I accepted an offer to join Recurse Center’s fall batch in New York City!
Recurse Center has been on my radar for quite some time now: it’s a self-directed retreat for experienced engineers who want to deliberately get better, work on new skills, and start new projects.
I believe small groups of people working toward a common goal can accomplish great things despite their size. Many alumni I’ve spoken to whom cite RC as the most productive times in their lives.
Our goal is for RC to be an environment where you can thrive, push yourself, and do great work. RC is self-directed and built to give you as much control over your education as possible. We don’t have teachers or a curriculum, and there’s very little required structure. While here, you’ll pick the projects you work on, the people you work with, and you’ll create or opt into the structure you need to do your best work.
The past two years at LendingHome have been amazing, and it’s a bittersweet farewell. Leaving wasn’t an easy decision, and I’m honored to have been a part of the team there.
We’ve made phenomenal progress on all fronts and crossed meaningful milestones that I’d never before seen in my career: originating over $1B in mortgates, surpassing $100M invested on the retail investing platform, and building/scaling an automated investing system. By far though, the most interesting and rewarding questions were in figuring out how to scale a product & engineering team from a small group of 10 to over 50 productive people.
My initial thesis still holds true: for borrowers, there is massive upside in renovating America’s housing stock and making the mortgage process easier for first-time homebuyers.
For investors, better collateral transparency and more data on borrower creditworthiness enables better investment decisions, a better view on risk, and generally higher and more predictable returns. LendingHome has helped move us into an era where investors can see beyond traditional loan pools in mortgage-backed securities; now, they can pick exactly which loans they want to back and avoid those outside their credit box.
The implications here are significant for borrowers, investors, and the economic system as a whole. Originators can no longer hide subprime mortgages in massive loan pools, because now investors can easily see what they’re buying. More data transparency means smarter investment decisions and better origination standards. This reduction in moral hazard creates a better financial system for everybody involved.
LendingHome is hiring in SF, Columbus, and Pittsburgh; reach out if you want to learn more.