Digital Onboarding: Interview with CEO Ted Brown

Alan Soclof: Hi Ted! Thanks for taking the time to connect. We at Volition could not be more excited about our partnership with Digital Onboarding. Do you want to start off by sharing Digital Onboarding’s founding story?

Ted Brown: I would love to, and we could not be more excited about the partnership as well. Early in my career, when I was a Junior at Brown University, I started working for a FinTech company called Andera where we were building the first way to open up a bank account online. I rode the whole rollercoaster with that business, working there for almost 12 years, where I ultimately became VP of Sales. We built it up to 600 banks and credit unions before selling it to a publicly traded company. 

After Andera, I always wanted to build a fundamentally sound company. I started off with my co-founder Jonathan Crossman where we decided to build a company focused on accelerating complex B2B sales cycles and improving sales outcomes that would create a personalized guide for each organization. 

Although I thought then – and still do now – that this is a great idea, it was tough for us to scale fast enough to create a financially viable business. Then I realized our best chance of success would be pivoting to a field where I had expertise which was selling to banks. I ultimately applied to DCUs FinTech Innovation program in Boston. We had an initial meeting with the Head of Member Services, Julie Moran, who said our technology could help solve a key priority of theirs which was giving new members a frictionless and welcoming onboarding experience. I knew this represented a massive opportunity and was a problem right in my wheelhouse. 

After this conversation, we were off to the races, and over the next few years, we have built the digital engagement platform for banks & CUs that is turning account openers into deep & profitable relationships for financial institutions.

AS: How would you say you were able to earn the trust of these banks and credit unions early on when you were a younger company?

TB: Really good question. In the early days of the business, you really only have trust. Yes. I was the Head of Sales at Andera, but it is not the same as saying I was “so and so at Google.” This is why pivoting into financial services was so important because even if people did not know me, they knew Andera. I also think it is important that our first customer was DCU, one of the largest CUs in the country, as credit unions tend to move in step. Additionally, we won a Salesforce Pitch Competition and FIS Accelerator MVP Award which helped us gain greater recognition in the space.

AS: Now that Digital Onboarding has raised meaningful capital from Volition, how do you plan on using this capital to fuel further growth?

TB: What is so exciting about the opportunity in front of us is that a significant part of the market has not heard of us yet. In order to be successful, we do not need to make big changes, but rather, continue to execute on our plan. In the short term, we will look to double our headcount carefully this year, and in the long term we have a very exciting product road map that we look forward to continuing to build out to support our customers. We have all of the right building blocks in place, and we are excited to keep going.

AS: Finally, how did you hear about Volition Capital?

TB: I first want to give a shoutout to Wells Johnstone, Analyst at Volition Capital, who was persistent in connecting with me over the past couple of years. At one point, Wells happened to reach out to me while I was in Boston visiting clients and offered a breakfast meeting with her, Sean (Cantwell), and Melanie (Jordan). Although I was not looking to raise capital, as we were and still are on a path to profitability, I did like the idea of a free breakfast. It was a great breakfast, but again, I was not interested in raising. 

A year and a half later, the Volition team offered to connect over breakfast again, and of course, I accepted, as how could I say no to a free breakfast? Interestingly, Sean proposed the idea of being Digital Onboarding’s investment partner for our next chapter and buying out existing investors.  This seemed like a win-win for every party involved including our employees, customers, and early investors. 

And of course, the opportunity to partner with a firm like Volition and rely on their expertise as we continue to grow was a fantastic proposition. I could not be more excited that we ended up getting the investment done and look forward to partnering with Volition for many years to come.

-The Volition Press

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