On The Ground at the Lexington Capital Grand Opening Ceremony

“Today, I would like to share three stories from my life and the journey of what it took to get here today. The first story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found what I love to do early in life. That was being an entrepreneur.”

So began the speech made by Frankie DiAntonio, the Founder and CEO of Lexington Capital Holdings & Lexington Estates, at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the company’s new commercial property and headquarters in Port Jefferson Station, Long Island.

On the three acre plot with private parking and 16,000 square feet of office space, hundreds of people including 85 employees, their friends, families, and even funding partners, gathered to celebrate the next chapter of Lexington.

“I started my first company when I was 19 years old,” DiAntonio continued. “It was an auto repair shop. I was so excited about it, I told friends, family and the whole entire community. I did not know how to market or generate leads or even how to acquire customers back then.”

Between the live outdoor DJ, a busy food truck operator, and the cacophony of brokers trying to make or close a deal from their cell phone in the parking lot, the activity caught the attention of locals, including a representative from the town’s chamber of commerce who was eager to welcome them.

DiAntonio, who actually began the proceedings outside by playing the National Anthem, walked the crowd through his trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship, much of which had humbled him. Lexington Capital Holdings, however, a small business finance marketplace, has been a huge success four years after it started thanks to the people around him.

“Lexington did not get built by me. It got built by us,” DiAntonio said in his speech, “by every person who walked into my life at exactly the right moment, and standing here today opening the doors to this new home, I’m reminded of the biggest lesson the story teaches, the dots always connect, just not always in the moment. They connect when you look back, when you stand somewhere you once dreamed of, you realize every twist, every friendship, every failure, every blessing in disguise brought you exactly where you needed to be.”

DiAntonio attributed much to his sister Nicollete and old friends who are now key operators at the business. Several of them gave speeches.

“Working side by side with Frankie truly is a pleasure and an honor, something I look forward to on a daily basis,” said Lexington COO Frank Lewando during his speech. “He’s my best friend, my mentor and my brother, and I’m proud of him for making this big jump and pushing our company to the next level. I patiently wait to see what’s going on next for us. With the opening up of our first commercial property today, we find a new life and direction for the company.”

Inside the building, Lexington is split into different departments. Among others there are separate sales rooms for SBA lending and its new real estate business, Lexington Estates. Purely by observation, the average age of a “Lexonite” appears to be mid-20s. A few of them said off the cuff to deBanked that working at Lexington is the best thing that ever happened to them.

When the big moment was coming to an end, DiAntonio cut the ribbon and was presented with a giant gold key and certificate.

“We knew if we worked hard and we stayed true to each other that we would make it,” DiAntonio said in the lead up to the finale. “The first two years were really tough, and we had some really rough days together. Each day was a dog fight to stay in business. I wasn’t concerned about next year, next month or even next week. I just wanted to survive and advance to the next day. By the grace of God and our hard work and efforts, we ended up funding our first deal in our second month, just a domino effect after that. Our second month we funded $71,000. Our third month we funded $193,000. Our fourth month, $400,000 and modern day, we fund nothing less than $15 million every single month for small to medium sized businesses all across the United States.”

Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.