At Possible, we believe that financial opportunities should be available to everyone. When my co-founders and I started Possible, I saw firsthand how credit denials and predatory lending practices created cycles of financial insecurity. Since day one, our mission has been to support those shut out by traditional financial systems.
So we started asking, What if we did things differently? What if we built a financial system that trusted people when no one else would? From the beginning, we knew our mission had to be reflected in our culture.
Our values exist to make sure that happens. They are not just statements—we use them to guide decisions, set expectations, and hold ourselves accountable. They define how we work together, how we serve our customers, and how we build a company that can truly make a difference. A strong mission alone isn’t enough; we need the right mindset and behaviors to bring it to life. That’s what our values are for.
Our Cultural Values weren’t dictated from the top down—they were shaped collaboratively by the people who worked here—at that time, just 14 people. Out of lively group discussions, we landed on three core principles—Collaborate with Trust, Serve with Empathy and Act with Ownership. These initial Cultural Values served as the jumping-off point in guiding our mission of helping everyday Americans attain financial health and laid the foundation for how we collaborated with our teammates.
As Possible has grown (now over 100 people and counting!), we’ve built on that foundation. To sustain our mission at scale, we introduced two additional values over time: Grow with Intellectual Honesty and Succeed with Grit. Together, these five values define how we work, learn and push through challenges with integrity.
Today, these values are more than just words on a page—they’re a lived experience. They shape how we operate, how we support each other, and how we build a financial system that truly works for people. Each quarter, I gather nominations for team members who best exemplify these values. It’s my favorite part of being CEO because it reminds me that these values aren’t just ideals—they’re the way we do things every single day.
So, what do these values look like in action? Read on for a closer look at each one.
🤝Collaborate with Trust
Our customers are frequently denied credit, making them feel invisible and powerless. By trusting them when no one else will, we show them what is possible together.
Collaborating with trust is about working as one team with one shared mission. It’s about extending trust to each other by default. Trust requires faith in other team members' strengths and expertise, recognizing that everyone's fates are tied together.
We assume positive intent when engaging with one another. We are vigilant about rooting out and addressing anything that erodes trust within the team (or with customers); trust is so fundamental to effective collaboration that we never take it for granted.
🌹Serve with Empathy
Our customers come to Possible from all walks of life and circumstances; they rely on us to serve their needs with understanding, not judgment.
Serving with empathy is about putting the team’s and customers’ needs above one’s own. It’s about slowing down to understand others’ challenges and the situational context in which they operate, especially when things aren’t going smoothly.
We are servant leaders. As with customers, we approach each other with understanding, not judgment. We challenge ourselves to take an empathetic view when tempted to adopt a more facile (and often more critical) position.
🔑Act with Ownership
Every team member at Possible is given the opportunity to own a piece of the company. As owners, we have a shared stake in the future of the company; the decisions and actions we take individually have a downstream impact on the team as a whole.
Ownership is about acting with both agency and judgment. It’s about doing the right thing for the team and our customers, even when no one is looking. Being an owner incurs a responsibility to contribute to the long-term success of Possible beyond one’s own tenure.
As we scale, we strive to retain the hands-on ownership everyone felt when we were small. We don’t look to others to take out the trash; we get our hands dirty when we see something that just needs to get done.
⚖️Grow with Intellectual Honesty
When teams have the discipline to evaluate ideas fairly and objectively, they create space for ideas to flow freely and allow the best ideas to emerge based on their merits.
Intellectual honesty is about unearthing the truth by being inquisitive, grounded by facts and capable of setting aside personal beliefs and biases. It entails respectfully challenging others’ assumptions and being open to incorporating new information.
We say, “I don’t know,” even when it makes us feel vulnerable. We say “I was wrong” without ego or any lingering attachment to an unsupportable position. Being intellectually honest is often uncomfortable (for ourselves and others), but it's required for continuous learning and growth.
🏔️Succeed with Grit
Our customers are some of the grittiest people we know. They deal with challenges that are often difficult to imagine. Yet, they persevere through thick and thin; their resilience is something we strive to emulate.
Grit is about pressing on through difficult situations in the pursuit of big, aspirational goals over a long period of time. It’s about remaining steadfast in our passion for these goals, especially when resources are limited or the odds seem stacked against us.
Because we tackle really hard problems that sometimes take years to solve, we expect failures along the way. We accept and welcome failure when it means we’ve pushed ourselves to new limits; we rebound and iterate until we succeed.
Our Commitment Moving Forward
These values will continue to guide us. They define who we are, how we work, and the impact we strive to have in the world. I want our customers, partners, and team members to hold us accountable to these standards—because living up to them is what makes Possible, Possible. Together, we can build a financial system that works for everyone—not just the privileged few.
If this mission resonates with you, I’d love for you to join us. We’re hiring!
