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Texts are quick, emails are efficient, and zoom calls are convenient: but there is absolutely nothing better than meeting face-to-face.
Over the past 8 years, and through a series of happy coincidences, Hosper has developed a clear objective for our investor community. We call this H-Club, and our aim is to foster a community where our members can network, learn, have fun, and generate passive income for active livingTM
In 2016, I co-founded Hosper Mortgage. As a 20 something from St. Catharines who recently moved to Toronto after business school, I didn’t know a network of wealthy investors – and I certainly did not have the millions of dollars needed to run a lending company. I would meet with anyone interested, any time, any where. In the early days, our minimum investment was $25K. I still have a vivid memory of driving to Ajax to meet someone at a Tim Hortons and after a 2-hour hard sell, he leaned in and said two things: “James, I’m in! ….but I only have $17k to invest.” Yep, I took the $17k, and found the $8k elsewhere.
We have grown since those days, and our minimum investment for direct mortgages is now typically $100k. Additionally, we since launched our MIC fund in 2018 and we have maintained a $30k minimum for this option. In the early days, we advertised online, at trade shows, and attended public meetups. Advertising online has its merits: the audience is large, and geography is not a limiting factor. But, in today’s world of internet scams and double-your-money crypto schemes, there is a lot of fair skepticism in our first online interactions. This has gotten easier with time. Though our track record and reputation in the industry have helped, the best way to meet new clients is through introductions from our existing clients. We can skip the bit about trying to prove that I am a real person, and Hosper is a real company, and dig right into the investment objectives of a new client and discuss if our product is right for them. What better way to stay connected with our growing number of clients than live seminars and events?
Then, COVID happened. Coffee meetings were suspect, and large-scale events were unthinkable. Another happy coincidence happened here when we launched our first webinar series to replace our live seminars and began to publish a monthly newsletter. (I can’t believe we weren’t doing this already!)
Old schoolers who had never tried video calls began to consider this as a viable way to “meet” investment advisors, and we onboarded hundreds of clients without meeting them face to face. Convenient in the short term, this left us without true relationships with our investment partners. As much as we “sell” investments, mortgage investments really are a joint venture: we bring the deal and the expertise to manage it, and our clients bring the capital to fund it. True partnership is absolutely critical for this to work smoothly on a large scale. It is so much easier to navigate situations that arise when you know someone’s intentions. The next epiphany happened here… for our business to really succeed, something was missing.
I have loved hosting events since my high school “buy-out” days as student council president. But now, 5 years into business, we weren’t meeting clients for coffee, let alone hosting large events. We set out to change that. We piloted our first 4 events. Poker Night, Golf Tournament, Billiards Night and our Black Tie Charity Gala. (Now we host an event a month – adding in our Euchre Night, Pickleball Day, Softball Game, Picnic Day, Basketball Tournament, Cocktail Class, Live Seminars, and Shareholder Gala. Things were starting to click… but there was another area to improve.
By the end of 2022, we had become a bit too comfortable working from home. Our office wasn’t big enough to house our growing team, and the convenience of digital meetings was being taken for granted. We went through the same work-from-home rollercoaster as many mid-size companies. First, oh crap — can we even do this? Will our tech and security systems work if we must send everyone home for 2 consecutive weeks?! (…“2 weeks” – LOL). Then, after a few months, we’re thinking—this is so great – tech is awesome – why did we ever have an office in the first place? Now that answer is abundantly clear. For our type of business, a team who works together in person enables incredible speed and strong team culture. Our underwriters can get a second opinion from their teammates beside them, our customer care reps can update our investment team with a shoulder tap instead of a voicemail, and we all get to work together, everyday, towards the same mission to become the best alternative to a traditional bank.
In 2023, we moved into our newly built, permanent office space. We finally have a place for clients to drop in and we host many of our events here at HQ. I am not sure what revelation will be next for Hosper Mortgage, but I believe 2 things will be true: 1) companies who keep clients and employees at the forefront are set up for success, and 2) change doesn’t happen over night. Success will manifest when incremental improvements compound over time. We will seek to improve Hosper Mortgage 1% per day -- 1 event at a time.
Our growth is a testament to the trust of our investor community. To date, we’ve won 9 awards for our service and have helped hundreds of high-net-worth families across Ontario successfully fund over $1 billion in secured mortgage loans.
What do you say? Join us at our next event or reach out and let’s meet for coffee. I look forward to getting to know you better and thanks for being a part of our special community.
Not a part of our investor community yet? If you’d like to join us, submit a contact form on the right side of the page.
Signed,
James Grantis and the Hosper Investment Team