Meet The Disruptors: Rodney Williams Of SoLo Funds On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
You need to have a vision to work toward in order to achieve your mission.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rodney Williams.
Rodney Williams is the President and Co-founder of SoLo Funds, the largest community fintech platform for everyday Americans, providing the opportunity to access and grow capital and establish financial independence. Rodney grew up witnessing his loved ones struggling to survive paycheck to paycheck, and has dedicated his career to bringing quality financial services to underserved communities. Prior to co-funding SoLo Funds, Rodney founded LISNR (Visa Backed Fintech) and led the company to over $40M in funding, numerous awards, and partnerships across retail and financial services, and currently serves as the company’s Chairman.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I’m from the kind of place where payday lending spots outnumber McDonald’s two to one. I became best friends with my co-founder, Travis Holoway, and he came from a similar background. We shared stories about how even though we were fortunate to be in a better financial position, too many of our family and friends were still struggling financially in our neighborhoods. We remembered being kids when our parents had bills due on Friday but didn’t get paid until Monday, so the lights would be shut off when we didn’t pay on time. That kind of experience is sadly very common for many Americans, so we wanted to create a solution that gave people a chance and didn’t punish them for being cash-strapped like almost everyone experiences at some point in their lives.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
No one is doing the work we are at SoLo Funds. We are meeting the needs of cash-strapped Americans at this scale and doing it with a structure that offers optionality. We give people the tools they need to make smart decisions about who to loan money to and earn a return on their capital. At the same time, we give borrowers the power to protect themselves and set the amount and repayment date that they can actually manage. It’s unique that you’re able to make those kinds of decisions but SoLo Funds lets users borrow on their own terms. We also recently partnered with ESSENCE, an iconic brand in the Black community, to launch a new lending platform, Ese, built on our technology that brings financial empowerment to Black women.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Of course, there are many mistakes made when you’re first starting out. Something that might seem funny now but definitely was not funny at the time is how many times I’ve accidentally emailed the wrong thing to the wrong person. That happened far too many times when I was early in the journey and I’ve had to learn from those mistakes. It taught me the significance of paying attention to the little things. Every small detail matters. Today, I double and triple-check things significantly to avoid any small miscommunications or mistakes.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I’ve had many mentors along the way and to be honest, I probably need more. The most notable mentor to me these days, however, is one of my investors, Richelieu Dennis. He’s a successful entrepreneur, operator, and investor and I’ve learned a lot from him both professionally and personally. I’m currently at a place in my life where I believe mentorship means a lot more than just professional growth. I don’t think you get to any level of success without having a ton of mentors and I am always looking for more. I appreciate each mentor I’ve ever had and the lessons they’ve taught me along the way, and know that I’ll continue to learn from them throughout my life.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
To truly be a disruptor, there has to be a little bit of both positive and negative disruption. When you’re being disruptive in an industry, you’re usually shifting things from one stakeholder to another. This could be the narrative, the power, the influence, or even the consumer value. What I would say, though, is that you’re also shifting who’s experiencing positive disruption and who’s experiencing it in a negative way. That’s how I see the work we are doing with SoLo Funds. We’re shifting the power from financial institutions to the people, and although the communities we are shifting the power to are experiencing a positive disruption with power being shifted to them, the previous stakeholders, like traditional financial institutions, are experiencing a negative disruption as the power is shifting away from them. So, I do believe in order to be truly disruptive, there needs to be a balance between the positive and negative.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
1- Appreciation
2 — Self-care
3 — Persistence
4 — Consistency
5 — Vision
These five words of advice I’ve received along my journey all go hand-in-hand. It all starts with appreciation — for myself, my supporters, and my mission. I’ve always had appreciation but I’ve just recently reached a new level where I highly appreciate people who appreciate others and I’ve turned into a protector of those who do not. It’s important to treat people well, in addition to yourself. This leads me to self-care — you can’t make a difference if you’re not taking care of yourself. Additionally, consistency and persistence are similar words of advice, but to me they are different. While consistency is the act of being consistent, persistence is the act of being consistent no matter the obstacle — powering through to reach your goal. Lastly, vision is the one thing that you need in order to continue on. You need to have a vision to work toward in order to achieve your mission.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
SoLo Funds started as a place for borrowers and lenders to find each other and lift up each other to grow wealth. Next up are several more levers people can pull to improve their financial health, use their financial history to build their buying power, and access more benefits for using SoLo. We are gearing up to host an event introducing the world to SoLo Funds and the work we are doing to bring financial independence to underserved communities. The event will be taking place this August in Los Angeles and we will be hosting industry leaders, community voices, journalists, and some celebrities to learn about the financial issues these communities face and how we can work together to solve them.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
As it relates to business, the most notable book that has had a deep impact on my thinking is “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon” by Brad Stone. As it relates to my own personal growth, “The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom” by Don Miguel Ruiz.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” ― Maya Angelou
It is a quote that perfectly describes how I would like to live life. It sums me up better than I can sum up myself.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Exactly what I’m doing with SoLo Funds. I really believe financial services need real innovation and not just a bunch of buzzwords. When we started SoLo, we went straight to the problem we were most intimate with, which was access to short-term capital. There’s a lot of money that leaves underserved communities and never makes its way back. We wanted to really fix those two things. Conceptually, we are helping shift more power to the people. It’s very disruptive. Each and every day, I really think we’re really making a difference in those communities.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can follow me on Twitter at @rodneybwilliams and SoLo Funds at @solofunds.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Rodney Williams Of SoLo Funds On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
