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.
Founder Notes Ep. 27 - The banks want it both ways
Blowout bank earnings, and every CEO is suddenly talking up private credit — the same asset class they spent last year warning about. Nelson and Prath on why the banks quietly need private credit to work, how back-leverage facilities keep them winning either way, and what the new CDX Private Credit Index signals about an industry that desperately needed more maturity.
Founder Notes Ep. 26 - Growing pains
Prath comes off the road from back-to-back investor conferences in Deer Valley and Aspen with a read on where institutional sentiment actually stands. Then Nelson and Prath dig into the Blue Owl 40.7% redemption headline, why JPMorgan and Goldman building short tools is actually a sign of maturity, and what PIMCO, KKR, and J.P. Morgan are all saying about asset-based finance as the safe harbor in private credit. Plus: the Anthropic code leak, a Clippy comeback, and a Bonzi Buddy reunion nobody asked for.
Founder Notes Ep. 25 - Surviving long enough to get lucky
The media is having a field day with private credit redemptions, but is the panic justified? This week, Nelson and Prath break down the barrage of gating headlines from BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan’s software loan markdowns, and why bad fund wrappers are causing more pain than bad underwriting. Plus, they unpack New York’s new Buy Now, Pay Later rules, early traction from Percent’s secondary market, and why the ultimate founder strategy is just surviving long enough to get lucky.
Founder Notes Ep. 24 - I can’t keep up
Blackstone processes $3.8 billion in record redemptions while its executives write $400 million in checks to cover the gap. Another double-pledging scandal surfaces, this time in the UK. Nelson and Prath break down why private credit's credibility crisis is creating a window for differentiated players. Then Prath finally goes down the AI rabbit hole, building tear sheets with Claude to spinning up a traffic ticket attorney agent.
Founder Notes Ep. 23 - Do the work
This week’s theme is simple: the people who didn’t do the work got caught. Nelson and Prath cover First Brands, double-pledging, and why relying on PDFs is not monitoring. They also get into the semi-liquid BDC squeeze, the software concentration shell game, and why secondaries are becoming unavoidable.
Founder Notes Ep. 22 - When SaaS breaks, credit blinks
While Prath’s in Arizona and Nelson’s battling an AI agent back in New York, the duo unpacks the AI-driven software selloff and what it could mean for private credit. They dig into BlackRock TCP’s write-down and why public markets keep calling private marks’ bluff, then close with the policy wildcard of a 10% credit card cap and what it means for a consumer already under strain.
Founder Notes Ep. 21 - When private credit falls apart
We almost got caught up in the First Brands mess years ago, but declined because it didn’t pass muster. Now it’s a $2.3B black hole. This week, Nelson and Prath unpack what went wrong, why redemptions are spiking, and the absurdity of private credit ETFs. Also: our secondary market is getting real traction, Brex just sold for $5B, and the administration wants a 10% credit card cap that could do more harm than good.
Founder Notes Ep. 20 - Good things happen over time. Great things happen all at once.
Prath’s favorite saying becomes the theme of the episode. In the first full week of 2026, Percent signed a new software client, activated white-label platforms, saw organic secondary market traction, and onboarded two new hires already closing deals. Nelson and Prath break down what’s actually clicking, where private credit is headed, and why contrarian bets are starting to pay off.
Founder Notes Ep. 19 - Why we built SMAs (and who they’re for)
In this episode, I sit down with Bryan Pham, our Head of Institutional Sales, to talk about the launch of our Separately Managed Accounts and why we built them. Bryan came from the other side of the table—JP Morgan, family offices—and he’s lived the exact frustrations we’re now solving. We dig into why institutional money moves differently than retail, the phone calls that made us realize Blended Notes weren’t enough, and how we’re making SMAs accessible at $100K instead of the typical $500K+.
Founder Notes Ep. 18 - Back to square one (on purpose)
We built a durable marketplace. Now the industry needs infrastructure, and that starts with me returning to square one. It won’t be forever, but six to twelve months of trench time will compound for years.
Founder Notes Ep. 17 - Builders wanted: wiring the future of private markets
I sit down with Marc Andrew, who's become a leading voice in private markets by putting the right people in the right room together. We cover the slow decline of public listings, why firms can’t run on Excel anymore, and how AI, cloud, and interoperable data are opening real build zones. It’s a deep dive into the unsexy but essential plumbing for the future of finance.
Founder Notes Ep. 16 - Volatility laundering and the moat money can’t buy
Private credit funds often use “volatility laundering” to make returns look smoother than they are. In this episode, I talk about why Percent decided to do things differently, what radical transparency looks like in practice, and how sharing the full story with investors has helped us build lasting trust and a stronger business.
Founder Notes Ep. 15 - The unconventional PM: From series 7 to shipping product
What happens when a capital markets pro pivots to product? In this episode, Kiley Lubeck and I discuss her journey from manually confirming allocations on a broken CMS to building tech that processes billions. We cover the brutal art of roadmap prioritization, why fintech PMs think like compliance officers, and how our biggest product wins came from solving our own worst pain points.
Founder Notes Ep. 14 - Building infra in the market Wall Street doesn’t want to fix
I break down the absurdity of today’s private credit markets: no liquidity, no standards, no real price discovery. But I also talk about what comes next—and how real infrastructure could double the market and unlock access for 199,000 underserved companies.
Founder Notes Ep. 13 - The matchmaker: Inside private credit syndication with Paola Rios
In this episode, I sit down with Paola Rios, our VP of Investor Relations & Syndication and employee #7, who's been with us since the early days when syndication was just "scramble." We dive into the art of matchmaking between borrowers who want cheap money and investors who want high returns, the plot twists that make her wish for a punching bag, and why herd mentality drives more investment decisions than you'd think. If you’ve ever invested in a deal on Percent, Paola probably had something to do with it.