00:00.000 --> 00:07.530 Sean Murray: Hello, everyone, it's Sean Murray here at deBanked TV. Today I have a special guest with us here today. Frank Ebanks, the CEO 00:07.530 --> 00:10.320 of Spartan Capital. Thanks for being here, Frank. 00:10.380 --> 00:11.640 Frank Ebanks: Thank you for having me, Sean. 00:11.700 --> 00:19.740 Sean Murray: No problem. So, Frank, we have you on because we actually wrote an interesting story about you, I think a few months ago, maybe 00:19.740 --> 00:20.730 the end of last year? 00:21.180 --> 00:24.450 Frank Ebanks: That's right. I believe it was December 2020. That's correct. 00:24.750 --> 00:26.940 Sean Murray: And so you work in the MCA industry. Is that right? 00:26.940 --> 00:27.510 Frank Ebanks: That's right. 00:27.510 --> 00:35.190 Sean Murray: Okay. So I wanted to have you tell the audience a little bit about your background, because it seems a little unique, even in an 00:35.190 --> 00:40.560 industry that has a lot of unique characters. So what can you tell me about yourself? How did you get into the business? And what did you 00:40.560 --> 00:41.280 start from. 00:41.660 --> 00:48.320 Frank Ebanks: I guess, a little bit of my background, I was born in a different country. As a teenager, I always wanted to come to the United 00:48.320 --> 00:54.710 States and, and take advantage of all the opportunities that were available here to people that wanted to work hard, and we're not 00:54.710 --> 01:02.930 available where I was. So I was given the opportunity. I came, I couldn't believe it. When I was here, to be honest. I'll give you a 01:02.930 --> 01:13.700 story. I was actually opening the day I got here it was Fort Lauderdale, Florida, I was still... I couldn't realize I couldn't really pinpoint the 01:13.700 --> 01:25.310 fact that it was in the US yet. So Sean, I opened the fridge and I found a carton of juice. It's called Dole. D. O. L. E. And it was bananas and, 01:25.670 --> 01:33.500 and I think, orange flavor. And that's not available where I was, I've never seen that before. And that's when it hit me. I was like, I'm here. 01:34.190 --> 01:42.680 So the next day, I figure out how the way thank the country for the opportunity. I know I'm gonna be successful here or I will try very 01:42.680 --> 01:49.820 hard. What can I do to to thank them in advance. So I joined the army. Joined the army, I spent a few years in the military had a lot of fun, 01:49.850 --> 01:59.390 worked hard. I made a lot of good friends ended up getting some help to go to college. So I went to college for engineering, did some work on 01:59.390 --> 02:07.370 math, the concentrated on power technology. And I also ended up getting going after my MBA. 02:07.640 --> 02:19.250 Sean Murray: Wow. And Okay, so, so walk me through how you got from your MBA to where you are now that feel like there's probably some some time 02:19.250 --> 02:20.750 that elapsed in between. 02:20.930 --> 02:31.520 Frank Ebanks: 100%, 100%. Yeah, so I skipped that right. So, right after college I worked in, in power generation, I was lucky enough to qualify 02:31.520 --> 02:36.470 to become a Senior Reactor Operator, I was running Indian Point, 02:37.130 --> 02:37.820 Sean Murray: Reactor? 02:38.040 --> 02:40.140 Frank Ebanks: Reactor operator nuclear power. 02:40.140 --> 02:40.890 Sean Murray: Nuclear power, ok. 02:40.890 --> 02:49.350 Frank Ebanks: Generated 30% of all the power used in the city in New York City. The power plant is currently located in Westchester, New 02:49.350 --> 03:00.570 York. So while I was there, I was working on different businesses, I actually had a passion for business since I was five years old, I used 03:00.570 --> 03:09.240 to you know, use all my utensils breaking pieces and sell them at the age of five, come back home with like cash, but no utensils for school 03:09.240 --> 03:16.680 My mom's what happened. I sold them all and made a profit, and buy more So I always had this, you know, eagerness, this, this really like 03:16.680 --> 03:26.670 interest on having a business and scale it and be able to affect the lives of many, many people, right and in a good way. So I was always 03:26.700 --> 03:34.800 looking and searching and searching and one day while at the library. While I was studying for my MBA, it was like 2am in the morning. I was 03:34.800 --> 03:42.090 in Craigslist, just looking for opportunities to just wanted to see what was out there. So I saw an ad from an individual that wanted investors 03:42.120 --> 03:52.590 to start an MCA Business. Back then I didn't know what that meant, what that was. I answered the ad. And, you know, we started the company. 03:54.000 --> 04:00.000 Sean Murray: So engineering, MBA, nuclear operator, and MCA. 04:00.000 --> 04:05.260 Frank Ebanks: That's right. Exactly. And it was a it was a very interesting, 04:05.260 --> 04:09.070 Sean Murray: Yeah. Quite a progression. With the army in between. 