He sold peepholes door to door, built a mortgage company and returned after the financial crash to co-found Quontic. Steven Schnall’s wager was that a bank could take unfamiliar customers seriously - and still have a little fun.

Before Quontic reached borrowers in all 50 states, George Lazaridis helped give it an Astoria address. His career follows the work behind the mortgage: finding customers, building teams and keeping a bank on course.