Brokers

Ryan Showe on Winning This Year’s Broker Battle

“What being a broker means to me is servicing your clients in the best way possible, really putting their needs before anyone else’s,” says Ryan Showe, VP of Sales at Long Island-based Lexington Capital Holdings. “Ultimately, at the end of the day, we don’t have a job if our clients aren’t happy, so just constantly doing the right thing, putting your best foot forward, and making sure that you’re doing everything ethically and honest.”

Showe was the winner of the 2025 Broker Battle at deBanked CONNECT Miami for the revenue-based financing category, earning him the recognition of Top Broker and the recipient of some prizes along with it. Showe has been in the business for just a little over three years, starting at Lexington during its beginnings. Back then, learning the ropes while doing the work meant putting in 70-80 hour weeks on a regular basis. That included not only seeking out advice from the experts but also watching videos and reading books to fully immerse himself in the mindset of what it would take to become successful.

That effort is paying off and today Showe specializes in the most delicate part of the process at Lexington, helping clients who have applied get to the finish line with a deal while managing lender-side negotiations and communications. On the latter side, that means being highly familiar with the guidelines of more than 60 financial service companies at any given time.

The crowd watching Broker Battle 2 (2025)

“Anybody can get someone to apply and just fill out a quick one-page application, send over a couple bank statements, but really selling the deal, there’s a specific art to it,” says Showe. “It’s really important to be an expert in your industry and know all the lender guidelines, know what the backend process looks like, because every lender is going to have a different process, whether there’s certain steps that some lenders want, whether it’s a manual-login or DecisionLogic. There’s so many ins and outs to every different lender. And just being able to know all that off the top of your head and just really sound like an expert.”

At Lexington, one of the recent educational team-building strategies was to host an internal Broker Battle in which 30 employees participated in a double-elimination competition. The company’s CEO, Frankie DiAntonio, devised the format and questions—not only role‑playing scenarios but also testing general industry knowledge with trivia. Showe says it’s good practice to be put on the spot in front of a crowd, because a key part of sales is thinking on your feet and executing when it counts. Doing it together with colleagues made for a fun experience in a company that prides itself on a family‑like atmosphere, while also mirroring the competitive nature of the industry where many brokers vie to serve the same customers. It’s game time all the time.

“I even tell my clients, ‘competition is always going to breed the best results,'” Showe says. “If you want the best of the best, you have to make people compete. And it goes down to even selling a deal, right? So if I have a deal and another company has a deal, compare my numbers against their numbers. I’m going to do anything I can to win that business.”

By happenstance, Lexington’s Corey Digiantomasso was one of the six finalists selected to compete in deBanked’s inaugural Broker Battle in 2024, where he put up a very impressive performance. This year was Showe’s turn where contestants weren’t given much background on the format other than that it would be roleplay-based. Showe kind of liked the mysteriousness of it.

“I’m best at showing up and just getting the job done,” Showe says. “So just doing what I do every single day made it easier for me at least.”

On his victory, Showe described the feeling as awesome while also recognizing that his opponent in the Battle, Joe Sasson, was a very worthy competitor. A large crowed showed up to support both of them during the championship.

“It was great to just see all the hard work that I’ve been putting in over the last three years pay off and be crowned #1 in the industry. It goes a long way for not only myself, but for the company as well.”