Meet Sheridan Clayborne, CEO & Co-Founder at Lendtable. To say Sheridan is impressive is an understatement. Not only was Sheridan the youngest African-American to get into Northwestern at 15, but he is a Thiel Fellow and Forbes 30 under 30 for fintech. So why is someone like Sheridan tackling the retirement space? Well, the answer is quite simple, not enough Americans are saving for retirement. Of course, there is still a segment of the population that lacks awareness but there are many more who are aware of the option but don’t feel that they can contribute as they have competing priorities like paying rent, paying student debt, sending money back home to their families, paying for necessities their children, etc. This is not a new problem but it is one that Sheridan and his team at Lendtable are getting creative with. Listen in our chat below as we discuss the future of retirement.
#TechTuesday Highlight #85: Sheridan Clayborne, CEO & Co-Founder, LendTable
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How/why did you get into your space?
I worked at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan doing Private Equity when I was 18 and realized how much value finance could bring to people’s lives, but also saw how that value was only funneling to the top. I grew up on food-stamps in a black family… So I got to see first-hand how impossible it was for every-day Americans to save for retirement. Which is why, over 50% of people have never used their 401k match and ESPP (leaving over $100bil of free money on the table every year). Making it so over 25% of Americans have no retirement savings!
What role do you play in the tech ecosystem and why is that role important?
Retirement savings for middle-income Americans have been completely underserved. We are carving out a new space that helps people build wealth by providing them access to liquidity…. The average customer who uses Lendtable, makes an additional $6,000 every single year that they wouldn’t have had before. We’ve already helped people save over $250k and are on track to make people over $3mil by the end of the year.
How has technology impacted your industry and why is this important?
Technology has fundamentally shifted the way that consumers interact with financial products. What was once an incredibly slow, bureaucratic process is now becoming significantly easier to navigate for the every-day consumer. Platforms like Robinhood are making personal finances fun, Betterment and Acorns make it automatic and seamless and Stripe and Plaid have made it so much easier for everything to work.
What do you believe is the most exciting tech trend for 2021 (as it relates to your industry)?
There is going to be an explosion of fintech companies that operate on top of employees payroll. Everything from lending, to investment management to employee benefits. It’s going to remove even more friction for users.
Who is a person that inspires you in the space and why?
Max Levchin, Affirm. His company has taken on the credit card companies and saved every-day consumers millions of dollars by giving people significantly lower interest rates. In some cases, even making it possible to do 0% interest rates on credit that normally they’d be paying 30%+ to credit card companies.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into your space?
Focus on education and really talk to the user. Finance can be very confusing and scary for people. So it’s incredibly important that you’re solving a really strong pain-point and are doing it in a way that builds trust.
Anything else we should know about you or you want to include?
If you have a 401k match or ESPP at your employer and aren’t using it. We’d love to help you get access to it. Our website is lendtable.com.
#businessunusual #fintech #401k #espp #savings #retirement #lending #personalfinance
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Have thoughts on this week’s trends or questions for me or Sheridan? Post your thoughts in the comment section or share them on Twitter. Please include the hashtag #techtuesday and mention me @ScarlettSieber! Until next week. 🙂
You can connect with Sheridan on LinkedIn, Instragram, or Twitter and LendTable on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter.
