5 FinTech Questions with... Upstart's Alex Rouse

Name: Alex Rouse

Company: Upstart

Title: VP of Product, Head of Office - Upstart Columbus

Tell us about Upstart.

Upstart is a lending marketplace that uses artificial intelligence to help banks and credit unions make better lending decisions through AI. Our belief is that the current credit system is broken, uses outdated technology, and as a result, leaves millions of Americans on the margins without access to affordable credit. Upstart is here to partner with financial institutions and create a better credit system for all. Through improved modeling techniques and more data, we help financial institutions identify more creditworthy borrowers, improve overall outcomes, and reduce the price of borrowing for millions.

What is it about FinTech that drew you to a career in the space?

For me, there were really two reasons.

First, there’s a real opportunity to help people through fintech, particularly those who have been left behind by today’s system. I’ve worked in other industries – ecommerce, entertainment, and it’s just not the same. At Upstart, I can wake up in the morning and know that the effort we’re putting in has a real positive impact on people’s lives. Access to credit helps people move, switch jobs, or go to school – real life changing stuff.

Second, I’ve always been a sucker for applying modern technology to more traditional industries. First it was with Amazon in ecommerce, then through a startup in theatrical entertainment, and now here. I’ve always been fascinated at the opportunities that exist in the (fewer and fewer) corners of our world that have avoided technology modernization.

What's one thing in FinTech that you're geeking out on right now?

What I’ve really found interesting lately is how the recent changes in our macro economy affect fintech businesses. Of course, we’re in the lending business, so macroeconomic changes impact the performance of our credit. Such changes are very difficult to forecast, and it’s not realistic for our risk model to reliably predict them.

Instead, our credit model aims to be the fastest to react to changes in macroeconomic conditions, and to adopt a consensus-driven view of future assumptions. That’s a very different question than purely separating the risky borrowers from the less-risky ones, which is the more traditional question you think of in credit.

What's the next big thing in FinTech?

It might be a standard answer here, but I’m still a fan of crypto and what it could do for the world. Unfortunately, I think it has primarily taken hold as an investment vehicle, but that really wasn’t its original intent.

The technology was intended to create a financial system that was decoupled from traditional financial markets and what we’ve seen is an investment vehicle that ended up seeming like an extension of the traditional stock market. I hope to see more spending and cash-based applications take hold, which is where I think the real transformation could happen.

Best meal in Ohio?

The ricotta gnocchi at Basi Italia in Columbus’s Victorian Village. What a great place!