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Nov 28, 2019 · 15m · top-founders

1587 Why Banks Pay Him $2k/year To Help Serve Lower Income Community Members

Ben Loehle · 7m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Find CRA co-founder and CEO Ben Loehle discusses how his regulatory technology startup transitioned from an agency into a SaaS platform that helps banks fulfill Community Reinvestment Act compliance obligations. He details the company's data aggregation methods, subscription pricing tiers, and scaling plans.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 45.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.2 Guest teaching 2.6 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.6
05100:0010:001:49–5:03 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 How CRA Compliance and Bank Audits Work in Practice Nathan asks probing questions to understand the Community Reinvestment Act, initially confusing regulatory credit with a tax break. Ben educates him on FDIC/OCC exam credits, after which Nathan demonstrates quick comprehension by walking through a math scenario.5:04–7:25 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Data Aggregation Methods and Platform Value Proposition Nathan asks if the platform scrapes unstructured web data, which Ben gently corrects by explaining they process structured public CSVs. Nathan then pushes back on the core value proposition, asking why banks wouldn't just download the data themselves.7:25–10:33 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Promotional Announcement: SaaStock Australasia in Sydney The segment begins with a solo conference promotion before transitioning into pricing tiers and contract values. Nathan probes into average ACV and does quick mental math to calculate annual run-rate revenue.10:33–12:39 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Company History, Capital Raised, and the Agency-to-SaaS Pivot Nathan catches a discrepancy between Ben's earlier statement of launching 1.5 years ago and his claim of being six years old, stopping him to demand clarification. Ben explains their pivot from a high-touch agency model to pure SaaS.12:40–15:02 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Show Conclusion Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering tech stack, sleep, and demographics before delivering his closing monologue summary. The dynamic is completely friendly and compliant.1:49–5:03 · Guest teaching 5/10 How CRA Compliance and Bank Audits Work in Practice Nathan asks probing questions to understand the Community Reinvestment Act, initially confusing regulatory credit with a tax break. Ben educates him on FDIC/OCC exam credits, after which Nathan demonstrates quick comprehension by walking through a math scenario.5:04–7:25 · Guest teaching 4/10 Data Aggregation Methods and Platform Value Proposition Nathan asks if the platform scrapes unstructured web data, which Ben gently corrects by explaining they process structured public CSVs. Nathan then pushes back on the core value proposition, asking why banks wouldn't just download the data themselves.7:25–10:33 · Guest teaching 1/10 Promotional Announcement: SaaStock Australasia in Sydney The segment begins with a solo conference promotion before transitioning into pricing tiers and contract values. Nathan probes into average ACV and does quick mental math to calculate annual run-rate revenue.10:33–12:39 · Guest teaching 3/10 Company History, Capital Raised, and the Agency-to-SaaS Pivot Nathan catches a discrepancy between Ben's earlier statement of launching 1.5 years ago and his claim of being six years old, stopping him to demand clarification. Ben explains their pivot from a high-touch agency model to pure SaaS.12:40–15:02 · Guest teaching 0/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Show Conclusion Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering tech stack, sleep, and demographics before delivering his closing monologue summary. The dynamic is completely friendly and compliant.1:49–5:03 · Guest disagreement 1/10 How CRA Compliance and Bank Audits Work in Practice Nathan asks probing questions to understand the Community Reinvestment Act, initially confusing regulatory credit with a tax break. Ben educates him on FDIC/OCC exam credits, after which Nathan demonstrates quick comprehension by walking through a math scenario.5:04–7:25 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Data Aggregation Methods and Platform Value Proposition Nathan asks if the platform scrapes unstructured web data, which Ben gently corrects by explaining they process structured public CSVs. Nathan then pushes back on the core value proposition, asking why banks wouldn't just download the data themselves.7:25–10:33 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Promotional Announcement: SaaStock Australasia in Sydney The segment begins with a solo conference promotion before transitioning into pricing tiers and contract values. Nathan probes into average ACV and does quick mental math to calculate annual run-rate revenue.10:33–12:39 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Company History, Capital Raised, and the Agency-to-SaaS Pivot Nathan catches a discrepancy between Ben's earlier statement of launching 1.5 years ago and his claim of being six years old, stopping him to demand clarification. Ben explains their pivot from a high-touch agency model to pure SaaS.12:40–15:02 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Show Conclusion Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering tech stack, sleep, and demographics before delivering his closing monologue summary. The dynamic is completely friendly and compliant.1:49–5:03 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 How CRA Compliance and Bank Audits Work in Practice Nathan asks probing questions to understand the Community Reinvestment Act, initially confusing regulatory credit with a tax break. Ben educates him on FDIC/OCC exam credits, after which Nathan demonstrates quick comprehension by walking through a math scenario.5:04–7:25 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Data Aggregation Methods and Platform Value Proposition Nathan asks if the platform scrapes unstructured web data, which Ben gently corrects by explaining they process structured public CSVs. Nathan then pushes back on the core value proposition, asking why banks wouldn't just download the data themselves.7:25–10:33 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Promotional Announcement: SaaStock Australasia in Sydney The segment begins with a solo conference promotion before transitioning into pricing tiers and contract values. Nathan probes into average ACV and does quick mental math to calculate annual run-rate revenue.10:33–12:39 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Company History, Capital Raised, and the Agency-to-SaaS Pivot Nathan catches a discrepancy between Ben's earlier statement of launching 1.5 years ago and his claim of being six years old, stopping him to demand clarification. Ben explains their pivot from a high-touch agency model to pure SaaS.12:40–15:02 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Show Conclusion Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering tech stack, sleep, and demographics before delivering his closing monologue summary. The dynamic is completely friendly and compliant.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 51.6% · guest 48.4%0:00 · Nathan 51.6% · guest 48.4%3:00 · Nathan 37.1% · guest 62.9%3:00 · Nathan 37.1% · guest 62.9%6:00 · Nathan 64.1% · guest 35.9%6:00 · Nathan 64.1% · guest 35.9%9:00 · Nathan 25.7% · guest 74.3%9:00 · Nathan 25.7% · guest 74.3%12:00 · Nathan 49.5% · guest 50.5%12:00 · Nathan 49.5% · guest 50.5%15:00 · Nathan 69.8% · guest 30.2%15:00 · Nathan 69.8% · guest 30.2%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:37 Refuting web scraping assumption

