Jeremy Weisz 13:00
Talk about how it works. So I mean, it’s kind of two sides, right? So there’s the company who wants to get funding, and then the funders in that situation. So I guess we can separate kind of the invoice financing and microloans, or maybe they’re not separated? How will it work on both sides?
Andrea Inokon 13:20
Sure. For someone who’s applying for financing, they’ll come to our platform, and they will come they’ll sign up, we have a pretty straightforward set of questions and information that we asked for, invoice financing, we asked about kind of current contracts, we get information like, recurring revenue balance sheet. But I think what also separates us is that we’re also infusing AI, I feel like AI is the hot topic of the day, but we’re using AI to help eliminate bias from the underwriting process. Because I think that it’s one of the, it’s been one of the challenges for women and minority businesses is, yeah, just there’s just a lot of bias baked into the process when you have people kind of making these determinations. And so we have infuse AI into the underwriting to like A B C, into our underwriting system to then take into kind of the standard and standard data, some non-standard data to then help us make a quick decision. Because the other thing that we found is people also coming for financing, sometimes they need fast financing. And so sitting around for a week or two, having back and forth doesn’t really work. And so, our goal is within a day or two, to be able to have your decision start to deploy the funding to you.
Jeremy Weisz 14:50
So how will the funding part work? Is it coming from larger banks organizations, from individuals when I think of microloans, for some reason, I don’t know. I think of Kiva where there’s actual all sorts of it could be companies, it could be individuals making microloans. How will that part work?
Andrea Inokon 15:11
Yeah, that’s a great question. So we are actually going to Cadence Cash platform is actually going to be powered by a CDFI, called Cadence Cash Equal Access Fund. And that’s actually where my fund background comes into play. So Cadence Cash Equal Access Fund is a nonprofit loan fund, that will actually apply next year to become a CDFI. And just for anyone who doesn’t know, a CDFI is a community development financial institution. And so that’s a program that is run by the Department of Treasury. And so CDFIs are eligible for funding from the government, from beings from foundations, family offices, and so that’s where share all cup Charles background comes into play. So we’re out actually, making those relationships. You’re working on that fundraising to fund this nonprofit fund, that will then be doing the lending to customers.
Jeremy Weisz 16:14
Yeah, dual-sided marketplaces, no joke.
Andrea Inokon 16:17
It is busy. But I think it is. I joke, it’s like, it really is, I think where everyone’s backgrounds really synced up well together? Because it is, I mean, we have this two-sided name Charles, I don’t know if I said his background, but he’s a corporate lawyer, also with over 25 years of experience. And so, I think I love, from my background on fun work I really love like big, big, funky structures. And this one is, you have this combination of a nonprofit combined with a for-profit, that’s actually going to become a B Corp. Because it’s actually, it’s very important for us as a company that we’re doing social good. And so, yeah, there’s a lot of moving pieces to it. But every day there is it’s like, there’s a new challenge, there’s a new, I just like, I feel like your new skills that we’re all developing. So it’s been, it’s been a lot of fun building this.
Jeremy Weisz 17:21
I feel like, when someone is getting that structure in place, so that it’s funded with all these different organizations, you’ll have people flocking to it to want to help their business, how do you put the factors in place? Like, what are some of the factors that maybe someone’s not a fit for the loan?
Andrea Inokon 17:47
And we had had that, we have had some potential customers who aren’t quite ready yet. And our goal, I think, as a company, is we want to try to find ways to say yes, and to help people. And so, where someone isn’t a fit, we actually are trying to provide counseling to help them basically help them get ready. So, may be you’re not ready yet. But these are the things that we can do to help you in order to get ready.
Jeremy Weisz 18:17
Or some of those things, maybe they’re not there. They don’t have like, cash flow, or what are some of the factors that you’re looking at?