04:09.070 --> 04:19.290 Frank Ebanks: Exactly. Exactly. So I, we ended up starting the company $10,000. We went to Clifton, New Jersey, decided to do it. Some of the 04:19.290 --> 04:29.040 partners focus on sales. I had an interest in the funding side, the origination side, right? The the underwriting side, and that's what I 04:29.040 --> 04:41.520 focused on. And we, we got going and the, you know, the company ended up doing well, we parted ways. And I decided to kind of like restore, right 04:41.520 --> 04:48.480 and kind of like do it my way. And I took it to the basement. Okay, so my wife was not happy. 04:48.690 --> 04:51.750 Sean Murray: So we're talking about a literal basement. I like a basement in your house. 04:51.780 --> 05:00.480 Frank Ebanks: I moved the company to my basement. I hired 10, 15 people actually. And we grew the company in my basement. 15 strangers. At that 05:00.480 --> 05:09.540 point, that's when my wife said, we're done here, these people got to get out of here. So we got a real office. I had to actually drive to 05:09.540 --> 05:15.300 work. And all this was happening while I was still working in the power plant. So I had to do this on my weekend. 05:15.300 --> 05:16.230 Sean Murray: Your were still doing that. 05:16.230 --> 05:23.940 Frank Ebanks: Yes. So I had to do it. When I was off, I had to take vacation to grow the company, I had to do it on my days off, I had 05:23.940 --> 05:31.830 to sometimes, you know, find balance and do that and still do this, because I had a passion for it. It just, I just thought it was a 05:31.830 --> 05:36.780 business that I could scale. And it will be a lot of fun. So that's what we did. 05:37.080 --> 05:43.830 Sean Murray: Wow, that's incredible. I'm picturing you right now. like wearing like a, like a nuclear, you know, suit and then going straight 05:43.830 --> 05:52.800 to the basement to participate in the in the MCA industry. But Alright, so I'm curious. Right? You, you started on Craigslist. 05:52.890 --> 06:00.960 And that's how you found out about this business. And I think a lot of people wonder, kind of what's the entry point. And for a 06:00.960 --> 06:08.790 lot, it's you start in sales, and you become an ISO, you become a funder. Did you start on the funding side, like right away, like where 06:08.790 --> 06:12.930 you went right into funding, underwriting and all that stuff. 06:13.470 --> 06:22.260 Frank Ebanks: We started in sales. We originated deals. I thought that was fun. However, I didn't have experience in sales, zero experience, 06:22.650 --> 06:32.580 engineering, math, finance, not sales. So I personally took it upon myself to learn the funding side, I started syndicating deals, using my 06:32.580 --> 06:40.110 own capital. I started funding the deals that we were originating. I thought that was a lot of fun. It was challenging, It was interesting getting 06:40.110 --> 06:45.690 into an all these businesses, throughout all 50 states, right, Trucking, construction, healthcare. 06:45.690 --> 06:47.490 Sean Murray: What year are we talking about? 06:47.520 --> 06:48.510 This is 2016. 06:48.570 --> 06:49.590 2016. Okay 06:49.590 --> 06:50.580 Frank Ebanks: Early 2017. 06:50.700 --> 06:58.290 Sean Murray: Okay. And when you were talking to these, when you were selling, were you talking to-- You were talking to merchants directly? 06:58.290 --> 07:01.920 Were these like cold interactions? Or were these? 07:02.230 --> 07:07.450 Frank Ebanks: There was a little bit of everything? Yes. Yeah. So we didn't know what we were doing. And all we knew is that we want it we 07:07.450 --> 07:16.690 love the business. We wanted to grow it. And everyone did everything. So we were calling interactions with customers. It was a learning curve for 07:16.720 --> 07:23.560 all of us. Because while we started a company, none of us had experience, right? I didn't have the blessing of many of you guys that 07:23.560 --> 07:31.930 started either as underwriters or funders or in sales. I mean, I came as an engineer, that some of the other members came from technology. And 07:31.930 --> 07:40.120 here we are trying to figure out this business, with no books to read. No mentors. No help online. So while we just though it's kind of like my 07:40.120 --> 07:42.190 job to figure out the business and how to do it. 07:42.190 --> 07:46.770 Sean Murray: What made you want to do it, though? What drew you in, you know, to want to learn it? 07:47.070 --> 07:57.810 Frank Ebanks: I think, I think it was the ability to connect, help, interact with someone in, you know, in Oakland, California, and 20 07:57.810 --> 08:05.070 minutes later, talk to somebody in Seattle, Washington, right? And the fact that, you know, after a few