Ben directly counters Nathan's assumption about scraping unstructured data, clarifying that the company downloads and standardizes official CSV files.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 11:02 Calling out timeline inconsistency

Nathan interrupts Ben to challenge a contradiction between launching 18 months ago and having a six-year company history.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:03 Explaining bank exam credits

Ben corrects Nathan's misconception that CRA credits are tax breaks, detailing how federal bank examiners (FDIC, OCC, Fed) audit community investments every 2 to 3 years.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 4:26 Synthesizing CRA mechanics and math

Nathan rapidly constructs a realistic scenario of a Chicago bank deploying 1% of Tier 1 capital into 135 affordable housing opportunities, demonstrating full mastery of the concept.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
How CRA Compliance and Bank Audits Work in Practice 4512 Nathan asks probing questions to understand the Community Reinvestment Act, initially confusing regulatory credit with a tax break. Ben educates him on FDIC/OCC exam credits, after which Nathan demonstrates quick comprehension by walking through a math scenario.
Data Aggregation Methods and Platform Value Proposition 4424 Nathan asks if the platform scrapes unstructured web data, which Ben gently corrects by explaining they process structured public CSVs. Nathan then pushes back on the core value proposition, asking why banks wouldn't just download the data themselves.
Promotional Announcement: SaaStock Australasia in Sydney 3112 The segment begins with a solo conference promotion before transitioning into pricing tiers and contract values. Nathan probes into average ACV and does quick mental math to calculate annual run-rate revenue.
Company History, Capital Raised, and the Agency-to-SaaS Pivot 4315 Nathan catches a discrepancy between Ben's earlier statement of launching 1.5 years ago and his claim of being six years old, stopping him to demand clarification. Ben explains their pivot from a high-touch agency model to pure SaaS.
Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Show Conclusion 1000 Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering tech stack, sleep, and demographics before delivering his closing monologue summary. The dynamic is completely friendly and compliant.

Statements from this episode (6)

Assertion Supported
Banks typically allocate 1-2% of Tier 1 capital to CRA investments
“The act does not stipulate an exact percentage, but banks will often look at about to do about a one to two percent of their tier one capital in a community investments to meet their CRA requirements.”
Ben Loehle Nov 28, 2019 ▶ 4:11
Assertion Supported
Banks are only assessed for CRA compliance where they have physical branches
“Banks, they're only assessed where they have brick and mortar branches.”
Ben Loehle Nov 28, 2019 ▶ 6:05
Disclosure
Find CRA charges banks between $1,250 and $5,000 annually
“We have three tiers of pricing. If it's a bank that just has like one branch or two branches, it's 1250 a year.”
Ben Loehle Nov 28, 2019 ▶ 9:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Find CRA has 11 banks on its platform 18 months post-launch
“We currently have 11 banks using or about to use the platform, and it, it's kind of covers the full range, and we launched this product about a year and a half ago”
Ben Loehle Nov 28, 2019 ▶ 9:54
Disclosure
Find CRA has raised about $900,000 in funding to date
“We've raised about 900,000 to date.”
Ben Loehle Nov 28, 2019 ▶ 10:45
Disclosure
Find CRA pivoted from a high-touch agency model in 2016
“In 2016, we realized that our initial approach to servicing the needs of bridging kind of the gap between nonprofits and banks our initial approach was not going to be scalable. It was too high touch. We were having too much consultation.”
Ben Loehle Nov 28, 2019 ▶ 11:15
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