Upstart Holdings, an online lender recently filed their S1. This is the first blog post that I have collaborated on. It was too good to pass up collaborating with another Rohit :). Y’all are in for a treat, it’s a 2-Rohit’s-for-the-price of one analysis! What is Upstart? Upstart is an…

Sarah Tavel (Partner, Benchmark Capital) wrote a post on building multibillion-dollar startups. The core idea is to build a 10x product at a lower cost while “recasting incumbent cost structures.” Andy Rachleff (Co-founder, Benchmark Capital) says — Take your competitor’s biggest advantage and turn it into a weakness. These are…

All companies struggle with one question — how to expand beyond the first product. It’s a simple question on the surface but a challenging one to answer — especially for fintech companies. I am focusing on B2C fintech companies but this equally applies to B2B. …

Affirm, an online point of sale lender, completed its first securitization. Below, I’ll share what I’ve learned. In the end, I’ll also discuss key metrics that should have been in the filing. Company: Affirm is an online point of sale lender. It integrates with online retailers and offers unsecured personal loans…

Fintech startups have been slowly taking customers away from banks — one product at a time. These startups are also eating profitable business lines for banks. As startups scale with a unique product wedge, they have started offering new products to their large customer base. Even large tech companies are…

U.S. consumer credit businesses have exploded in the last decade. There are 500+ new startups serving consumers with products at different stages of their lifecycle. These companies are offering products across all categories trying to take away consumers from the big banks. …

Silicon Valley is a fascinating place for someone interested in technology. It is not only because of the companies but also because of the capital ecosystem. Venture Capitalists sit in the middle of capital allocation to startups. Many MBA students want to join VC firms as Associates or Principals. …

Over the last few years, I went from being an international student on an F-1 visa to a founder of a Y Combinator-backed fintech company. …

We started Stilt ~3 years ago from our apartment in San Francisco. Both Priyank and I were on visas with full-time jobs while spending nights and weeks trying to solve a problem we faced ourselves as international students, visa holders, and immigrants. When we began lending, our goal was to…