Starting again is humbling. Very humbling. I’m nearly as grey as Larry after 8 months of Eldium :)

You forget and then you quickly remember how hard it is to build something from scratch. Every conversation, every decision, every unknown - and doing everything all over again. The good thing is you get to bring your mistakes and learnings with you - and that makes all the difference. 

That’s been the journey of building again with Eldium. Reconnecting with Larry about something we’re both passionate about and then building the team around a clear purpose is exciting. From my experience, purpose and mission carries you - it directs you to what matters and why you turn up to work everyday, even when you don't feel like it. 

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Morning Glory

Luckily, Larry and I both feel it - making sure those truly pushing us all forward and taking the risk to do so, are rewarded. We want to build Eldium to be the best place for those fueling progress to come to - and we’re putting our time, energy and capital into it. 

And we’ve been here before, so feel it intensely. From my time building Stake, we see what investors are really looking for: new opportunities, trust & transparency, with a great experience bringing it all together. As a leader and also an investor in companies such as Zip and Bridgit, I know it's about the people - businesses are really just a reflection of who’s running it…. I’ll be the one inside Eldium questioning new opportunities, not because the returns don’t make sense, but because the person or platform behind them doesn’t. It’s the starting point for any decision we make. 

Then there’s Larry. Larry has walked the full journey - from starting Zip with his own capital, all the way to reaching securitisation scale. He’s lived the operator side and has built deep empathy for the lending journey (Zippy).

He brings that practical, grounded experience into every conversation, as well as the smarts to structure them and us for success. The lenders we back feel that instantly: he’s not guessing. He’s done it.

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Believe deeply

We know this won’t happen overnight. Changing how investors think about credit - especially in a market that’s been so concentrated in property for so long, takes time. We know most portfolios are still overexposed to real estate, people are fixated with LVRs and they’re also generally underweight across the broader lending economy. 

That imbalance won’t fix itself. But we believe it’s shifting and can be a part of that. It’s eerily similar to my first few years at Stake dealing with all the feedback from naysayers about the uptake of US equities in a portfolio. I think we’ll end up with a similar outcome here :)

So far, the feedback on what we’re doing is mixed - that’s normal and expected. A few investors have backed us because of what we’ve done before or because our own capital is in front.  For us, this isn’t actually ideal - we truly believe that our product has an impact, stands up on its own and the risk adjusted returns are strong. Some people are chasing higher yields - and that’s ok. 

Having to have those initial and sometimes hard conversations again is great - we’ll stay true to what we believe, but always seek feedback, keep learning and build on what we’re about.  

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Teaming up

Without a purpose you have nothing. Without a team, you have even less.

Getting the right people, started with a lucky re-encounter with Will who I knew from before (Getting to know Will Wong) from there came Danielle (Investor Experience), Sahir (CTO), Dalya (Credit), and most recently, Justin (Tech & Data).

Each of them brings something different, but what unites us is simple: who we’re building for, and do it well. 

And we’re having fun - and that’s a key ingredient …..which goes really well with Dalya’s bircher muesli mix that has also been fueling some late afternoon sessions too!

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Next up

With the purpose and team, we’re still moving step by step.  Not resting on our reputation, but building something substantial and impactful. It means connecting with our current & future investors, listening intently, and staying grounded in what your customers actually need - not what you assume they want. And using the product yourself…..you’ll see some cool changes come through in the next few months!

That’s our north star. Build a product that sells itself - which means me and Larry aren’t the reason you back us in. It may be the reason now, but I hope it's not in the months and years to come. 

I know we’ll get there, because when you build with purpose and the right people on the journey - you don’t just start again. You start better.

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