Andrea Inokon 18:27
Yeah, I mean, some of us knew it was a cash flow, some cash flow issues, some were just not having their conduct corporate records, their financial records in good order yet. Those that haven’t been to so far, that we’ve come across, and I think those are ones where, so just saying, maybe at attritional bank, you might just get it no and kind of go away. Instead, our method is okay, no, but you know, this is where we can help you in how we can help you
Jeremy Weisz 18:57
Talk about the inequity for a second and why do you think there that is going on still, as far as, if you take to business owners that on paper, if you redact the names or backgrounds or whatever, they look equal? Why is it that it’s harder for minorities and women to get the funding they need?
Andrea Inokon 19:25
Yeah, I mean, I think part of it is there’s just, I think some human nature, some implicit bias, I think, when you have people making the decisions, people bring with them their whole worldview and their whole life experience. One example I have is, I was talking to a female founder, and she was telling me how she went to a bank to get a loan to start her business. And she got turned down once, gets her down twice. So the third time she was having some back and forth with the loan officer he’s and he said to her, well, your husband’s on your mortgage, you and your husband have your mortgage together. And she’s like, and he’s like, well, I can’t approve you because he’s on this with you. And so, it’s been since 1970s, where women have been able to apply on their own for loans. But just some people, their decision-making is still stuck. And so, there is, I think, unfortunate, there still is probably a little too much leeway in some of the underwriting processes at some banks, that does still allow for that human. I guess it really is bias, a human bias to creep in.
Jeremy Weisz 20:40
Yeah, I mean, I guess if the reverse were happening, they probably would if the husband wanted to get a loan, they wouldn’t say, well, your wife’s on the mortgage. So we need your wife on this. Right. Exactly. Yeah. You are also one of the founding members of Chief, can you talk about what you do there and that organization?
Andrea Inokon 20:59
Sure. So Chief, it’s a women’s organization that is really focused on advancing more women leaders into the C-suite. So Chief was originally founded in New York, and then kind of spread to different cities in the US. I was one of the founding members of the DC chapter. So I joined in, oh my gosh, 2020. Time flies as one of the founding members of that DC chapter, and I think Chief is, it’s a really great group of women. There’s a few different parts of it, when you come in, in your first year, they actually put you in a group of about 10 women called your core group. And you have monthly meetings together with a kind of a coach, that, I guess he’s a Chief trained coach, which they call guides, and you go through different exercises, you kind of peer mentor each other also. It’s actually pretty incredible, because one, you see that I think some of the challenges and things that you’re going through at work are not so uncommon, and you get kind of support. You have like your own personal belief board of directors of people from different areas, different industries, to help you just tackle whether it’s a question of, do I want to take this job do I want to ask for this promotion, how do I frame this? It’s actually a really incredible process. There’s also like, really big name monthly speaker and women speaker, she men and women speakers who come in, as well as there’s like, it’s a sort of like a, like, I guess, do their app, like a chat board. And so there’s just different groups. And so I mean, there’s like Angel investing, there’s groups by industry, where you can go on you can talk to people, and you can connect the different women around the country who otherwise you just may not cross paths with. So it’s really been a great way to expand your network actually download way to Laura through Chief. So it’s just a great network of women.
Jeremy Weisz 23:23
You met Laura through Chief talk about the process that you went through with her because it wasn’t for Cadence Cash, but just to talk go through how it worked and some of the kind of learnings
Andrea Inokon 23:38
Yeah, brand discovery. Yeah, brand discovery with Laura. So I was actually at a pretty interesting time in my career, I had just left PIMCO. I was a whistleblower there. And so, it was really a time of pivot in my career, and I was thinking about what I wanted to do next, I had been told that kind of my career and I think traditional, like hedge and PE, in that sense was over. And so I think the question for me, it really was like, what’s next? And so I worked with her on two projects, I worked with her on the launch of The 1972 Project, as well as the launch of my personal consulting business. And so it really was with me with that, when working with her two stages, first was the brand unlock, where they go through we have like a one-hour long interview, talk about I think probably it’s probably her psychology background coming into play. For some variety of questions. She asked, do you kind of things she goes with through with you? And then they actually ask you, for at least five people to go and speak to about you to get a sense of how others see you maybe apart from how you see yourself.
