Fintech founder Hayes Barnard: Half the organization thought ‘this guy is out of his mind’

Hayes Barnard was sitting at a football match with a fellow CEO when he decided to test a theory as to what might be responsible for his neighbor’s success.

“I need to know,” said the founder of US fintech Goodleep, “is it daddy issues, near-death experiences or learning difficulties?”

The CEO took a moment to recover from his shock at the question, but eventually replied that, in fact, he can attribute his entrepreneurial drive to a brush with disaster and a troubled relationship with his father. After another 15 minutes of worrying, Barnard recalls, “he looks (and says): ‘That’s the formula, isn’t it?'”

Long before he founded Goodleep, a green-themed fintech that finances nearly a third of all US residential solar installations, Barnard was a dyslexic child raised by a single mother who struggled to pay the rent. Was getting it done. Ridiculed at school for his bad spelling, he was living in Creve Coeur, Missouri, a million metaphorical miles from the hubs of Silicon Valley and Wall Street that would one day make him a billionaire.

“I had a chip on my shoulder because of learning disabilities. I had a chip on my shoulder because my father left me when I was two or three,” he says. “It creates a drive and an ambition to prove myself.”

Barnard also had his own figurative near-death experience as he valued the company at $12 billion in its most recent fundraising round. After a few years selling software for Oracle in California and studying its founder, Larry Ellison, he founded a business called Paramount Equity Mortgage in 2003 with two friends.

Five years later, an exploding US mortgage market triggered a financial crisis and Barnard’s fortunes took a turn, including a six-figure settlement with the state of Washington over missteps, including some recklessly worded radio ads he presented. Was.

“I was razed to the ground in ’08,” he says, remembering the loyal employees he had to leave. But in the remnants of his first business he saw an opportunity: selling software and mortgages to apply what he had learned to the nascent home solar industry.

I used to try to get (the staff) to be like me and the reality is no, they don’t want to do that. they want security

Among the clients of Barnard’s Paramount Solar business was SolarCity, a manufacturer and installer run by Elon Musk and his cousin. SolarCity bought Paramount Solar in 2013 for about $120 million, making Barnard its chief revenue officer.

When Musk’s Tesla bought SolarCity in 2016, Barnard left, but began working on a “moonshot” plan to overhaul its aging mortgage business. At a company meeting in a Sacramento theater in early 2018, he told his 1,500 people that he was going to build “the biggest fintech for sustainable solutions.”

Instead of leasing or selling solar systems, they finance homeowners’ purchases, allowing them to install expensive equipment with little or no cash advance and pay back competitively priced loans over several years .

Barnard says that the first management lesson he learned was that “leadership is measured by following”. But when he introduced this plan, a large number of people under his leadership did not follow it.

“About half the organization thought ‘this guy’s got a bad brain’ and left,” he recalls. Most people dislike change, he argues, and “it was too bold of an idea”.

The fact that hundreds of people who worked with Barnard over the years didn’t see the opportunity raised a question: How can one make it contagious with their entrepreneurship?

“The truth is, you don’t,” he says bluntly, estimating that 80 percent of people “don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in their body”. “I used to try to shake them up and get them to be like me,” he admits, “and the reality is, no, they don’t want to do that. They want security.

Barnard credits his drive to his dyslexia, which forced him to work harder than his peers at school, gave him an ambition to prove himself and meant “I wanted to do things a little differently than others”. could see”.

His vision for the business that became Goodleep was to bundle loans for solar installations, connecting lenders with a sustainable finance story, a fragmented industry of manufacturers and installers and homeowners seeking lower electricity bills and carbon footprints .

The company has financed $23 billion of solar equipment, batteries and other permanent fixtures, with a default rate on loans of less than 1 percent.

Barnard’s pitch convinced private market investors to put $2.25 billion into Goodleep and helped him build an eclectic advisory council that includes former GE chief executive Jeff Immelt, actor Edward Norton and NFL star Tony Gonzalez.

“[Goodlip]uses technology to connect Wall Street to someone who is putting solar panels on their roof in Tucson. It’s easier said than done,” Immelt says. has a compelling back-story and that transforms itself into an incredible drive.”

