The kid who raised $6M to give out free money
Hello futurists,
Your fellow interns might start looking like Jedi Masters in meetings.
WeWork wants to put hologram tech in 100 of its office locations.
While holograms are pretty far away from being mainstream, we can all agree that Zoom fatigue is demanding innovation, and fast.
On to this week's podcast interview. If you're seeing this on our website, make sure to subscribe here.
Story
The Student Who Raised $6M To Give It Away
Here's how Sheridan Clayborne built Lendtable (YC S20)
We just interviewed one of the most impressive young entrepreneurs in the world: Sheridan Clayborne.
This kid has accomplished so much, we've got to bullet-point his resume:
Youngest student to be accepted into Northwestern at 15
Dropped out of college at age 17
Has started dozens of companies and raised over $10M total
Has held internships at Dropbox and Goldman Sachs
Forbes 30 under 30
Thiel Fellow
Just raised $6M for his YC and Softbank backed startup at age 21
Okay, now that you have the details on his background we can jump into Sheridan's startup: Lendtable.
Lendtable is a YC backed fintech startup tackling the retirement savings crisis that's raised over $6M from investors like Josh Richards, Bryce Hall, and SoftBank.
Here's the problem they're solving (and one Sheridan faced growing up in a low income community): over 50% of Americans aren't taking advantage of their employer sponsored 401k plans. These benefits are powerful because companies match your contribution to your retirement savings as a work perk.
So the mission of Lendtable is simple: make everyone a millionaire, regardless of income level. They do this by giving no-interest loans to employees across America to help them take FULL advantage of their 401(k) match (or ESPP pools).
By giving cash advances, Lendtable makes sure that Americans living paycheck to paycheck can afford in the short-term to maximize their retirement savings over the long-term.
In exchange for these no interesst loaans, they take a small (5-10%) cut of the match, and in the process help their users make an additional $5,000 every year.
So far the company has onboard thousands of users and even penned a partnership with a major CPG company to work with its employees.
Okay, so what can you learn from Sheridan to apply to your own startup journey?
For one, he thinks you should be building in San Francisco.
“In Chicago, it would be incredibly rare to meet someone as ambitious as me. I have this ambition of wanting to build a billion-dollar company, a website or a product, and an app that serves millions of people. And there were a lot of folks whose ambition was to go to Goldman or Facebook or someplace like that. Whereas you come here, that ambition is almost a dime a dozen. You go to a party and meet a hundred kids that are talking about how their company is going to be the next big thing.”
In terms of getting investors, he notes that a lot of it is marketing and a lot of it is sales. He emphasized the importance of asking for warm introductions to investors through founders that are already in your network.
He also speaks highly of Y Combinator, should you be interested in applying to their next cohort (Lendtable was in the Summer 2020 batch). Though he notes that lifestyle businesses are not the companies Y Combinator invests in.
Questioning whether you want to start your own next big thing? Sheridan offers his advice.
“If you are really passionate about startups, if you really think that this is the thing for you, start as early as possible. You can do a side company while you are working at a job or you can do a startup in a company and if you really like this thing and it's kind of taking off, JUST QUIT.”
Check out the full interview on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urc7KC4CX2 or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Oh and check out Lendtable's website.
Our Future Profile
Andrew Kirima
This section is part of a new series highlighting all of the crazy ambitious young leaders we have on this newsletter! Every week, a new member of our 3.5K+ audience will answer a few questions!
1) The Backstory: Hey, I'm Andrew Kirima, born in Kenya but raised in the US since I was 3. Graduated from University of Arizona with a BS in Systems Engineering (and minor in Electrical & Computer Engineering). Currently, I am the CTO for Sencha Credit, where we are developing the debit card that builds credit including stock/crypto rewards. Also, I am a Hard Tech Analyst for Cantos Ventures, where I exude my passions for cutting-edge.
2) Life or Work Hack: Feeling tired when working? DO NOT, I repeat, do not, miss out on the gym or being active! That's how you gain more energy.
3) #1 Content Rec: Our entire required reading list at Cantos. With an emphasis on "7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy" by Hamilton Helmer & "Principles" by Ray Dalio. Also, "The Four Steps to the Epiphany" by Steve Blank.
4) Advice: Read and write voraciously. If you have an idea for something you want to build, project you've completed, something you're enthusiastic about, or just want to learn how to communicate your ideas effectively, WRITE! If you want to learn new ideas, get the innovative juices going, and understand the world from the exceptional, READ! If you want to be a VC or Founder, both are absolutely essential.
5) Follow me: on Linkedin or on Twitter.
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