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Miguel Armaza sits down with Andrew Wang (CEO) and Linda Du (COO) of Valon, the AI-native infrastructure platform transforming mortgage servicing in America. They have quietly built a top-10 national mortgage servicer with over $100 million in revenue and more than one million loans under management, all while achieving profitability. Valon is now selling their battle-tested platform to the largest servicers in the country. They are backed by a16z, Westcap, Jefferies, and Alleycorp, amongst others.
What makes their story remarkable is how they built it: $100 million in revenue sold entirely through founder-led sales, no marketing team, and a seven-year detour of becoming a servicer themselves just to prove their software works. Their journey from burning $4 million per month to 70% operating margins offers a masterclass in operational discipline and unconventional company building.
Timestamped Overview
00:00 Intro & Valon’s Background
04:14 Finding Trustworthy Growth Partners
07:55 Navigating startup licensing challenges
09:55 Overcoming Loan Licensing Hurdles
15:53 Proving Value Through Integration
18:22 Servicing philosophy shoot higher
21:23 Valenos Success Without Marketing
23:21 Building Two Businesses Two Strategies
27:01 Monetizing operations with efficiency
30:14 Debating AGI's future impact
34:52 Modern CTO Strategies Culture Infrastructure
38:19 LLMs redefining productivity models
41:39 Mentorship sparks business collaboration
44:02 Choosing New York over SF
47:55 Ali's thoughtful guidance and clarity
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Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
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