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Ryan Williams (entrepreneur)

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Ryan A. Williams
Born1987 or 1988 (age 36–37)[1]
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.
Alma materHarvard
OccupationCEO of Cadre

Ryan Williams is a technology entrepreneur best known as the CEO and co-founder of Cadre, a New York-based technology company. He was named to Forbes' "30 under 30" list for 2018,[2] “Crain’s 40 under 40” list for 2017,[1] is one of Goldman Sachs’ “Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs”,[3] is one of Commercial Observer’s “30 under 30”[4] and has been profiled in Forbes,[5] Ivy,[6] technology and real estate trade publications.[7] In February 2019 he was on the cover of Forbes' "FinTech 50" issue.[8][9]

In 2018 Williams announced a deal through which his company, Cadre, will receive at least $250 million (USD) in real estate investments from clients of Goldman Sachs, his former employer.[10][11]

Early life

Williams was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and founded a sports apparel company at 13.[12][13] Williams matriculated to Harvard University, where he founded the Veritas Financial Group, the school’s largest undergraduate financial literacy group.[12][14]

Career

Williams began his career in real estate technology during his undergraduate term at Harvard. He was inspired to create a system to track foreclosed homes after seeing the impact of foreclosures during a trip to Atlanta.[1] By using data about properties and neighborhoods, he was able to start a business purchasing deeply undervalued homes and restoring them to occupancy.[1] This business "flipping" homes with classmates and others as investors was his first entrepreneurial venture.[15]

After graduation from Harvard, he worked at Goldman Sachs and Blackstone before founding Cadre in 2014.[1] He worked at Blackstone in their real estate private equity division.[3]

At 26 years old, he left Blackstone to found Cadre, a financial technology platform that seeks to make the real estate market more like a stock market.[7] Williams currently serves as CEO of Cadre[16] and has led it through a $65 million Series C fundraising round led by Andreessen Horowitz.[17] He has been quoted as saying “Cadre’s mission is to create a more efficient economy, where we can connect the world’s buyers and sellers in opaque assets that have been inaccessible to many.”[18] He believes that increasing the ability of investors to participate in alternative asset classes (such as "energy, natural resources, oil, infrastructure or anything that’s historically been privately held or inaccessible"[19]) will expand the opportunity to build multi-generational wealth to many more members of the world[5] by "giving people direct, deal-by-deal access to commercial real estate, like you would buy and sell something on Amazon."[20] To him, that mission includes a secondary market and the ability of investors to select the deals they are most interested in, at lower cost.[13]

He is a regular speaker at conferences and in news programs regarding real estate technology.[12][21][22][23]

Personal life

Williams is a fan of LSU football.[7][24] He lives in Greenwich Village.[7] He has discussed his mission as an entrepreneur of color in a field that suffers "an outsized lack of diversity"[25] and says "I've never let anyone outwork me."[13] In a 2019 CNN interview, he stated his goal to be judged on his performance alone: "at the end of the day, it's about results and what you're able to deliver, not about the color of your skin."[25]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Geiger, Daniel (March 26, 2017). "40 Under 40 2017: Ryan Williams, 29". Crain's New York Business.
  2. ^ Vardi, Nathan. "30 Under 30 Finance: The Top Young Traders, Dealmakers And Big Money Innovators". Forbes. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Ryan A. Williams Honored by Goldman Sachs for Entrepreneurship". www.prnewswire.com.
  4. ^ "CO's Top 30 Leasing and Sales Brokers Under Age 30". Commercial Observer. October 5, 2016.
  5. ^ a b Sharf, Samantha. "How A 28-Year-Old Plans To Upend The $81 Trillion Global Real Estate Investment Market". Forbes.
  6. ^ "#67: How to Disrupt a Massive Market: Innovations in Real Estate Featuring the Co-Founder & CEO of Cadre, Ryan Williams". IVYtv. NaN. Retrieved 13 September 2017. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d "Ryan Williams - Cadre Real Estate". The Real Deal New York.
  8. ^ https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2019/01/31/ryan-williams-30-started-a-revolutionary-800m-fintech-but-can-he-escape-his-kushner-trump-connection/
  9. ^ https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbespr/2019/02/04/forbes-releases-fourth-annual-fintech-50-list-the-future-of-your-money/
  10. ^ "Cadre inks $250M deal with Goldman Sachs". Inman. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
  11. ^ "Goldman Commits $250 Million in Client Money to Real Estate Startup Cadre". Bloomberg.com. January 10, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
  12. ^ a b c "LendIt USA 2017 speaker Ryan Williams". www.lendit.com.
  13. ^ a b c "A Conversation with Cadre's Ryan Williams". TheFR.com.
  14. ^ "About Veritas Financial Group".
  15. ^ Morris, Meghan. "Cadre: It's who and what you know" (PDF). PERE News. PEI. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  16. ^ "Cadre CEO Ryan Williams: Hire people you have no business hiring". www.bizjournals.com.
  17. ^ Majewski, Taylor. "Three-year-old Cadre raises $65 million from Andreessen Horowitz". Built In NYC. Built In NYC. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  18. ^ "Google and Facebook employees are flocking to a startup that's raised ~$70 million to shake up the real estate world". Business Insider.
  19. ^ "How this 50-person startup is planning to completely transform the real estate industry".
  20. ^ "Cadre: 30 under 30".
  21. ^ "Cadre's Ryan Williams". May 9, 2016.
  22. ^ "Cadre CEO Says Data Processes, Services Give Them an Edge". Bloomberg.com.
  23. ^ Lawler, Ryan. "Find out how startups are transforming real estate investing at Disrupt NY". TechCrunch.
  24. ^ Locker, Melissa (January 16, 2019). "Lil Wayne helps Cadre CEO and cofounder Ryan Williams get ready for big presentations". Fast Company. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  25. ^ a b Business, Matt Egan, CNN. "Meet the 31-year-old African American CEO aiming to revolutionize real estate investing". CNN. Retrieved May 23, 2019. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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