LendUp

Going fintech at LendUp is why Lambda School worked

Austen's first startup (a crowdsourced fact-checked newsroom) went to zero; he then took a job at LendUp to get close to the money, learning about risk, capital markets, IRR, and securitizations that later made Lambda's ISA model possible.

“So that was basically me moving from, hey, I'm like 10 steps away from money changing hands. I want to get as close to the money as I can. And so I kind of went down the fintechy route, which is a lot of why Lamb School worked. Because I was always thinking about risk and capital markets and, you know, how you can move money from one place to another and what the IRR needs to be to make that happen and how securitizations happen and stuff like that.”

Steal thisGet as close to where the money changes hands as you can; the financial mechanics become your edge.