minutes that we had a connection, and I 08:05.070 --> 08:12.570 was able to send them $20,000 and it was he or she was very thankful for that. That was a very rewarding thing for me. 08:12.660 --> 08:16.980 Sean Murray: Okay, so it sounds like the people aspect of the business is like a big draw for it. 08:16.980 --> 08:17.550 Frank Ebanks: 100% 08:17.900 --> 08:27.320 Sean Murray: Okay. How has that impacted how you've, how you currently operate your business? It's still very, like person oriented. Do you do 08:27.320 --> 08:32.720 calls with merchants? Do you-- is it pure technology based? How do you run your shop? 08:32.720 --> 08:40.489 Frank Ebanks: So we are in the FinTech industry, but I'll tell you, my companies more than Fin-people, right, we talk to people, right? We, w 08:40.519 --> 08:48.199 have great relationships with our ISOs or brokers and our partners right that we love them. And we have excellent relationships with them 08:48.199 --> 08:56.479 they do a fantastic job, bringing customers, educating the customers on the products that Spartan Capital has and also helping us when this 08:56.479 --> 09:05.959 particular accounts or customers have issues. So we have amazing relationships with our ISOs, with our customers as well. We talk to them, we 09:05.959 --> 09:12.469 try to really help them right. It's not just an account, it's not just a customer, but it's a partner, right? We see ourselves as 09:12.469 --> 09:20.479 investors in their business, right? It might be temporary, it might be for 6 months, 12 months, you know, 8 months. However, for that length 09:20.479 --> 09:29.809 of time here we are rooting for their success. And even afterwards, but we're still, it's all about the people it's all about the ISOs is 09:29.809 --> 09:32.299 all about the customers. 09:32.270 --> 09:41.600 Sean Murray: Okay. So taking that in mind, right? We go from a period where it's all about people and connections and we go into the pandemic, 09:42.600 --> 09:51.890 where everyone's got to go inside. And that in person. interaction is kind of gone. How did that impact your business? Like, how did you guys 09:51.890 --> 09:52.580 do through it? 09:52.630 --> 10:00.910 Frank Ebanks: I'll tell you this, Sean, the interaction never went away, because we had such amazing relationships with our ISOs, and with our 10:00.910 --> 10:09.040 customers. We quickly found out that many of our customers were not doing bad. They were actually doing okay. Right? Many industries such as 10:09.040 --> 10:17.710 logistics, and construction, you know, they were doing fine, some of those some of our customers who were actually thriving. So because we 10:17.710 --> 10:28.720 got that feedback early on, we kept funding, we kept helping people, right. Many larger you know, industry funders decided not to fund 10:28.990 --> 10:36.610 decided to scale back on their funding, right, they took less risk, maybe because they didn't have this connection, this direct channel with 10:36.610 --> 10:44.170 our, with our customers, like we did, right? We we got feedback, some of them did not so good. And we helped them where we actually offer that 10:44.170 --> 10:51.280 they didn't have to ask for us to pause payments, stop payments, give them a month off, right? We just offer that to them. Many of them took 10:51.280 --> 10:59.620 advantage of that and in their back, right. They're still our customers till right now. However, you know, we also get that feedback that some 10:59.620 --> 11:09.340 industries were booming, and we decided to fund and I believe that interaction, that open channel communication with our customers and with 11:09.340 --> 11:13.660 our ISOs allowed our company to do well during the epidemic. 11:15.100 --> 11:21.910 Sean Murray: Okay, so what about, what about the ISO side? What were what were your ISOs telling you during that time? Because it sounds like 11:21.910 --> 11:25.150 you were doing okay, but were your ISOs feeling the pain or what what-- 11:25.150 --> 11:31.630 Frank Ebanks: ISOs were feeling the pain? They were, right? I mean, I think some of them are still feeling the pain of having been able to 11:31.630 --> 11:39.220 recover, if they've had to lay off people, one of the biggest issues that they had, and they were telling us, especially that new ISOs, they 11:39.220 --> 11:48.970 say my favorite lenders, the people that I go to, are no longer funding, where they are very hesitant to pull the trigger to fund certain 11:48.970 --> 11:58.480 industries. And I mean, it was sad to hear that some of them, but they're not dependent on on these deals, to continue on you the ability 11:58.480 --> 12:06.220 for them to find sources of funding for their customers to live, right. It's how they make their living. And they came to us and I said, Okay, 12:06.220 --> 12:15.670 can you guys help, and we did, we were there. We we were able to fill that void left by many funders that unfortunately, chose to not fund or, 12:15.910 --> 12:24.970 or maybe just couldn't fund for issues that they were having. So that relationship with the ISOs the ability to listen to them, and the fact 12:24.970 --> 12:32.170 that we were able to help many of them that were not doing so great, was amazing. And I'll tell you this, we establish amazing close 12:32.170 --> 12:35.000 relationships with brand new ISOs, brand new brokers... 