully curated
November 27, 2023
After the board meeting at the end of October where we got buy-in around the general direction of the forecast for 2024, the next step was to fine tune all the details. Between updates on vendor negotiations, finalized contracts, and a better assessment of deal volume growth based on the latest numbers from the past few weeks, we presented the final locked-in plan for revenue and expenses for 2024 to the board this past week.
5 Questions with Percent's Nelson Chu
Why patience, precision, and reputation are the real competitive edge in private credit
1. What’s the problem you saw that others underestimated, and how did it first show up in your life or work?
New markets and new opportunities
November 20, 2023
It has been a productive week in Japan as I’ve been on a roadshow with [ ] to find ways to enter the Japanese market. It’s a fairly unique market in and of itself, dominated by a select group of mega banks and anchored by several other investment banks, all of whom offer comprehensive banking services from deposits and wealth management to investment banking and capital markets.
The ruthless in ruthless prioritization
November 13, 2023
We’ve spent the past few weeks scrutinizing each line item of our expenses to try and squeeze every last possible cost saving. Over this time, we’ve reached out to every service provider and vendor to renegotiate pricing as we head into 2024. These are never easy or fun conversations to have but they are absolutely necessary as we continue to make our push towards profitability. The years of good will we’ve built up with these providers has paid off as we managed to shave tens of thousands of dollars off current and future expenses that keep our business going.