00:12.240 --> 00:18.030 Devin Delany: First things first. Hello everyone, Devin Delany here with Rapid Finance. You know, it's just an 00:18.030 --> 00:24.990 honor to be here closing out Broker Fair 2020 Virtual and representing Rapid finance as a platinum sponsor. 00:26.280 --> 00:31.500 You know, throughout the day, my team and I were just thrilled to see how successful this unprecedented 00:31.500 --> 00:38.760 industry event turned out to be under, you know, some pretty tough circumstances this year. So big shout out 00:38.760 --> 00:44.520 to the entire deBanked team, Sean, under your leadership and special thanks to Janene and Gigi for 00:44.520 --> 00:51.720 their constant unwavering support. On the sponsor side, you guys truly are the best. Just for some context, 00:51.720 --> 00:57.780 everyone, I'm coming to you live, from Bethesda, Maryland, working from home, just outside our nation's 00:57.780 --> 01:04.620 capital, Washington, DC, hence the flag behind me. And you know, before I get into a few topics that I'd like 01:04.620 --> 01:11.550 to cover. I would like to introduce myself. And you know, for those of you who don't know me yet and aren't 01:11.550 --> 01:17.190 familiar with my role Rapid. So again, my name is Devin Delany. I'm the Director of Business Development with 01:17.190 --> 01:26.850 Rapid Finance. I've been with Rapid just over 14 years, May 30, 2006, it was a Tuesday who's counting. I spent 01:26.850 --> 01:33.870 nine years in partner sales, and then transitioned into sales leadership, both leading a new origination team, 01:34.200 --> 01:40.230 and then ultimately running the renewal retention department. I started assisting with the BD leadership 01:40.230 --> 01:48.630 team about two years ago, and then came on full time about a year ago, this time last year. And under the 01:48.660 --> 01:54.840 spectacular leadership of our phenomenal Chief Revenue Officer, Mark Cerminaro. I'm tasked with coordinating 01:54.840 --> 02:04.410 the execution and strategy around Rapid's partnerships, from the one person shop to smaller ISOs, to large 02:04.410 --> 02:12.180 marketplace partners, even national brands. I'd like to answer a few direct questions from the audience. Before 02:12.180 --> 02:20.370 I do, so I'd like to kind of cover a few topics, we'll get into, you know, what Rapid was like pre COVID. What 02:20.370 --> 02:26.970 were you know, our response to COVID was, what we were doing during this, you know, last few months, opening 02:26.970 --> 02:34.860 up new and renewal funding, as well as, you know, kind of getting into some of our goals and plans. So, that 02:34.860 --> 02:45.150 being said, let's start pre COVID. So Rapid was on an absolute tear, pre COVID, we were significantly growing 02:45.150 --> 02:51.390 the top line in the balance sheet as well as the bottom line. You know, for four years, we were averaging 50% 02:51.870 --> 02:59.610 year over year growth in originations year after year after year after year. And during that time, you know, 02:59.610 --> 03:05.910 we felt a big capacity strain. Because with that growth, you got to keep up with it. But, you know, 03:05.940 --> 03:11.580 fortunate for us, especially over the last couple years, you know, our customer and partner experiences, 03:12.000 --> 03:18.300 you know, not only did not suffer, but we actually were able to improve those along the way. And the reason we 03:18.300 --> 03:24.600 were able to do that is because, you know, we found ourselves you know, as a business organization, finally 03:24.600 --> 03:32.070 realizing those hard fought gains that we had been working on so long in terms of retooling, refactoring, 03:32.070 --> 03:40.770 rethinking to find better ways. And it really panned out for us, especially in terms of just processing 03:40.770 --> 03:50.190 paper the right way, in a quick way. And it really voted well. So, you know, last but not least, we were 03:50.190 --> 03:58.050 seeing loss rates, where we wanted them to be we trusted our risk model. We put a lot into it. We leaned 03:58.050 --> 04:03.750 in there, and it was working for us, you know, pre COVID, we saw handfuls of team members being hired in 04:03.750 --> 04:09.720 both our Bethesda site, and Detroit site month over month. So needless to say things weren't just good. 04:09.720 --> 04:18.210 They were great. And then all of a sudden, this pandemic hit. So that changes things with that we had 04:18.210 --> 04:27.240 to adapt. And our response to COVID was pretty similar to what I would imagine everyone, you know, listening 04:27.240 --> 04:31.920 to this call with their business organizations were experiencing themselves. First things first, safety 04:31.920 --> 04:38.490 first, you know, we wanted to take care of our clients, partners and team members. Do the right thing. 