12:35.000 --> 12:37.000 Sean Murray: Brand new ones... 12:37.000 --> 12:43.110 Frank Ebanks: because we were there for them when nobody was. Now competition's back. There's tons of lenders, their favorite guys, are 12:43.110 --> 12:50.580 back better and stronger than ever, sort of say. But we still have a relationship with them. Because we were there when nobody was. 12:50.700 --> 12:55.170 Sean Murray: When you talk about brand new ISOs. Are they brand new to you, or were they brand new to the business? 12:55.170 --> 13:02.610 Frank Ebanks: Brand new to us, brand new to us. I don't think many new ISOs enter the space during the pandemic, to my knowledge. 13:03.810 --> 13:04.860 Sean Murray: I would agree with you. 13:05.010 --> 13:14.550 Frank Ebanks: Yeah. It was tough for everybody. But but many, many new ISOs to us. We were able to help and still, you know, be able to help 13:14.550 --> 13:15.300 with the customers. 13:15.540 --> 13:21.300 Sean Murray: Did you feel like you were competing against PPP and EIDL and all that stuff during-- how did that affect you? 13:21.300 --> 13:30.360 Frank Ebanks: I see it in a different way. I think that the PPP and the EIDL was able to help businesses survive, while I was able to help these 13:30.360 --> 13:39.330 businesses, meet their obligations, pay their mortgage, pay their employees, right, pay the debt to people like us, that took a chance 13:39.330 --> 13:49.380 and, and helped them. So I don't believe I was competing with EIDL and PPP because I believe in an organic system, right? It's got to be organic, 13:49.410 --> 13:58.020 if there is no reason for some for someone to use our services, they shouldn't use them, right, we've got access to better capital. They 13:58.020 --> 14:05.100 should take it. I mean, I'm the first one to say, only take this if you really have to. And I still to this day, I do most of the funding calls. 14:05.340 --> 14:07.020 And that's one thing that I always mentioned... 14:07.020 --> 14:07.710 Sean Murray: You yourself do? 14:07.750 --> 14:14.350 Frank Ebanks: Yeah, absolutely. I love the interaction. The connection means a lot to me. And, and it's a difference between a customer that 14:14.470 --> 14:20.800 says, you know, having an issue with payments later, and saying, Man, I love this company. They're here for us all the time. Frank's here. He 14:20.800 --> 14:29.050 knows my name, even though he's probably got, you know, 1000s of customers and it means a lot. So yes, I still do every funding phone call. 14:29.110 --> 14:30.730 Sean Murray: Wow. 14:30.730 --> 14:39.070 Frank Ebanks: Sometimes sometimes I can't. Sometimes I can't. There's only so much I could do during the day, but definitely new customers. I 14:39.070 --> 14:47.770 do every single one of them. I guess there's some deals at certain size that I don't do anymore, just because I can't, but there's a certain 14:47.770 --> 14:55.630 size of deals that I have to do the last funding call. The last interaction before we invest in the business but yeah, so... 14:56.470 --> 15:03.070 Sean Murray: I imagine that probably helped you. Not only survive, but sounds like thrive during the pandemic, that you had that sort of 15:03.190 --> 15:11.320 personal connection and sort of control, you know, over the deals versus if you were to say, you know, 100% automated tech company... 15:11.350 --> 15:17.590 Frank Ebanks: Sean, absolutely. It's a people's business. It's all about the people. It's all about the people that interact. You can have all 15:17.590 --> 15:27.460 the technology, you could have all the email and platforms on automated, follow ups, and servicing and added features. But at the end of the day, 15:27.460 --> 15:35.050 there's two people on both ends of that phone. And I understand that, right? So and I think it's very valuable. And we can lose sight of that. 15:35.320 --> 15:43.450 And to go back to your question, I had no competition from PPP and EIDL. I think it only helped everybody, including us. I had many customers, 15:43.930 --> 15:50.230 actually, were able to make payments because of that many of them were able to pay us off. And and get that you know, those daily weekly 15:50.230 --> 15:58.690 payments off the books, and they were happy. And guess what? We weren't happy as well. And we say, hate to to see you go but a comeback anytime. 