Jeremy Weisz 25:00
What did you learn?
Andrea Inokon 25:01
So I learned that people find me inspiring. And so to kind of keep really stay on the path that I was on, really not to be afraid to stay on that path and kind of keep going. I learned that people want to help. And like, I think one of the things, people here, ask for help, ask for the help that you need, as you’re building.
Jeremy Weisz 25:30
You sound surprised about that.
Andrea Inokon 25:33
It’s funny, I think, yeah, I was. Yeah, I guess it’s almost that thing I think sometimes, you feel like you’ve had to, like wear at all and be a superwoman. And so I think it really was a reminder to me, I think growing up, you always hear you know, the power of your network and how to use your network. And it just reminded me that my network was there to support me. And I needed to activate them, honestly.
Jeremy Weisz 26:05
Did you bring some of those learnings in that process to Cadence Cash?
Andrea Inokon 26:09
Definitely. You know, one of the things as a founder, definitely, I mean, the power of your network. As we continue to build cadence, I’m really open with my network about, you know, what we’re doing, we actually have a monthly update letter that we send out to, really to supporters. Yeah, that’s really obviously supporters. So I think, to me, like the transparency, and then also like, networking, networking is not necessarily a dirty word. Yeah, I think I used to have a different connotation around networking. I think like you, I tried to be more of a connector. And so that didn’t necessarily feel like it was a natural connection before. But I really learned to embrace my own form of networking, which is really making connections to people and I love like talking to people and hearing their stories, and finding out yeah, what people need and how I can help. And so to me, as part of this entrepreneurial journey, it’s one thing that I spend a lot of time doing, as I talk to a lot of founders, I hear their stories, and, yeah, just figuring out where I can help, even if it’s not funding, I’m like, they may need a website developed, or they may need an introduction to someone else. And so I love making connections. Yeah, so I think those are the things I definitely brought forward. And also just to ask, people don’t always know what you need. And so I think, especially as a founder, you have to get comfortable with asking for help. Asking for sometimes it’s just a question of, would you use this or sometimes it’s an introduction, but really getting comfortable with asking for help,
Jeremy Weisz 28:05
Companies, running companies is stressful. And you’re doing it now with family. Talk about working with your family, with your husband, your sister-in-law.
Andrea Inokon 28:17
Yeah, it’s funny people hear that it’s a family business. It’s like people always, sometimes I get that, like, oh, wow, how’s that going? But actually it’s been going really well. I think one of the things I think that’s great is, we all have different backgrounds, and different trends that we bring to the table. And so, we all kind of have our own lane that intersect. So it’s like, we have our areas of expertise, where we lead, but those areas also overlap. And so, we work really well together. So, I think we, as a company, we value honesty, we value transparency, I think we all work in the open. So that, I mean, I think we’re teaching each other different things where no one’s ever afraid to like, jump in, and share, like, layer on their expertise with something else that’s going on. So, I think actually, we’ve just been, we’ve been having a lot of fun with it. Cheryl and Angel have come out to North Carolina a couple times. So we’ve had some really great in-person jam sessions. And I think it’s Angel. So we also we’re gonna try to plan like a team off-site as well. I guess the team off site slash, yeah, team off-site, family reunion. Yeah. But I think actually it’s been a great experience. I Yeah, it feels I feel very blessed to get to work with them.
Jeremy Weisz 29:46
If someone’s thinking about working with family because that holds people back sometimes. They don’t know how that will go. They don’t know if the relationship will change. What are some challenges people should think about or look out for when kind of going through the process of thinking, should I start that business? My brother sister husband asked me to, we should start this thing.