“The really good ones know how to drive forcefully and listen at the same time,” he continued. “Hayes is one of these guys who can hit 100 mph in a very driven way but at the same time is accepting feedback and[asking]’What can I do better?'”

Barnard admits that two years ago the company “seriously considered” going public to give him liquidity but backed out. An IPO is still “always on the table,” he says, but it won’t happen this year.

After his scathing rejection in Sacramento, Barnard has refined his ideas on how to celebrate his employees. His thesis is that the strongest leaders are those who focus on people: in a world where good ideas will be copied, companies must outperform their competitors, he says, “and if you want to win the execution competition If you’re going, you have to win the talent contest.

They do this, according to Barnard, by meeting the top performers’ need for a sense of mission. His recent distillation of that mission in a two-page document inspires colleagues to “live for impact” and “cross blue oceans.”

Barnard has built a philanthropic agenda into Goodleep’s business model. After his failures in 2008, he moved his top team to Mali to build a school. There he saw the need for electricity to power classrooms and clean water for people who drank “poison”.

So within a few years of starting his solar business, he founded a non-profit group. GivePower deploys solar-powered water and energy systems everywhere, from schools to elephant orphanages in countries ranging from Nicaragua to Nepal.

Goodleep covers GivePower’s overheads, but most of its funding comes from companies whose donations give them a social responsibility program and the opportunity to send employees on team-building treks to set up their systems.

Barnard described the brainwaves he had while working on this funding model in the shower on a yacht in Croatia as “one of the best I’ve ever had in my life”.

He has taken his son and two daughters on those treks, saying he hopes to “shape their hearts”. Does she worry that, without her rough start in life, they will not fulfill her ambition?

“I think they are driven by mission and purpose,” he replied, “and that is all I can hope for. But they are not driven by fear as much as I was.” If their kids have a daddy problem, they won’t include the worry that their dad might leave them unable to pay the rent.

At age 51, Barnard still claims to worry that he “could lose it all tomorrow”. But, he adds: “I’ve learned to dance with my fear a little bit.”

Hayes Barnard was sitting at a football match with a fellow CEO when he decided to test a theory as to what might be responsible for his neighbor’s success.

“I need to know,” said the founder of US fintech Goodleep, “is it daddy issues, near-death experiences or learning difficulties?”

The CEO took a moment to recover from his shock at the question, but eventually replied that, in fact, he can attribute his entrepreneurial drive to a brush with disaster and a troubled relationship with his father. After another 15 minutes of worrying, Barnard recalls, “he looks (and says): ‘That’s the formula, isn’t it?'”

Long before he founded Goodleep, a green-themed fintech that finances nearly a third of all US residential solar installations, Barnard was a dyslexic child raised by a single mother who struggled to pay the rent. Was getting it done. Ridiculed at school for his bad spelling, he was living in Creve Coeur, Missouri, a million metaphorical miles from the hubs of Silicon Valley and Wall Street that would one day make him a billionaire.

“I had a chip on my shoulder because of learning disabilities. I had a chip on my shoulder because my father left me when I was two or three,” he says. “It creates a drive and an ambition to prove myself.”

Barnard also had his own figurative near-death experience as he valued the company at $12 billion in its most recent fundraising round. After a few years selling software for Oracle in California and studying its founder, Larry Ellison, he founded a business called Paramount Equity Mortgage in 2003 with two friends.

Five years later, an exploding US mortgage market triggered a financial crisis and Barnard’s fortunes took a turn, including a six-figure settlement with the state of Washington over missteps, including some recklessly worded radio ads he presented. Was.

“I was razed to the ground in ’08,” he says, remembering the loyal employees he had to leave. But in the remnants of his first business he saw an opportunity: selling software and mortgages to apply what he had learned to the nascent home solar industry.

I used to try to get (the staff) to be like me and the reality is no, they don’t want to do that. they want security

Among the clients of Barnard’s Paramount Solar business was SolarCity, a manufacturer and installer run by Elon Musk and his cousin. SolarCity bought Paramount Solar in 2013 for about $120 million, making Barnard its chief revenue officer.