04:38.760 --> 04:46.530 Obviously, we transition to work from home. We had some essential people stay a little longer. But that didn't 04:46.530 --> 04:55.020 really faze us. We executed our continuity of business plan very well. And we shifted into a mindset of Okay, 04:55.770 --> 05:01.320 who the heck knows what's going on? Let's just do the right thing by our clients and try to figure out 05:01.470 --> 05:08.970 getting them the best information possible. Outreaching to them to figure out, do they need, you know, hardship 05:08.970 --> 05:16.320 plan to be put in place, you know, work out, if you will. And that was successful. We stood up a resource 05:16.320 --> 05:24.600 site to give good information and a world of misinformation in terms of state and federal funding 05:24.600 --> 05:34.740 programs, as well as independent grants. So we were able to pivot and do that pretty quickly. You know, we 05:34.740 --> 05:41.250 looked, we looked at it in more than just a one dimensional way. Rapid has always thought of partners, 05:42.030 --> 05:49.770 sounds hokey, but certainly true, as our clients as well. So we not only outreach to clients to try to get 05:49.770 --> 05:55.890 them funneled to the right site for EIDL, giving them the right information, just being a helpful hand doing 05:55.890 --> 06:02.610 the right thing again, but we did that for partners as well, you know, our broker partners, specifically are 06:02.610 --> 06:11.280 small business owners and entrepreneurs. So we just felt like that was the right thing to do. You know, of 06:11.280 --> 06:16.050 course, we invested in the PPP plan, and directly customers they're on took care of that was successful 06:16.050 --> 06:23.040 there. But fortunate enough with our team members, throughout COVID, both in our Bethesda site and our 06:23.040 --> 06:29.640 Detroit site, we have not had to layoff one employee, we have not had to furlough one employee, which is 06:29.640 --> 06:44.280 certainly a proud fact for us. As far as next steps, so renewals, we are successfully funding renewals, chunks 06:44.280 --> 06:48.720 and chunks of renewals are going out the door more and more each day, which is a pretty happy thing to see. 06:50.100 --> 06:58.770 Guidelines are tight, it's very hard to determine risk right now. You know, we're not shy about that, or it's 06:58.770 --> 07:05.130 clear to all of us. But we're looking to expand that. And you will start seeing some of your deals get 07:05.130 --> 07:10.680 signed, submitted to underwriting be evaluated, hopefully funded. We didn't change any of the 07:10.680 --> 07:16.740 commisions as for our renewal products. And we have from what I understand, we don't intend to at this 07:16.740 --> 07:23.730 time. For new deals, we're looking to open that up soon, if you saw the Great Debate, my Chairman and Co 07:23.730 --> 07:29.550 Founder Jeremy Brown, was mentioning that we're going to be looking to open up and retooling new funding, 07:30.870 --> 07:35.850 hopefully later this month. And he said that if you hadn't heard from Rapids BD department, you will be 07:35.850 --> 07:43.740 soon. And that certainly is true. So once we have a better idea of guidelines, which we just don't have 07:43.740 --> 07:48.870 right now, because we're still evaluating, still trying to figure that out, we will certainly be in contact and 07:48.870 --> 07:55.230 we look forward to working with you. The last thing Rapid wants to do is have a false start in terms of 07:55.230 --> 08:04.110 funding new deals, the next six months are going to be pretty uncertain, with second wave potential, uncertain 08:04.110 --> 08:13.290 vaccine, you know, uncertainty on the vaccine front. And ultimately, we have also a presidential election. 