Andrea Inokon 30:12
So I would say, I think one of the things that we did early on was we set up kind of like our mission, our values and our goals for the organization. And I think the values in particular help drive us all for so like, I think we always kind of go back to those that’s like, it’s the core of the business is the core of I think how we all interact with each other. And so I think for anyone who’s starting a family business, or honestly, any business, I think that’s actually critical to kind of doing first. And then I think the other thing is also to remember, like, give people the benefit of the doubt, like the same way you would give a coworker, the benefit of the doubt, like sometimes, family history may be layered on, but to really give people the benefit of the doubt. Remember, you’re working together towards the same goal. And I remember one of my old bosses used to say, never let a small thing become a big thing. And I always thought it was such it’s great advice, I think, so whenever you have a question or you know, something was said in a way that you didn’t like, never let a big thing, small thing become a big thing. Always, always talk. Yeah, I always talk.
Jeremy Weisz 31:32
Andree, I don’t want to gloss over this. But you mentioned you said whistleblower, at PIMCO. So I feel like there’s a deeper story there.
Andrea Inokon 31:44
Yes. So gosh, I worked at PIMCO for a decade. And I was a whistleblower there about basically racial and gender discrimination at the firm. Yeah, I was involved in litigation with them a few years ago, kind of around the same issues. I was one of the first plaintiffs to come forward. After me, there were eight others who came forward. And yeah, we sent a letter, I remember, we send a letter to the firm’s executive committee talking about some of the issues at the firm that was signed by 20 women at the firm. And I think, most days, I think it was a path that wasn’t easy. But I think there was positive change at the firm that came out of it. And for me, I think even though it led to, I think, certain pivots in my career, I think it has actually been wonderful. I don’t know, if I would be sitting here as an entrepreneur, had I not kind of stood up for myself then. And kind of use my voice, I guess, use my voice for good and use my voice for change. Because I think there, like a lot of people I was a peloton junkie, during the pandemic, and there was this one quote from Chase Tucker, where he said, let the thing that breaks your heart be the thing that heals your heart. And so it’s been something that has kind of stuck with me, kind of through this part of this phase of my career. And so it’s led to the creation 1972 Project. It’s led to me, joining Charles and Cheryl Angel to form Cadence Cash. So, yeah, it’s kind of something that I think kind of changed the trajectory of my career.
Jeremy Weisz 33:46
And I’m sure through what you experienced in for the company, are you allowed to talk about what did you experience there?
Andrea Inokon 33:54
I probably will stay away from now.
Jeremy Weisz 33:58
I figured I’d ask, because it’s probably inspiring of how you handle that and what happened, but I’m sure there’s legality around that you can’t talk about. But I have one last question, Andree. And I just want to point people to cadencecash.com to learn more, and check it out and spread the word. My last question is just on, some of your favorite resources. You know, it could be speakers, books, podcasts, but you mentioned there was a monthly speaker that was coming through Chief, maybe some of your favorites there. What are some of the favorite resources that you have looked to throughout the years.
Andrea Inokon 34:39
Oh, yeah. So there’s actually one of the books I read pretty recently that I love. It’s Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is the Way, there’s this one line and that always really, really speaks to me and really inspires me. And it’s the basically the impediment to action In advances action, and what stands in the way becomes the way and so I really I’d love that book in that line in particular. I’m trying to think so for Chief for people who spoke. Michelle Obama was a great one. Sara Blakely. Oh gosh I’m like forgetting people. There’s a lot I mean, there’s a lot of good speakers and then I’m trying to think Atomic Habits I really I love especially as I yes as I was moving from kind of the corporate world to becoming my own boss. So yeah, those are the ones that jumped out to me.
Jeremy Weisz 35:43
I love it. Andrea, I want to be the first one to thank you everyone should check out cadencecash.com more episode of the podcast and thanks everyone. Thanks, Andrea.
Andrea Inokon 35:53
Thank you.
