Petal CEO/Co-Founder, Jason Gross – Democratizing Credit Access & Transforming an Industry!

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I sat down with Jason Gross, Co-Founder and CEO of Petal, a new kind of credit card company that has pioneered the Cash Score – an alternative measure of creditworthiness based on income, savings and spending history – to make credit more accessible.

Founded in 2016, the company has raised over 100 million equity and close to 500 million in debt from industry leaders including Valar ventures, Third Prime, Afore Capital, Story Ventures, and Jefferies.

We discuss:

• His non-traditional background for a startup founder – Jason is a lawyer turned entrepreneur. After graduating from Harvard Law School he considered launching a company in the sustainable energy space but was convinced by his father to practice law for a few years and develop the legal skills he had learned in school.
• Story and inspiration behind Petal – after seeing one of his co-founders navigate the complexities of the US credit system, they realized there are 70 million people in the US with no credit score or with a thin credit file that are at a significant financial disadvantage, mostly due data problems.

• Taking the company from zero to one - not only did they create the right product, but they had to socialize the problem and solution with many stakeholders, including public policymakers, potential business partners, investors, and more.
• The state of consumer credit and open banking - the basic approach to credit scoring was designed 70 years ago and it became widely adopted 30-40 years ago. While little has changed from traditional players, over the last few years there has been an absolute revolution in technology, access to data, and computing power. Petal is bringing a modern approach to credit that integrates the latest technologies.

• Why Petal has actively collaborated with the US regulator and why Jason considers this extremely important – Petal has engaged quite a bit with the public sector from day one. They consider their mission around expanding access to financial services to be very well aligned with the policy objectives of many of the different regulatory bodies in the US.
• “Before we even pitched angel investors, we went down to DC, and we pitched regulators ... I remember in one of those early meetings, at the end of the presentation, one of the folks in the room said ‘we really appreciate you coming in and sharing all this information, but why did you do that?’ ”
• Founder advice – after more than half a decade as a tech entrepreneur, Jason has learned the importance of being open to advice, keeping a healthy sense of humility and curiosity, and, above all, ensuring you’re solving a real problem!

Jason Gross

Jason Gross (@jasonbgross) is the CEO and co-founder of Petal, a New York-based fintech company on a mission to make credit honest, simple, and accessible. Jason has served as a member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board, and as a guest lecturer on topics ranging from financial inclusion to A.I. and machine learning in financial services. Previously, Jason practiced law, representing leading technology firms and financial services companies. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School.

About Petal

Petal is a new kind of credit card company founded to help people financially succeed (https://www.petalcard.com). Petal utilizes the CashScore to make credit more accessible, especially for people just starting out with credit. Petal offers a simple, modern digital experience that encourages members to build credit, avoid debt, and spend responsibly. Petal is located in New York, NY, and Richmond, VA. Petal credit cards are issued by WebBank, Member FDIC.

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