When Musk’s Tesla bought SolarCity in 2016, Barnard left, but began working on a “moonshot” plan to overhaul its aging mortgage business. At a company meeting in a Sacramento theater in early 2018, he told his 1,500 people that he was going to build “the biggest fintech for sustainable solutions.”

Instead of leasing or selling solar systems, they finance homeowners’ purchases, allowing them to install expensive equipment with little or no cash advance and pay back competitively priced loans over several years .

Barnard says that the first management lesson he learned was that “leadership is measured by following”. But when he introduced this plan, a large number of people under his leadership did not follow it.

“About half the organization thought ‘this guy’s got a bad brain’ and left,” he recalls. Most people dislike change, he argues, and “it was too bold of an idea”.

The fact that hundreds of people who worked with Barnard over the years didn’t see the opportunity raised a question: How can one make it contagious with their entrepreneurship?

“The truth is, you don’t,” he says bluntly, estimating that 80 percent of people “don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in their body”. “I used to try to shake them up and get them to be like me,” he admits, “and the reality is, no, they don’t want to do that. They want security.

Barnard credits his drive to his dyslexia, which forced him to work harder than his peers at school, gave him an ambition to prove himself and meant “I wanted to do things a little differently than others”. could see”.

His vision for the business that became Goodleep was to bundle loans for solar installations, connecting lenders with a sustainable finance story, a fragmented industry of manufacturers and installers and homeowners seeking lower electricity bills and carbon footprints .

The company has financed $23 billion of solar equipment, batteries and other permanent fixtures, with a default rate on loans of less than 1 percent.

Barnard’s pitch convinced private market investors to put $2.25 billion into Goodleep and helped him build an eclectic advisory council that includes former GE chief executive Jeff Immelt, actor Edward Norton and NFL star Tony Gonzalez.

“[Goodlip]uses technology to connect Wall Street to someone who is putting solar panels on their roof in Tucson. It’s easier said than done,” Immelt says. has a compelling back-story and that transforms itself into an incredible drive.”

“The really good ones know how to drive forcefully and listen at the same time,” he continued. “Hayes is one of these guys who can hit 100 mph in a very driven way but at the same time is accepting feedback and[asking]’What can I do better?'”

Barnard admits that two years ago the company “seriously considered” going public to give him liquidity but backed out. An IPO is still “always on the table,” he says, but it won’t happen this year.

After his scathing rejection in Sacramento, Barnard has refined his ideas on how to celebrate his employees. His thesis is that the strongest leaders are those who focus on people: in a world where good ideas will be copied, companies must outperform their competitors, he says, “and if you want to win the execution competition If you’re going, you have to win the talent contest.

They do this, according to Barnard, by meeting the top performers’ need for a sense of mission. His recent distillation of that mission in a two-page document inspires colleagues to “live for impact” and “cross blue oceans.”

Barnard has built a philanthropic agenda into Goodleep’s business model. After his failures in 2008, he moved his top team to Mali to build a school. There he saw the need for electricity to power classrooms and clean water for people who drank “poison”.

So within a few years of starting his solar business, he founded a non-profit group. GivePower deploys solar-powered water and energy systems everywhere, from schools to elephant orphanages in countries ranging from Nicaragua to Nepal.

Goodleep covers GivePower’s overheads, but most of its funding comes from companies whose donations give them a social responsibility program and the opportunity to send employees on team-building treks to set up their systems.

Barnard described the brainwaves he had while working on this funding model in the shower on a yacht in Croatia as “one of the best I’ve ever had in my life”.

He has taken his son and two daughters on those treks, saying he hopes to “shape their hearts”. Does she worry that, without her rough start in life, they will not fulfill her ambition?

“I think they are driven by mission and purpose,” he replied, “and that is all I can hope for. But they are not driven by fear as much as I was.” If their kids have a daddy problem, they won’t include the worry that their dad might leave them unable to pay the rent.

At age 51, Barnard still claims to worry that he “could lose it all tomorrow”. But, he adds: “I’ve learned to dance with my fear a little bit.”