15:59.620 --> 16:08.380 So I had no issues, I still have no issues with PPP. And it's been amazing what the US has done for the small and medium sized businesses. 16:08.380 --> 16:09.640 So we're lucky to live here. 16:10.050 --> 16:18.810 Sean Murray: That's awesome. And I agree, I agree that we're lucky. And so you know, we're coming out of the pandemic. Right. And I think a lot 16:18.810 --> 16:27.030 of people are looking forward to kind of moving past it not dwelling upon it, and thinking what was what could have been? So you 16:27.060 --> 16:36.240 essentially come through it. Right, you survived, you did pretty well. So now I'm curious what your outlook is going forward? Are you changing 16:36.240 --> 16:44.250 your strategies? Are you doing anything different? Has it affected your long term outlook of the business? Like, you know, what are you bullish 16:44.280 --> 16:47.670 on it going forward? Like, how do you feel about where we're going now? 16:48.200 --> 16:58.400 Frank Ebanks: I feel the same way that I felt minutes ago, when I spoke with you, I'm very bullish on this industry, I think MCA is here to 16:58.400 --> 17:09.350 stay. I think that the fact that the MCA industry survived COVID-19, and all the bad stuff that happened, and it's still happening to us that 17:09.890 --> 17:18.530 it's a service, and it's a product that's needed, and customers and businesses need it, right. So what if there's a need, there will be, you 17:18.530 --> 17:27.200 know, a company or industry to, to fill that and to provide a solution. So I think we're here to stay. I believe that there will be challenges 17:27.440 --> 17:34.490 moving forward. However, I'm very bullish on on this particular industry, I think that but as I mentioned to you before, by just having 17:34.490 --> 17:43.550 deBanked, right, and creating that ecosystem, for all of us to interact, all the moving pieces, right, the funding side, the ISO side, the leads 17:43.550 --> 17:54.830 side, the collections, everything else that takes to make an MCA deal happen. And you hear connecting all of us. I mean, I think we're 17:54.830 --> 18:05.510 here to stay, and we can only do better. I think that the challenge now, Sean, is how do we provide better service? Right, and better product. So 18:05.510 --> 18:07.880 and that's, that's our focus at Spartan Capital. 18:08.270 --> 18:16.910 Sean Murray: I like it. You've said repeatedly that this is a people business, and that you maintain a lot of personal connection during the 18:16.910 --> 18:25.610 pandemic and all that stuff. But I imagine you might not have had the opportunity to do a lot of that in person during the pandemic. Were you 18:25.610 --> 18:30.560 still like visiting ISOs? Or was this over the phone or zoom? Or what how was that all that playing out? 18:30.590 --> 18:39.950 Frank Ebanks: Well, initially, like the rest of the country, we were unable to visit our partners, or our ISOs. However, we maintain great 18:39.950 --> 18:50.000 communication through zoom and, you know, with spoken phone every day, I don't get to talk to ISOs as much as I used to anymore. But our business 18:50.000 --> 19:00.170 developing the ISO reps do that all the time, they maintain it great communication. However, eventually, we found the way once he was allowed 19:00.200 --> 19:07.160 to go see them connect and learn from what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong. So we're doing that more and more. 19:07.610 --> 19:10.070 Sean Murray: Are you looking forward to in person networking events? 19:11.470 --> 19:19.210 Frank Ebanks: I can't wait, Sean. I can't wait. I was just telling you earlier. I can't wait for deBanked in December. We're gonna be there. 19:19.210 --> 19:20.230 I'm going to open the door, ok? 19:20.440 --> 19:21.100 Sean Murray: You're gonna open the door.? 19:21.100 --> 19:27.010 Frank Ebanks: I'll be the first guy. Oh, we'll probably volunteer and help you out. Set up. That's how eager we are to interact with more 19:27.010 --> 19:32.380 folks. And keep learning and getting better. That's, that's really our goal. 19:33.640 --> 19:38.740 Sean Murray: Well, awesome. Well, I hope to have you at our show in December in New York, Broker Fair... 19:39.130 --> 19:40.150 Frank Ebanks: We will be there. 19:40.240 --> 19:43.090 Sean Murray: Okay. Awesome. And then again in Miami in the next year? 19:43.090 --> 19:44.770 Frank Ebanks: We're going to all of them. 19:45.230 --> 19:51.800 Sean Murray: That's awesome. Well, thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate you being here today, Frank. Everybody again, that was Frank 19:51.830 --> 19:59.180 Ebanks. He's the CEO of Spartan Capital. And I am Sean Murray. I am the President of deBanked. And we will see you next time.