08:13.290 --> 08:19.650 So there's going to be a rocky road. But we're certainly prepared for that journey. And we're well 08:19.650 --> 08:26.370 positioned to do so. it's not a when, or excuse me, it's not an if, it's just a when in terms, we come back 08:26.370 --> 08:33.960 for new funding. Let me talk a little bit about partnerships specifically. And then kind of our goals 08:33.960 --> 08:43.590 for post COVID. And then we can turn it over for questions. Broker partnerships. So the success of Rapid 08:43.590 --> 08:51.120 in the recent past has been built on partnerships, specifically, but mainly Broker partnerships. So that's 08:51.120 --> 08:56.130 a model that we like. And that's a model that we want to continue to work with short term and the very long 08:56.130 --> 09:01.830 term. What I will say is that obviously we know things are going to be different. We just want to be 09:01.830 --> 09:06.720 transparent about what we can do mean what we say, say what we mean. So we don't waste your time, your effort, 09:06.720 --> 09:13.140 your resources. But we really look forward to getting back in the broker market on a wide scale. Strategic 09:13.140 --> 09:18.750 partnerships. We've been successful there and we're going to be open and able to work with strategic 09:18.750 --> 09:26.190 partnerships. From the Broker side we have a 25 person, partner sales team that's well equipped to handle 09:26.190 --> 09:32.160 significant volume. And just like that, on the Broker side, we have that same capacity on the strategic 09:32.160 --> 09:42.750 partnership side. So we think that we're very well positioned to get through this rocky time. A few things 09:42.750 --> 09:49.500 that you can count on is that we will be funding new deals soon. With partnerships. We will be looking to 09:49.500 --> 09:57.300 grow originations month over month in a smart and conservative way. You know, we will be looking to 09:57.300 --> 10:03.840 expand products when it makes sense that was something that we were Looking heavily into prior to COVID. And 10:03.840 --> 10:09.450 we're going to be putting a lot, a lot of investment from the development side into our partner portal, 10:09.450 --> 10:14.670 existing partner portal, which isn't too shabby at this current moment, but it's only going to get better. And 10:14.670 --> 10:23.190 as soon as we get through the immediate short term, we'll be looking to reinvest into that. So with that, 10:24.000 --> 10:29.610 that's my spiel. I'd love to field any questions. I know it's later in the day. Hopefully, some of our west 10:29.610 --> 10:35.940 coast partners are still engaged here. I know it's happy hour time, but you know, if there's questions, 10:35.940 --> 10:42.540 I'd love to field them and see if I could give you some insights of things that you guys are wondering about. 10:43.230 --> 10:44.670 Cindy, do we have any questions? 10:44.730 --> 10:49.710 Moderator: We don't have any questions right now. If anybody has any questions that they could put directly 10:49.710 --> 10:52.620 in the chat? We'll give you a few seconds. 10:53.740 --> 10:58.150 Devin Delany: Yeah, I don't see any? I mean, I know it's already happy hour. So 10:59.620 --> 11:07.810 Moderator: yeah, everybody's probably having a drink in their hands right now. All right. Oh, here we go. Shawn 11:07.810 --> 11:13.450 Smith says great job. For Shawn, are you looking at what's happening with OnDeck? 11:14.320 --> 11:19.690 Devin Delany: Yeah, yeah, we are Shawn. So good question. Um, we've worked with OnDeck and we continue 11:19.690 --> 11:28.960 to work with OnDeck. So and we know that a lot of folks over there and respect those guys and gals. We are very 11:28.960 --> 11:35.590 similar to OnDeck and a lot of ways and dissimilar and others. It's interesting because we were going down a 11:35.590 --> 11:42.550 path of automation. Similar to their online checkout. We were almost branded it more as a an auto checkout, 11:42.550 --> 11:49.780 meaning that when you get the list of items, it just funds. So like the time horizon between submitting 11:49.780 --> 11:57.460 everything and funding is immediate. Oh, we still think that there's a significant opportunity in automation. 11:58.750 --> 12:04.210 Because a lot of the underwriting just once once you get it done, if you trust your underwriting, and you've 12:04.210 --> 12:11.740 seen past success there and you continue to maintain kind of a manual review model at some point in your 12:11.740 --> 12:22.570 process doesn't have to be a deep dive into everything, then you can find quickly and efficiently. In terms of 12:22.570 --> 12:27.880 like their securitization, and the stock price and, and their guidance, yeah, we're looking at everything 12:27.880 --> 12:36.370 there. And we were like I said, pre COVID, we were expanding our balance sheet pretty significantly. And 12:36.370 --> 12:42.280 it was a it was a terrible time for us to experience this pandemic, because of the size that we had been 12:42.280 --> 12:53.500 booked, been booking. But our portfolio has bounced back in phenomenal ways. The hurt wasn't as bad as we 12:53.500 --> 12:58.750 thought it was going to be. And the recovery has been pretty tremendous. So we're excited there. 