Loek Janssen

Co-Founder of Nova Credit

(Forbes 30 Under 30)

25 June 2019 11 Min Read

Loek Janssen's Vision for Modernizing Financial Services

Let me introduce you to Loek Janssen, the Co-Founder and CTO of Nova Credit. The company establishes relationships with credit reporting databases globally and lets immigrants share their home-country credit history with financial service providers. Due to his innovative company, Forbes placed Loek on its 30 Under 30 US & Canada 2019: Finance list.

He completed his B.A.Sc at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and later gained his Master of Arts/Science in Computational Mathematics & Engineering at Stanford University. Before starting Nova Credit, Loek worked in Engineering at Adobe. He was also a Teaching Staff at Stanford University for Python and C++.

I invite you to listen to Loek’s story as he shares advice on starting your own business, maintaining your focus, and his goals for Nova Credit in the future.

The Logician

Hello Loek, and thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with me! First off, can you introduce yourself? Who is Loek Janssen? How and why did you choose the career you have today?

Loek Janssen

Sure! I was born and raised in The Netherlands and came to the U.S. in 2014 to pursue an academic career in mathematics and computer science at Stanford.

I have always been someone to seek out opportunities that would raise the bar of difficulty for me, and that is ultimately why I decided to come to the bay area.

At the start of my academic journey at Stanford, I ran into the exact problems that Nova Credit is solving today: I was denied access to credit cards and mobile phone plans and had to put down a mountain of cash as a security deposit for my apartment in SF.

I felt I was being treated as a second class citizen in the U.S. economy. Noone who is actively trying to step up in their career should be barred with such obstacles.

I found my two amazing co-founders Nicky Goulimis and Misha Esipov at Stanford business school, and they told me exactly the same painful story of being a newcomer to the U.S. Little did I know that this was the start of something incredible.

Nova Credit was born in the second year of our Stanford degree. I decided to work on Nova Credit after Stanford as I enjoy working on a problem that feels insurmountable at first. Secondly, this is a problem that hits me personally: no newcomer in this modern world should feel left out in a country they want to call home.

The Logician

Do you mind telling us more about Nova Credit and your position in the company? What is the vision? Can you describe it in three words?

Loek Janssen

Nova Credit is a company that solves one of the biggest challenges the world is facing: worldwide 50,000 people move country every single day, and when they do, their credit history and financial footprint do not move with them.

This is a big issue because institutions in the U.S. cannot understand your trustworthiness to the same degree as they do with an applicant who is a U.S. citizen. This leads to rejections when you apply to many different kinds of financial products.

Nova Credit solves this by establishing business relationships with credit reporting databases across the world, creating a global standard for this type of data such that banks, landlords, car leasing companies and other institutions can understand what you are about. This enables them to give you the credit cards you need and the car you need for your work commute.

Three words for the vision is tough, you’re asking me something here! I believe it will not do it justice. The vision of Nova Credit is to inspire and facilitate the flow of human diversity across the world.

We believe in a world beyond borders where human diversity is celebrated wherever you are, and that there are no obstacles for your mobility. How about “facilitating human diversity” as the three-word vision statement?

The Logician

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on being among Forbes 30 under 30! Was this a dream come true? How was that experience for you?

Loek Janssen

Thank you! It was a surprise for sure, and am honored that I’m listed among so many inspiring individuals. It was never a dream of mine as I didn’t know about it until recently.

In The Netherlands, the Forbes 30 under 30 is lesser known, and the emphasis is less so on working towards specific honors or awards. I only heard about it when I was already working on Nova Credit and became friends with some people who are among the 30 under 30.

I am incredibly fortunate to learn every day from my amazing teammates at Nova Credit, we couldn’t have built Nova without them. My Forbes 30 under 30 spot is a shared recognition for all the Nova team members and their hard work.

The Logician

According to you, how important is it for the co-founders to know each other long before starting a business together? Why?

Loek Janssen

It is important that you know how you work well together. Whether that requires a long work or friend relationship is very dependent on the profiles of the co-founders.

For instance, Nicky, Misha, and I knew each other for less than a quarter when we embarked on the journey of Nova Credit as a class project. We approached working together much like you would do in a professional business setting, as dry as that may sound.

Long conversations about how we give feedback to each other, how we want to converse in meetings, what leadership means to each one of us, how to challenge each other without ego, and many more topics were discussed before we even raised our first financing.

