LSC25 | Expert Panel: The Power of Automation

Learnings| Loan Management Software| Lending Tips| Compliance| LendSuite Conference

April 02, 2025•4 min read

🏆 Large Lender Insights: Scaling with Vision, Grit, and Strategy

Lessons from Leaders Who’ve Grown to 7- and 8-Figure Lending Portfolios

The final panel of the Tuesday Afternoon Sessions at the LendSuite Conference 2025 was both inspiring and tactical. Moderated by LendSuite’s own Raphael Ocampo, this session featured three seasoned leaders who’ve built large-scale lending operations—each with different models, markets, and philosophies.

What united them? A shared commitment to growth, continuous improvement, and serving borrowers responsibly.

This wasn’t about theory. It was about what actually works when you’re scaling up—and what gets in the way.

🚀 Growth Doesn’t Happen by Accident

Each panelist emphasized that growth starts with vision, but is powered by process, people, and persistence.

From 5-loans-a-day originators to national portfolios processing thousands per week, the road to scale involved:

Testing and iterating on every process
Tracking KPIs religiously
Making difficult decisions around vendors, staffing, and technology

“There’s no hack for becoming a large lender. There’s only clarity, consistency, and a willingness to keep improving.”
— Large Lender Panelist

🧠 Leadership Mindset: Be In the Business, Not Just Around It

One standout theme: successful scale comes from engaged leadership.

Executives attend daily huddles
Leaders know their product flow and customer pain points
There’s accountability around the numbers—not just feelings

One panelist said it plainly: “If you don’t love your dashboard, you’re doing it wrong.”

📊 Data-Driven Decision Making Is Non-Negotiable

Each panelist stressed that gut instinct alone won’t scale. The most successful lenders rely on dashboards, tape reviews, and trend monitoring to:

Adjust pricing
Spot fraud
Shift marketing spend
Optimize underwriting thresholds

They review:

Loan volume trends
Approval rates by channel
Default rates by product and cohort
Call center performance metrics

And they don’t wait until month-end. Many review core KPIs daily or weekly.

🧰 Tech Tools That Made the Difference

Here’s a quick roundup of tools and features panelists credited for their ability to scale:

Real-time lead routing and decisioning (via Tekambi)
Multi-state configuration workflows (via Infinity)
Scalable payment processing integrations (via Epic)
Business Intelligence dashboards
Layered fraud defense tools
CRM and email/text automation

One panelist said, “We didn’t grow until we stopped duct-taping tools together and actually used the platform the way it was built.”

🔄 Iteration Over Perfection

Mistakes were made. Every panelist admitted they:

Overhired in the wrong departments
Picked the wrong partners at some point
Didn’t document processes early enough
Took too long to switch vendors

The lesson? Don’t fear mistakes—just don’t ignore them. The best operators learn fast, fix fast, and stay focused on the customer.

🤝 Culture Still Matters at Scale

You might think large lenders become rigid, impersonal operations. But each panelist highlighted the opposite:

Internal culture drives accountability and employee retention
Call center reps are trained to be empathetic problem solvers, not script-readers
Leadership creates channels for honest feedback from team members and borrowers

“We’re not just loaning money. We’re helping people through rough patches. That purpose has to come through at scale.”

🔍 What Smaller Lenders Can Learn from the Big Players

If you’re not yet a “large lender,” here’s what the panel recommends:

Know Your Margins – Don’t scale a model that doesn’t make money.
Invest in Your Data – Even a single dashboard can clarify big decisions.
Document Everything – It’s easier to scale when your processes are clear.
Think Bigger, Sooner – Build for 100 loans/day even if you’re doing 10.
Don’t DIY Everything – Partner with proven tools instead of building from scratch.