12:59.860 --> 13:05.530 Moderator: Okay, we have one more question from Jay Shaw. How are you guys accounting for revenue changes 13:05.530 --> 13:06.820 in future underwriting? 13:09.420 --> 13:15.480 Devin Delany: So it's not quite nailed down yet, Jay. You know, we're certainly one of the one, we certainly 13:15.480 --> 13:20.940 want to look at more activity, in terms of like the last three months specifically, probably won't cut it, 13:21.330 --> 13:31.770 like it used to, we're discounting the revenue. We're obviously less inclined to work with fun businesses 13:31.770 --> 13:41.730 right now that have like severe drop offs. So we're looking at maybe a cut there. We're looking to fund in 13:41.730 --> 13:50.100 50 states. And we're looking to look at all industries. However, as my Chairman and Co-founder Jeremy Brown 13:50.100 --> 13:55.860 mentioned in the Great Debate call that we want to be clear with what we want to our partners, and we simply 13:55.860 --> 14:05.490 don't have that yet. But it won't be long until we get it. So I'm, I'm excited at the opportunity that will 14:05.490 --> 14:13.590 turn back on as quickly as we turned off on March 18, 2020. Date I won't forget, but it's just too early to 14:13.590 --> 14:13.980 tell. 14:15.480 --> 14:22.590 Moderator: Okay, um, Shawn just wrote, does what just happened mean that some level of manual underwriting 14:22.740 --> 14:28.140 will always have to exist that will never be able to totally turn over the reins to automation? 14:29.890 --> 14:36.640 Devin Delany: Yes, and so Rapid has historically, Shawn had manual underwriting and a lot of what we do. It's 14:36.640 --> 14:42.250 been quick. I mean, we literally the term that we use internally is streamline underwriting for what we feel 14:42.250 --> 14:48.820 are low risk files. And the streamline under is a cursory review to look for fraud flags and things like 14:48.820 --> 14:55.960 that. Most of those go through pretty easily. We're not going to divorce from streamline underwriting, even in 14:55.960 --> 15:02.290 a post COVID environment, but there's still manual review there. For streamline underwriting deals that 15:02.290 --> 15:10.420 funded, most of our partners wouldn't even feel that because it was so seamless. You know, Rapid historical, 15:10.420 --> 15:15.400 I've been there, you know, 14 years, and I've seen a lot of different versions of Rapid and one thing that I 15:15.400 --> 15:22.360 respect and I'm proud of, with our firm is that we are like, we do like to grow smart. And we do like to be 15:22.360 --> 15:31.120 conservative in some areas, I just think that's the way to achieve longevity, and, and what, frankly, is a is a 15:31.120 --> 15:41.230 risky space. And that was proven to us by, you know, the recent events in the past. So I think that you 15:41.230 --> 15:47.650 know, a little bit of manual underwriting if you're staffed up, and you can do it quickly. If you can, you 15:47.650 --> 15:55.030 can do the things like ingest the paper and get all the data done quickly, on the front end, that you can take 15:55.030 --> 15:59.920 a little bit more time on the back end, where it matters more that I don't think it will be a painful 15:59.920 --> 16:01.540 experience for the broker and or client. 16:04.500 --> 16:11.970 Moderator: Good. I think that is all the questions that we have so far. Anybody else wants to put anything on 16:11.970 --> 16:14.610 the chat? still have a little time? 16:15.090 --> 16:20.640 Devin Delany: Yeah. And, you know, again, just thank you for all for listening. And please reach out to me 16:20.640 --> 16:25.050 directly or any of the other folks that you know, rapid. We sincerely look forward to working with 16:25.050 --> 16:33.450 everyone again at scale, and be like a contributing force here in our space. And it's, it's, it was very 16:33.450 --> 16:40.170 cool to to be the last, you know, rounding out this last event. So thank you again to the deBanked team. 16:40.170 --> 16:44.790 eing virtual is pretty darn cool. And hopefully, you now, we'll have a live conference here in the near 16:44.790 --> 16:46.860 uture when this pandemic gets under control.