The thoughtfulness we put into creating a transparent and honest team dynamic resulted in a work culture where we can always talk about our challenges and conflicts when they arise. We are close together as a team.

The Logician

As a very accomplished young man, what would you say are the best and the worst parts of being successful at a younger age?

Loek Janssen

Well thank you, I’ve got a lot to learn and prove though!

I’m having trouble answering this question. I don’t think my life is different from someone who also has a hard working life but is not a co-founder. Ultimately, we’re all doing our best everyday to make the most of our time.

The success of Nova Credit and the rapid growth of our team means my life over the last three years has been a story of “drinking from the firehose” when it comes to learning.

Nicky, Misha, and I had to learn an incredible amount in a short time to both recruit and lead a world-class team who all are much more experienced in their specific domains than we are. Luckily we have great advisors, coaches, and mentors who have been a great help and a source of inspiration.

Another upside of being a co-founder is that my life is never boring: there are a lot of puzzles to solve on a daily basis, and there are many interesting people to meet who we can help or vice versa. Especially when it comes to the users we serve as there is such a big community of newcomers and immigrants who need help. Knowing that we have a shot at changing the world affecting lives positively is incredible.

The Logician

How do you believe business ideas are born? What do you think mostly stops people from starting their businesses? How can this problem be solved?

Loek Janssen

Most ideas are born out of pure frustration and arise from asking questions.

It’s important to realize that frustrations are moments of learning.

You should never just brush it off, but rather be inquisitive.

Why can’t I do X?
Why did I spend so long getting information Y?

Business is born when curious people keep wondering why something was hard, and why no better solution exists.

People are amazing in sharing frustrations, we should celebrate those more.

To get ideas you must allow yourself to get inspired, and it requires training.
I am a fan of being bored, it is important for your brain to wonder to let creativity emerge. Bored is not to be confused with lazy. Being bored means you allow a break for your brain to make connections between totally unrelated industries and problems in the world.

Being bored to me means not grabbing my phone to check Instagram when I’m waiting for the subway after work, it means going on a walk or enjoying a coffee with my notebook and just my thoughts.

What stops people from starting their own business is very dependent on their own situation and curiosity. For instance, if you work full-time to make a living and you have a family to support it is very tricky to take the time to inspire yourself with ideas and to create prototypes or find co-founders.

I want to point out that It is also not a no-brainer to start a business in the first place. It is a high-risk high-return activity, that most of the time does not work out economically. When people around you depend on you, it’s not always rational to start a business.

Of course, there are ways to incentivize people to start businesses on a high-level.

The US is quite good in creating a startup-friendly financial system by making it easy to incorporate as a business and having benign tax structures for startups, The US economy also understands the risk and reward trade-off like no other. The prominence of venture capital firms is a sign of a positive attitude towards risk-taking and the high potential pay-off.

We could always do better though by fueling more innovation and creativity. For instance we could do more on subsidizing the education on how to build a business, reaching all income classes and not just the rich.

Allowing opportunities for everyone in this economy is important as there are many smart kids out there that simply do not have the same options in life. Here I think that the cooperation of the government and the private sector can still make a bigger impact.

The Logician

What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started your own business? What are the top five traits of successful entrepreneurs?

Loek Janssen

I’d say getting off the ground takes more time than you think. Run fast, but have patience at the same time to not change course when it’s unnecessary. Always easy to say it in hindsight of course.

A top five traits of successful entrepreneurs? I’ve met so many startup founders from different backgrounds and with different personalities that it’s hard to capture that. However, here’s my best attempt:

Authenticity: if you have a team you’re working with it’s important to be your authentic self. Grow meaningful connections with your team members while operating the day-to-day business. This leads to a good culture where there is trust.
Curiosity: be curious and let that inspiration feed back into your business is key to exploring solutions and making sure you keep being the best at what you do. It’s the fuel of acquiring knowledge.
Objectivity and being direct: you must be able to face data and understand what it tells you. Being metrics driven and making decisions on those is a fundamental trait.
Vulnerability: everyone screws up from time to time, unintendedly. Show that you are aware and acknowledge your missteps and that you have learned from those mistakes. Important for the trust in a team.
Saying no: so many ideas out there and things to do. You have to choose what to work on as a team stick to building out the core. The trait of knowing when to say no is as valuable as saying yes.

