Never Say Never
I recently went one on one with Craig Cecilio, founder and CEO of the investing platform DiversyFund.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Craig: I am 47 years old, husband, father of 3 daughters, 4 years and counting as founder & CEO of a fintech startup company, avid health fanatic and now navigating through a recession, pandemic and a polarized country.
My journey started in a small town on the East Coast in Fairfield, Connecticut. From there I moved to the mountains of Boulder, CO and now my current residence in San Diego.
I have lived through the dot.com burst, 9/11, the Great Recession, the Explosive Recovery and here we are today. The biggest factor in my success was focusing on my personal development. I enjoyed college but something was missing. I started my journey by reading as many books as possible, meeting as many people as possible, and becoming a sponge. My friends used to say I was the quietest person, which is hard to believe today. I stayed this way for my first few years in California and well into my 20s. During these years I met some fascinating people such as Deepak Chopra, Debbie Ford, Don Miguel Ruiz, Tony Robbins and Neale Donald Walsh. I’ve also met many successful business owners and philanthropists. I got involved at an early age syndicating business transactions. I learned how the wealthy made their money and it was time I got started. I chalk my 20s to a decade of learning, personal growth and putting myself in a position to surround myself with as many successful people as possible. I decided to start my first investment firm at 30, I was also honored to be selected to sit on the board of directors of a non-profit organization called ARTS (A Reason to Survive) at the same time.
2003 and 2004 were a great time to own a business, the market was taking off, loose lending standards produced a time period similar to the roaring twenties. Everyone was making money and business was good. I remember a conversion late in 2005, I asked one of my mentors if I should start a RE Hedge Fund. We both agreed, things were not normal, best practices and normal business practices were thrown out and deals were too easy. That was the best decision I ever made as when the downturn happened, all my cohorts who had funds got crushed. It definitely was a difficult time in 2008-2009 both personally and professionally. However, since my business really didn't suffer any losses, my reputation stayed in tack. We really didn't do much business so we downsized to a shell of a company as in those days, we were very transactional and business was non-existent. In 2010, I got involved in purchasing distressed assets, rebuilt my syndication business, and started a fund in 2012 when the market was right.
The next major breakthrough came when we started DiversyFund. How do I build a tech company out of a Real Estate & Syndication Business Model? It was like starting from scratch again. All of my connections either were in real estate, had capital, or were traditional businesses. So I had to set out on a new journey which was and is really exciting.
Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?
Craig: After years of seeing the wealth gap grow larger and larger, I saw how the rich kept getting richer. In 2014, I thought there had to be a way to break the cycle and came up with the idea that eventually became DiversyFund. I wanted to open up wealth-building opportunities to all Americans, no matter their status in life, give people the resources and tools to promote financial literacy and work toward closing the wealth gap.
Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?
Craig: Spending many years working with high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) within the real estate sector, I understood that the only way for the majority of Americans to build generational wealth and attain financial freedom was to use technology to democratize the access to wealth-building tools that were only available to 1% of the US population, which is how we came up with DiversyFund. I saw this opportunity to fill the void in the fintech community to serve the everyday investor.
My advice when it comes to testing business ideas — don’t sell yourself short, the sky is the limit and anything is possible.
Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?
Craig: At DiversyFund, we strive to provide wealth creation for the everyday investor and to empower the 99% to invest like the 1%. We’ve had great success in doing so and have accomplished this through the following values and principles that are ingrained into our culture:
Education: We teach our community about the best approaches to long-term wealth-building
Access: We open the door to previously inaccessible investments
Delivery: We deliver an on-demand customized personal experience
Development: We develop tools that assist in building the understanding required to create wealth
Simplicity: We remove the need for hands-on human facilitation
Transparency: We are fully transparent and secure in all transactions
Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?
Craig: For sales, I always say “be authentic.” If you’re authentic and stand behind what you’re selling, that will come through to your customers. When it comes to marketing, find and test a product that has a product-market fit for your total addressable market.
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Craig: I believe an effective leader has the courage to make tough decisions. You don’t always have the data or all of the information on hand, but you still have to make a decision, which is tough for some people. Strong leadership is not something you learn from reading a textbook or something you are born with, leadership is developed over a lifetime and there’s always room to improve and broaden your knowledge.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?
Craig: Michael Jordan once said, “Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” This quote really resonates with me. I often find myself thinking that you have only one shot at life so you might as well go for it. This is something that I instill in myself and my employees.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Craig: One of DiversyFund’s principles is, “We are developing “AAA” employees — Authority, Autonomy, Accountability.” I believe that practicing these three characteristics in the workplace is essential in shaping strong, driven, and successful leaders.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Craig: There has never been just one piece of advice that was more important than the next. However, I do remember when I was thinking about starting DiversyFund, a colleague from my CEO group told me I was going to struggle unless we put a stake to the ground have a clear vision as to what industry our company would be in, technology or real estate, and that stuck with me to be definitive and create a clear vision for my company.