Renaud Laplanche is an entrepreneur who has made a lasting impact on the financial industry. Born in France in 1970, Laplanche studied business at HEC Paris before founding TripleHop Technologies, a software company later acquired by Oracle. Following TripleHop, he founded LendingClub, a peer-to-peer lending platform that connects borrowers with investors. Under his leadership, LendingClub became one of the most successful fintech startups, going public in 2014 and raising $870 million in its IPO.
Throughout his career, Laplanche has continued to innovate in the fintech space. Most recently, he founded Upgrade, a neobank that provides mobile banking, credit cards and lending to mainstream consumers. Through Upgrade, Laplanche has continued to push for better services and financial options for consumers. The company has become one of the fastest-growing fintech startups, originating over $22 billion in loans since its launch in 2016 while improving access to credit for consumers.
Please tell us a little bit about your business – what is Upgrade all about?
Upgrade is a fintech company that offers mobile banking services together with affordable and responsible credit to mainstream consumers. Our flagship product Upgrade Card has been the fastest growing credit card in America for two years in a row in 2021 and 2022 and helped Upgrade become the only fintech company in the top 25 US credit card issuers. Upgrade has now delivered over $22 billion in credit to consumers.
What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
Upgrade has become one of the fastest growing and most valuable US fintech companies through continued product innovation. We intend to continue to bring new products to market, in a way that provides consumers with more value and a better experience than traditional banks. An example of continued product innovation is Upgrade OneCard, which was built on our Upgrade Card infrastructure, and pushes the innovation one step further by allowing consumers to use a single card for all their purchases, essentially bringing the benefits of a debit card and a credit card in one.
What were the top three mistakes you made starting your business, and what did you learn from them?
The top 3 mistakes I made starting my first company are probably the most lessons-rich:
- Hiring too fast: as an entrepreneur, hiring the right people is probably your most important task toward building a successful company. The first few hires in particular are critical because they will, in turn, build their own team and have an outsize impact on business strategy and company culture. There is sometimes a sense of urgency in filling roles early, but a rushed hiring decision early on can have disastrous downstream impact.
- Building your board the wrong way: it is tempting to appoint board members based on their ability to open doors or the cache they bring to the organization. In the end, the board will be a critical decision-making forum, and you should appoint board members based on their ability to make good decisions, not based on how good they look on paper.
- Raising too little capital: building a company will generally take more time and require more capital than you think. If you have the ability to raise a bit more capital, take it. The ability to invest more resources and not have to go back to the market a few months later will generally more than make up for the additional dilution.
Tell us a little bit about your marketing process, what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
I think marketing starts with product. There is no marketing tactics that will make up for a bad product, and a finely tuned product/market fit will make marketing efforts considerably easier and more efficient. I think the only way to arrive at the optimum product/market fit, and to hone the marketing messages and channel over time, is to constantly test and learn, constantly making small adjustments and measuring the impact on key metrics. I generally focus more on building the right testing and data analytics infrastructure, to optimize for learnings, rather than trying to “get it right” from the onset.
What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
I get a quick morning and afternoon summary of the day’s worth of economic and financial news from Bloomberg.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
Tracking my time: I started doing this a few years ago, I know exactly how much time I spend on every aspect of managing the company. This is not just interesting data, it is a powerful decision-making tool and gives me the ability to allocate more resources (including my own time) to different areas of the company.
Can you recommend one book, one podcast, and one online course for entrepreneurs?
- My favorite business book is Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight (founder of Nike). It is very well documented, as Phil took detailed notes of the events occurring throughout the founding and the early years of Nike, and it really brings home the value of cash flow: growing fast and beating your sales targets won’t help you if you can’t fund inventory!
- My favorite Podcast is Seth Godin’s Akimbo. Seth Godin, better known as a marketing expert, does a good job here at explaining how company culture is a key driver of business success.
- My favorite online courses are from the Kauffman Foundation: they put tons of well thought-through content online for free and are truly working toward helping entrepreneurs in every way possible.
What helps you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business?
Talking to customers. Sometimes when you reach a certain scale, or depending on how you spend your time driving the business, you start thinking of customers as numbers on a spreadsheet. Talking to real live customers is a great way to remind yourself why you’re doing this, and how you’re having an impact on people’s lives.
What is your favorite quote?
Be Nice to People on Your Way Up, you’ll Meet Them On Your Way Down.
What valuable advice would you give new entrepreneurs starting out?
Surround yourself with people you trust and respect. Being an entrepreneur can be a very lonely experience, so it’s critical to invite others on the ride, both as support and also to provide a different perspective. You can build multiple layers of trusted companions on your entrepreneurial journey, and benefit from each layer in different circumstances: co-founders, employees, board members, advisors… All these might prove critical at some juncture while building your company.
Who should we interview next and why?
Ken Lin at Credit Karma. He built a truly transformative business that helped tens of millions of American families better understand their credit and financial life.
What is your definition of success?
Achieving your goals more often than not! Not everyone has the same goals – could be making money, finding love, building friendships, making the world a better place. I think success is achieving your goals, whatever they are.
How do you personally overcome fear?
I think about what it’s going to be like after the fact. When you do the things that scare you the most, you feel a mix of bliss and relief, and a sense of achievement. There’s no better thing to vanquish than your own fear.
