In today's episode, I speak to Rodney Williams, who's the co-founder, chairman, and president of SoLo Funds, which is a B-Corp-certified community finance platform that's now used by more than 1 million users. Members can borrow and lend money between themselves rather than go to traditional lenders, loan sharks, or banks. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [01:16] Rodney's personal background [03:18] What other alternatives exist [04:50] How does SoLo work? [07:25] When and how do your customers use SoLo [08:56] Difference between Credit score vs SoLo score [11:50] Fighting the step crisis [14:27] SoLo's plan for the future [16:15] SoLo’s expansion to Nigeria [18:22] SoLo's approach to fundraising & growing revenue [19:53] Investors' feedback on the business [24:36] How did SoLo approach investors [27:53] How did Solo get to become [33:04] Undeniable product market fit [37:32] 10-year vision KEY LESSONS & QUOTES " You can't build wealth without growing it. " [12:12] "Subprime product, underserved communities, helping people that usually doesn't sound like a big business you’d want to invest in." [19:44] "Our goal to market strategy is done right and do good because if you can't buy users, you need users to really like what you do.” [21:46] “A challenge that has made this extremely difficult is that the same financial system that has created the market that we live in today has created so much discrimination.” [20:30] “The majority of the group who use this predatory product, tend to be women. Women are taking advantage of these products significantly more.” [26:30] “All of the impact investors who have turned down Solo, I think they're a joke.” [24:57] “As we made the consumer experience better, our growth rate accelerated and that's when I knew it was an undeniable product market fit.” (35:01) Never miss an episode Support the show Support the show