SoFi Blog

Earlier this year, we launched the SoFi Entrepreneur Program to connect borrowers who have entrepreneurial aspirations with SoFi investors interested in furthering their potential. Current SoFi borrowers interested in refining a start up idea and developing skills critical to getting early-stage funding were invited to apply for the 4 month-long program. The pilot class was selected from a competitive pool of applicants and has since participated in a combination of hands-on workshops to improve their pitch decks, meetings with SoFi Executives who are influencers in the startup community and conversations with sophisticated venture capital and angel investors.

Here, SoFi Entrepreneur Benny Joseph shares his experience and explains how the program is setting him up for startup success:

Much has been written about the new income based repayment (IBR) rules the President recently signed into law. Notably, maximum payments on qualifying federal loans are now capped at 10% of disposable income rather than 15% before, and after 20-years, any remaining balances are forgiven, versus 25-years before.

When we launched the SoFi Loan Program at 40 schools this April, we had high hopes for how our innovative model would disrupt the $1 trillion student loan marketplace.

And disrupt it has.

Since Hurricane Sandy first hit the East Coast, our thoughts at SoFi have gone out to all those affected. Much of the devastation is still being realized, and we continue to be saddened by the challenges many face as a result of this terrible storm. Beyond the significant hardship, however, we have been impressed by the resilience of people, the strength of communities, and how both neighbors and strangers can come together in these difficult times.

Spence brings wealth of financial services knowledge to social community lending company.

San Francisco, CA – Nov. 1, 2012 – Social Finance, LLC (“SoFi”) today announced the addition of Economist and Nobel Laureate Mike Spence to SoFi’s board of directors. In his new board role, Mr. Spence brings extensive economic expertise and contacts in the financial industry that will provide added value to SoFi’s social community lending model and ultimately benefit the alumni and students currently participating in SoFi-backed loans.

SoFi connects students and alumni economically through school-specific student loan funds. With SoFi’s unique lending program, borrowers benefit from a loan with a lower fixed rate than federal Direct and PLUS loans, and alumni earn an attractive market return while also helping students and recent graduates from their alma mater. Currently available in 78 schools ranging from large universities such as Stanford University and University of Michigan to smaller colleges such as Smith College and Swarthmore College, SoFi currently lends in 32 states, operates its own broker dealer, SoFi Securities, and has received over $90 million in loan requests.

Mr. Spence is a recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He recently authored The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World, dealing with developing country growth and integration into the global economy. The book discusses increased capital availability to those who have traditionally been closed off from the financial markets, a salient topic that aptly embodies the social community mission of SoFi. The book received critical acclaim for its clear and lucid analysis of a complex topic.

A Rhodes Scholar, Mr. Spence graduated from Princeton University with a BA in Economics, received his MA from Oxford University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is on the faculty of the New York University Stern School of Business and a former Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Currently, he also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Mr. Spence sits on a number of boards for public and private companies, including Genpact and Mercadolibre. In the past, he served on the boards of Siebel Systems, Bank of America, Nike, and other large public companies.

“The addition of Mike Spence to our board of directors further cements SoFi’s role as a disruptive force in financial services,” said Mike Cagney, co-founder and CEO of SoFi. “His pioneering studies and subsequent publications on economic growth and competition, particularly in developing countries, falls in line with SoFi’s credence that one can do well while still doing good.”

About SoFi

Located in the Presidio in San Francisco, SoFi was started by a team of Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) students in the fall of 2011. SoFi’s inaugural loan program was a $2 million pilot at the GSB that fall. Since then, SoFi has moved toward becoming a national lender via state registration, created a broker dealer, expanded its product set to include both in-school and consolidation loans, raised significant capital to fund loans and expanded its presence to more than 50 schools nationwide. SoFi is backed by a group of leading institutions including Baseline Ventures, DCM and Renren. The company encourages interested students, alumni and investors to visit www.sofi.com for more information.