small-business-lending
(8)
Mark Peterson and the money that stayed in the neighborhood
In 1990, Mark Peterson founded the community loan fund that became Bridgeway Capital. Over 29 years, his work carried him from financing neighborhood businesses to reopening a Homewood factory - and eventually to helping other leaders take their turn.
Brock Blake Bet the Company on the 98%
He took a $10 million business to zero on purpose, rebuilt it for Main Street, and learned that the smartest founder in the room is often the one willing to abandon the wrong answer.
Rohit Arora Built a Lender for the Hours Banks Ignore
Nearly half of Biz2Credit's applicants arrive after business hours or on weekends. Rohit Arora built his career around that inconvenient fact - and the larger idea that a business deserves to be read in real time.
Justin Leto Left the Courtroom to Finance the Awkward Tuesday
A trial lawyer noticed that good businesses can still run short of time. From a borrowed conference room in Miami, he built a lender around the gap between an opportunity and the cash required to seize it.
Lukas Haffer Wants a Three-Day Business Loan. He Started With a Mini Cooper.
A risk-averse German banker, a competitive gamer and a freshly minted Stanford MBA drove straight from graduation to Y Combinator. Three years later, Lukas Haffer is trying to make a 90-day loan feel almost ordinary in three.
Kelly Jordan
A finance-trained operator moved closer to the customer - and built a marketing career around the discipline of listening, measuring and adapting.
Jacqueline Reses
Jacqueline 'Jackie' Reses is the Chair and CEO of Lead Bank, a Kansas City-based chartered bank she acquired in 2022 and transformed into a banking-as-a-service powerhouse serving fintech builders. Previously, she built Square Capital from zero into a multi-billion dollar lending business at Square (now Block), served as a board member at Alibaba through its historic 2014 IPO, led 41 transactions as Yahoo's Chief Development Officer, and spent seven years at Goldman Sachs in M&A. A Wharton-trained economist from Atlantic City, she co-authored 'Self-Made Boss' and holds patents in payments, credit, and cryptocurrency. Lead Bank closed a $70M Series B in September 2025 at a $1.47B valuation backed by a16z, Ribbit Capital, Coatue, and Khosla Ventures.
David Haber
David Haber is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), based in New York City - the firm's first full-time GP in Manhattan. A Harvard-trained biochemist turned fintech operator-investor, Haber founded Bond Street (acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2017), seeded Plaid at Spark Capital, and now co-leads a16z's AI Apps fund with a focus on vertical AI, enterprise software, and financial services. Known as the 'super-connector' who bridges Wall Street and Silicon Valley, he sits on the boards of Camber, Crux, Eve, Moment, Rutter, Setpoint, and Tennr.