Stories

On the second day of employment, I found myself walking to the local Ace hardware store to buy tools to get the office toilet operational again. Later that week, I was asked to manage the garbage services. And the following week I found myself ordering the office supplies, drinks and snacks our employees enjoy. None of these tasks are in my job description. I don’t care. You could literally ask me to mop the floor and I’d jump at the chance to do so. 

Why? Because I love the opportunity I’ve been given. The chance to build a company, and not just do a job. The opportunity to build the foundation of a successful organization & the culture of the company. The idea that the work I do today is the sheer essence of what we will become. That’s exhilarating! Isn’t this what joining an early-stage startup is all about? Pitching in, going outside the lines, getting things done. 

I’ve been blessed throughout my career to be surrounded by amazing people (Microsoft & Groupon), products (Apple & Axon), and innovations (Netscape & Amazon). I’ve even been part of other successful startups (Transmeta & Kontiki). But this time, now with many years of experience, I realize fully the gift that has presented itself to me. It is a rare opportunity to join a unique, well-backed, & beloved company like Possible. I am surrounded by talented people who are passionate about our mission to improve the lives of everyday Americans. 

Having the vision to change peoples lives for the better and then bringing it to reality is exhilarating. Each one of my teammates is committed, fun, and doing more than their job descriptions too.  

Yes, I prefer that one day soon, I can spend more of my time focusing on strategic tasks rather than taking out the garbage. Yet, the small details are just as meaningful to me. The stories we will tell after our eventual successful IPO will all be about that time I fixed the toilet, solved the garbage problem, and how much fun everyone had when they discovered the Otter Pops I hid in the freezer. These are the things I will remember the most. 

I am truly blessed to be part of such a great team. Ping me if you want your next job to be more than a job. I’m sure we can help bring meaning to your work, whatever that may be!

At Axon, I found like-minded individuals who were just as passionate about social impact as I was. They were talented engineers, designers, and business people who all shared the belief that technology can make society more fair and equitable. And it did. The products we developed are now adopted by almost every major US city. If you’ve seen a police officer wearing a body camera or seen body camera footage on Youtube, Facebook, or the nightly news, then you’ve seen our team’s work. Through technology, we were able to help underserved communities and keep the police accountable for their actions. Our work enabled minority Americans to feel fundamentally safer in their own homes.

I met my amazing co-founders, Prasad and Tyler, at Axon. Prasad was the very first software hire at Axon and architected the system that would make Axon into the $4B software company it is today. Prior to Axon, Prasad had co-founded a company that sold to Google. Our other co-founder, Tyler, was the very second software hire at Axon. He came from Lockheed Martin, Skunkworks and Raytheon, and he still can’t tell you what he worked on there. (He could tell you, but then he’d have to kill you.) Both Prasad and Tyler were engineering directors and I was a product lead. We had been in the trenches together for almost a decade shipping new products and scaling the company. We developed a deep respect for one another as colleagues and as friends. Most importantly, all three of us were mission-driven and cared about the social impact of our work. We stayed at Axon (for 26 years collectively) because we wanted to see body camera technology be widely adopted by cities across the country. By mid 2017, we felt like that mission was near its completion, and we were all ready for a new challenge. We knew that whatever we worked on next, it had to be equally as impactful as police body cameras. 

As we explored different ideas, we were particularly interested in using technology to serve lower income and minority communities here in the US. We met a local investor, Andy Liu, who was just starting his own venture fund. He expressed an interest in working with us on tackling the short-term lending space. We knew it wasn’t a sexy industry and it’s actually a bit taboo, but those are often the spaces that have the most impact for everyday people. As we started to investigate this space, it absolutely stunned us at how big the problem was. As it turns out, three in four Americans today live paycheck-to-paycheck. Half of Americans cannot cover an emergency expense if it’s more than $400. Yet, banks rake in $25B each year in overdraft fees from lower income Americans. There are also more payday loan stores in this country than either McDonalds or Starbucks. We talked to hundreds of customers who told us appalling stories about crippling payday loans & bank overdraft fees. Despite a booming economy, the average American today is financially ill. 

Our extensive research showed us that fair and affordable loans are often the first step toward financial health. The people we met with told us clearly that their situations would be better if we could just make short-term loans more affordable and transparent. If we can start there, then we can improve their long-term financial health. That ultimately leads to less stressed, happier, and more productive families & communities. It was a mission absolutely worth fighting for. If we are successful, it will be even more impactful than the police body camera technologies that we’d spent the past decade building. We would be able to help millions of Americans, including families similar to the ones I worked with while I was a teacher. So, we started Possible Finance with the mission of improving the financial health of everyday Americans. We have found our mission for the next decade of our lives.