Fundera

In October 2013, Jared Hecht launched Fundera, an online marketplace of financial solutions that helps small business owners get loans from non-bank lenders. They provide expert insights and tailored options to small businesses about loans, credit cards and banking so they can shop and compare their financial choices and make smart business decisions.
Hecht raised a total of $18.9 million for his platform from investors such as Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, David Tisch, and more. In only a year of its launch, the company has secured more than $60 million in credit for 1,200 small-business owners. The platform, which connects business owners with top banks and alternative lenders, quickly achieved profitability and admiration among its peers and small business owners.
In the beginning, Fundera was specifically focused on lending. Often, small business owners would work with lenders or brokers who would charge unjustifiable fees. Fundera allowed these small business owners to save huge amounts simply by refinancing them and getting them the right product. With Fundera, they get a transparent model and a chance to see tangible results.
The most amazing attribute of Fundera is its educational opportunities for its employees. It has about 100 employees. There are some skills that an employee cannot learn in-house. So, they are allowed to learn it outside, come back, contribute using their new learnings and help the company grow. Fundera CEO, Jared Hecht, said in an interview, “The cost of education versus what we would have paid an agency to do the same thing is probably one-eighth. In our education program, we now have that resource in-house and can use it going forward, and we need to also take into account the value of a happy employee who has developed a new skill set.” It is a definite win-win situation for both parties involved.
To say Jared Hecht is a talented entrepreneur is an understatement to his disposition. He is a young genius and a charming leader who knows to take advantage of every opportunity that comes his way. He was only in his early 20’s when he sold GroupMe to Microsoft for $80 million. Let’s take a look at his journey from the beginning.

Jared Hecht’s early years in business and birth of GroupMe

Soon after completing his bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Columbia University in 2009, he was hired at Tumblr. Hecht led business development, where he focused on international expansion and strategic partnerships when Tumblr was witnessing a major growth phase for the company.
While he was still at Tumblr, he entered a hackathon attempting to solve a group texting problem which resulted in him co-founding GroupMe in 2010 with his friend Steve Martocci, founder of Blade and Splice. They came up with the idea to build a service that allowed people to communicate better at music festivals. GroupMe was a free group messaging service that essentially created a private chatroom for a small group and even allowed video conferencing. They won the South by Southwest breakout in the year 2011 and raised $11 million from Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst. The same year in August, GroupMe was acquired by Skype and after being live only for 370 days; in October, it was eventually purchased by Microsoft.

Onset of interest in the finance and investment market:

While he was still at Microsoft, Hecht became an angel investor and invested in companies such as Sweetgreen, TransferWise, and Flatiron Health. During this phase, his cousin Zach, who runs a chain of sushi restaurants in Ohio called Fusian, approached him for a loan. He agreed to invest in his business, but his cousin refused as he didn’t want equity investors. Intrigued by the struggle Zach had with bank loans and the lack of transparency in the loan applications for small business owners, he dug more information on the industry and realized there’s a market need in the world of small business lending that eventually led to Fundera.

Jared Hecht -A Real Life Opportunist

Soon after completing his bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Columbia University in 2009, he was hired at Tumblr. Hecht led business development, where he focused on international expansion and strategic partnerships when Tumblr was witnessing a major growth phase for the company.
While he was still at Tumblr, he entered a hackathon attempting to solve a group texting problem which resulted in him co-founding GroupMe in 2010 with his friend Steve Martocci, founder of Blade and Splice. They came up with the idea to build a service that allowed people to communicate better at music festivals. GroupMe was a free group messaging service that essentially created a private chatroom for a small group and even allowed video conferencing. They won the South by Southwest breakout in the year 2011 and raised $11 million from Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst. The same year in August, GroupMe was acquired by Skype and after being live only for 370 days; in October, it was eventually purchased by Microsoft.

Achievements

• In 2011 and 2015, Jared Hecht was named in the Forbes’ “30 under 30” list for the Consumer Tech category.
• In May 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek honoured him as the Best Young Technology Entrepreneur.
• In May 2011, the New York Enterprise Report also named him among the Game Changers of 2011.
• Fundera was named in Crain’s Best Places to Work in New York City in 2018.
• Fundera has helped small businesses secure over $1 billion in loans in credit.

The latest that Jared is upto

Jared Hecht currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Columbia University Entrepreneurship Organization. He is an investor and mentor of various start-ups in NYC like Codecademy, SmartThings, and TransferWise. He also writes frequently on small business lending and management