The Logician

How do you maintain your focus? What motivates you daily? Who is your biggest supporter?

Loek Janssen

I maintain my focus by knowing what I have to do that day and week.

I love to square away tasks and feel completion.

As someone who craves structure, this means that I use frameworks to prioritize.

I like the Eisenhower-Matrix to know what is next and what is upcoming, and I’m a fan of setting clearly defined and quantifiable OKRs.

Secondly, my focus comes from the ultimate motivation that I want to solve the problem of newcomers having so many obstacles when they move. I will not stop until we can help all people who move in the world with their problems.

My biggest supporter is my family. They love what I am working on and I could not have done it without all their time spent talking with me through my ideas and supporting me through the challenging times.

The Logician

Let’s imagine it is the year 2025. Where are you, and where is your business by then? Do you have any future plans?

Loek Janssen

Our vision is to inspire and facilitate the flow of human diversity, and by 2025 we will be able to make any aspect of moving and cross-border financials seamless, globally.

Nova Credit is built on the foundation of solving an enormous cross-border problem out there, and we will not stop until borders cease to be the obstacle. Our team will grow to support that big vision, and as we grow, we will naturally expand into multiple new markets.

I am excited about this opportunity to help, where the pain is felt most in a world that is only getting more connected and global.

My future plans are supporting Nova in building out that vision, and stay on the frontier of innovation as we grow. The world has so much to offer: new things will come on Nova’s path and other problems will be solved along the way. My plans are flexible as long as it’s in the best interest for Nova and the customers we help.

The Logician

Finally, what would your advice be for everyone struggling with their business? What do you think more young people need to know?

Loek Janssen

Time is your most precious resource. Do not look away from the bad kind of data: if your business idea does not seem feasible wouldn’t you want to know instantly instead of in 3 years?
Do not underestimate networking. Get out of your cave of building a solution with a small team and ask experts out there to help you. The startup community has so much knowledge, you need to tap into that.
Fight, but know when to stop. Be stubborn, stick with a well-thought-out idea for a while, but know what metrics indicate success or failure.

The Logician

Thank you, Loek, for sharing the ups and downs of successfully creating your own business at such a young age. How you work with your team to communicate your needs and expectations is excellent to learn from. Your advice on being a successful entrepreneur will 100% help someone reading this, including myself. So, I wish you luck in achieving your goal for Nova Credit to make moving and cross-border financials seamless globally.

The Logician

Trademark of a Living Legend

Latest Interviews

#000061

Guido Zichittella's Green Vision: Revolutionizing Energy Production

The Logician Image, which is an animated image of a person working on the laptop with a globe behind him, on a transparent background

Find Your Fellow Associates

Support means everything, especially in the digital world. Expand your network and extend your knowledge - make sure to join the association!

Discover My Association

Loek Janssen

Loek Janssen's Vision for Modernizing Financial Services

The Logician

Latest Interviews

Aviran Zazon: Crafting a Legacy in Tech and Beyond

Thomas Torre: Revolutionizing Health Savings with Investment

Sanjay Brahmawar's Vision for the Future of Digital Transformation

Theo Saville: Revolutionizing CNC Manufacturing with AI

Akshay Singhal: Pioneering Clean Energy Solutions for Tomorrow

Matthew Clare on Revolutionizing Clean Energy Investment

Laila Kasuri: Driving Innovation in Healthcare and Science

Jiajun Cen on the Cutting Edge of Manufacturing Innovation

Chirag Gupta: Elevating Indian E-commerce with Customer Focus

Carlos Pierre: Disrupting Real Estate with Tech-Driven Innovation

Erik Cheong on Transforming the Consumer Tech Industry

Siddha Ganju: Revolutionizing Manufacturing with AI and Robotics

Simon St. James LeComte on the Intersection of Art and Fashion

John Cassidy: Advancing Healthcare Through AI Innovation

Aleksandra Dragozet on Charting a Course for Sustainable Tourism

Jay Richards: Empathy, Compassion, and Building a Better Society

Cristina Aleixendri Muñoz: Advancing Manufacturing Via Innovation

Demelza Hays' Vision for a Decentralized Financial Future

Bernhard Winter: Revolutionizing Medical Devices with Innovation

Guido Zichittella's Green Vision: Revolutionizing Energy Production

Find Your Fellow Associates