May 5, 2017 · 25m · top-founders
650: TREX FinTech $15M Raised, Breaks Down Securitized Loans From Renewable Energy Orginators So Investors Can Buy with CEO Benjamin Cohen
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In this episode of 'The Top,' host Nathan Latka interviews Benjamin Cohen, CEO and founder of T-Rex, discussing how the fintech platform raised $15 million to modernize renewable energy asset securitization. Cohen outlines T-Rex's enterprise SaaS pricing, zero-churn retention, and strategic dual-hub operations across New York and Tel Aviv.
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 51.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 2.7 Guest teaching 1.3 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 2.0
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 12:54 Guest refuses to disclose engineer compensation
Benjamin rejects Nathan's request for Israeli developer compensation numbers, stating they are sensitive and public.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 12:59 Host pushes past salary disclosure deflectionNathan immediately counters Benjamin's deflection by clarifying that he wants general market benchmark rates rather than private employee data.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:04 Benjamin explains liquidity mechanisms in esoteric capital marketsBenjamin educates Nathan on how post-2008 lack of transparency froze esoteric markets and how T-Rex enables price discovery.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:02 Nathan formulates rubber band ball analogyNathan demonstrates financial comprehension by translating complex loan securitization into an accessible rubber band ball analogy, which the guest validates.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overview of T-Rex Platform and Risk Transparency | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Nathan frames T-Rex's platform through the lens of post-financial crisis securitization and tranche structures. Benjamin validates the framing while clarifying that T-Rex provides risk transparency rather than de-risking assets. | |
| Team Composition and Tel Aviv Engineering Hub | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Nathan presses for clarity on whether 225 users are paying customers and offers an accessible rubber band ball analogy for loan securitization. Benjamin details how packaging renewable energy loans lowers the cost of capital. | |
| Early Bootstrapping, Revenue Milestones, and Founder Origins | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | Nathan calculates revenue run-rates and pushes Benjamin on the exact personal capital he invested before generating revenue. Benjamin deflects giving a precise figure beyond noting it was well into the six figures. | |
| Engineering Economics, Equity Compensation, and Sole Governance | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | When Benjamin declines to disclose Tel Aviv engineering salaries due to sensitivity, Nathan redirects him to provide broader market averages. Nathan also prods Benjamin about enjoying solo founder control, which Benjamin refutes. | |
| Customer Acquisition Costs and Series B Execution | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Nathan probes customer acquisition costs and conference sponsorship spending levels. Benjamin clarifies that low competition allows them to keep conference costs under ten thousand dollars. | |
| Mid-Roll Promotion: Acuity Scheduling Efficiency Deal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Nathan conducts the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite business books, role models, and sleep routines. Benjamin answers amiably with light banter about parenting and podcast habits. | |
| Episode Summary, Key Performance Metrics, and Review CTA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Host outro monologue summarizing T-Rex key business metrics including ARR, customer counts, and capital raised, followed by audience calls to action and sponsor reads. |
Statements from this episode (14)
Cohen says T-Rex raised $15 million across Series A and B
“We've raised about five million dollars today.
Okay.
Or sorry, not five. I've, I undersold that. That was in our series A that we're at fifteen million now.
15, one, five.
And I, I'd be shocked if all those were notes and debt.
I'm assuming you've had a price …”
Cohen says T-Rex employs 21 people across New York and Tel Aviv
“We have 21 people on the team. We're based in New York, where I am at the moment, and we have almost half our team in Tel Aviv, Israel, where we have most of our software engineers”
Cohen says T-Rex reached over 225 institutional users by Q1 2017
“Q one, we have over 225 users and including those that have renewed from the institutional investor and originator of asset side.”
Cohen notes securitized solar loan yields dropped from 8% to 3.5%
“I mean, you can actually track how these rates have come down over time from eight percent to six percent, and now, now some of these loans for some of our customers, when they're ultimately securitized are sold for three and a half percent for the top tier tr…”
Cohen claims T-Rex hit seven-figure ARR in its first six months
“In our first six months of revenue generation, we were into seven figures of ARR.”
Cohen worked unpaid for two years before raising T-Rex Series A
“I invested two years of my time before getting paid a dollar. And basically two years before we raised our series A capital and then another year and a half of fully building out the infrastructure with a full team before launching and really before hiring our…”
Cohen invested over $100,000 of his personal savings to start T-Rex
“Not that much of my own capital, but it was well into the six figures.”
Cohen says Tel Aviv engineering salaries are 50% of US hubs
“I think you can expect basically 50% of what people would make in either New York or the Bay Area markets, and obviously you lose some efficiencies by having people in different time zones and really just not co-located.”
Cohen says T-Rex maintained zero employee attrition despite hot startup market
“And so we have no attrition, which for a very hot startup market is also incredibly valuable.”
Solo founder Cohen says he would prefer having co-founders next time
“Sole founder which I would do differently if there were an option to have co-founders to share the load.”
Cohen says T-Rex boasts zero customer churn and up to 4x renewals
“No, we have not had anybody pay us and leave. We have only, thus far, and remembering that it is really, we had a couple customers in 2015 paying customers that have since renewed, and one of them at more than four times the rate that they came in at.”
Cohen claims T-Rex operates 4,000 times faster than baseline Excel models
“You're not going to go back to an XL model that operates 4000 times slower than Then T-rex, and that's just sort of baseline VBA code.”
Cohen says T-Rex enterprise bank CAC approaches high tens of thousands
“And then you have very large customers that you know, major investment banks JP Morgan city bank, for example, that could take a year to convert. And so, you know, the all in CAC there can approach high tens of thousands.”
Cohen says T-Rex primarily competes against in-house Excel models
“We just need to be there because we don't have huge competition. And so if we needed to have a bigger presence to sort of outdo the guy next door, then it would cost us a lot more. But because we're competing with in-house Excel models we just need to be on pe…”