“Well, I guess this all really started in a coffee shop. We were three people looking to start something new.”
Briana Malkoon, the co-founder of BiCoastal Capital, has possessed an entrepreneurial spirit for as long as she can remember.
Long before establishing the San Diego-based firm that specializes in private money designed “for investors by investors,” she was just a girl growing up in a small town in Massachusetts. This local, where violent winters are met with tranquil, humid summers, allowed Malkoon to dream of starting her own venture. Dream, that is, when she was not working on her father’s car lot.
After learning the art of closing a deal in that setting, Malkoon continued her business education at the University of New Haven; then she moved to California, where she geared her experience towards real estate and lending – although Malkoon began in marketing foreclosures and distressed properties, she eventually found herself in the private money sphere.
Despite these advancements in her career, Malkoon’s time at her father’s business – partnered with an independent spirit – beckoned her to a fortuitous coffee shop meeting with two other young professionals in the private money space. These private money pros, Alexandra Yellin and Ben Stoodley would become the co-founders of BiCoastal Capital.
The company came to fruition, in part, because of the similarities Malkoon said she noticed between the three founders of the company. Although the three had done business with each other independently, she added, there was something that “clicked” when they met for the first time. “I know this is kind of crazy,” Malkoon recalled of their first conversation, “but do you want to start a company with me?”
“I think the common thread between the three of us is we love real estate, specifically the lending side, and for me, I always knew I wanted to own my own business,” she said. “I knew I wanted to branch out and work for myself, when and where I wanted to. I’m from the East Coast, and I fell in love with San Diego, so I wanted to start a venture that allowed me to travel across the country.”
In addition to experience in the private money field and je ne sais quoi of business savvy, Malkoon said Alexandra and Ben also had people in their lives who instilled a vision for traveling off the beaten path.
“The bottom line is, we all had someone in our lives who helped inspire us to venture out on our own,” Malkoon said. “Alexandra’s father owns his own businesses, and her father’s best friend is in private money lending, my father owned his own business, and Ben’s dad was a blue-collar, hardworking guy.”
With this entrepreneurial spirit in mind, the three set out on building BiCoastal. Despite the excitement of creating something from the ground up, Malkoon said there is always a certain amount of risk – and apprehension – with a new venture.
“Any time you leave something that is a well-oiled machine, there is always a lot of apprehensions there,” she said. “We were all working at companies that are well-respected in the industry; even though I was a broker and was working with a number of companies, Ben and Alex were top loan originators at their respective companies, so they probably could have stayed there and done very well for themselves, but we all have very strong work ethics. We knew if we kept fighting, we’d get
through this.”
This work ethic, Malkoon added, manifests itself in BiCoastal’s ability to innovate. While so many companies stick to the status quo of the private money sphere, her company takes an active effort towards re-inventing itself and the services it offers.
“We’re all very innovative in the way we think about business. We saw that the three of us could be very successful because of our history and work ethic, but we also saw a lot of things that were frustrating for us when we were not our own bosses, and when our hands were tied in a lot of ways,” she said.
Some of these situations, she said, revolved around the potential to close a large deal – despite the potential lucrativeness of the business, however, she couldn’t add much input because of her relatively low position. Malkoon, along with Alex and Ben, took their experience at different companies and created a framework of what they wanted BiCoastal to look like.
“We took notes of what we liked and didn’t like at our previous jobs, but also what our potential clients were looking for in the lending industry,” Malkoon said. “We talked to them about what they liked and what they thought we lacked, and we took those conversations towards founding BiCoastal. We tried to bring out all of our best success stories and make sure that we followed suit.”
“Now, more than ever, it is important to show empowered women in business,” she said. “What’s great about us is we all want each other to do as good or better than the other.” – Alexandra Yellin
BiCoastal co-founder Alexandra, who studied hospitality management and international business, echoed Malkoon’s sentiments, adding that there are many advantages to working with a smaller team.
“It helps that there aren’t 1,000 different departments and so much bureaucracy,” Alexandra said. “We each have defined roles within the company, and together we’re very successful with that. There are three heads and we each have specific roles, but we use a checks and balances system so two out of three of us need to check off on everything. There’s a good balance of power, decision, and knowledge.”
Another challenge, Malkoon added, revolves around representation in the hard money field. With two out of its three co-founders as women, she said it can be difficult to attend conferences and events in a male-dominated field. Despite this potential obstacle, Malkoon takes it in stride.
“Now, more than ever, it is important to show empowered women in business,” she said. “What’s great about us is we all want each other to do as good or better than the other.”
Alexandra also said she takes pride in working for a majority female-owned venture. She said she initially wanted to become a stockbroker on Wall Street but added she was fed up with the amount of dishonesty and lack of transparency in brokering. When she met Malkoon, Alexandra said she knew it was the beginning of a valuable friendship and partnership.
“When I first met her, I was empowered to see a young female in the industry,” she said. “The two of us had a connection and became instant best friends overnight – we started working together and our connection took off. In the first few months of our partnership, we closed millions of dollars together.”
Although BiCoastal has only been in business for a year-and-a-half, Malkoon said the “small but mighty” team is constantly finding ways to improve its services.
“I think something you’d hear from our customers is that we’re very loyal,” Malkoon added. “I know that sounds cliché but it’s true – we put our hearts and souls into a deal, and if something falls through we feel that loss, we don’t view our clients as a piece of paper.”
This loyalty, Malkoon said, is also paired with a fresh perspective on lending. Many companies, she said, get comfortable with a certain set of investment types and slide into periods of comfortability that do not yield the best results for their clients. Malkoon also said because BiCoastal is still a relatively small firm, this gives her the ability to take a personalized approach to client acquisition and retention.
“We’re a very relationship-based company, and we look our potential clients in the eyes and say ‘we know we can do this, and you can count on us’.” – Briana Malkoon
“A lot of lenders will sweep loans off their desks and say ‘no way,’ but we will spend hours on the phone with our clients being very creative with the structure of a loan
and how that will work,” she said.
It is this perseverance, she added, that helps the phrase embossed on the company’s website ring true: capital you can count on.
“The reason we came up with that slogan is because there is a huge complaint in our industry that lenders may complete 75 percent of a loan and then will begin trading it or requoting it,” Malkoon said. “It’s a constant complaint you hear in this industry, and that’s something we swore we would never do that as a company – we’re a very referral-based company, so a lot of our clients will say to their colleagues or friends ‘I have not been let down by BiCoastal,’ and we definitely thrive off of that.”
Although it would be easy to assume that “capital you can count on” is just a phrase to the co-founders of BiCoastal, Malkoon said this is not the case: one key differentiator of BiCoastal in its founders eyes is the face behind the deal, as opposed to the company name that obscures any apparent lack of competency. When dealing with seasoned buyers and potential clients alike, Malkoon said more often than not these professionals have pre-existing relationships with her, Alexandra, or Ben.
“We’re a very relationship-based company, and we look our potential clients in the eyes and say ‘we know we can do this, and you can count on us,’” she said. “We might not be with the old company or lender we were with, but once we’re ready to go and give the green light, and if we’re good, you’re going to be good. We haven’t lost one client, and I think that is because of the relationships we have.
One thing is for sure, Malkoon said, the name of her company in and of itself results in a taxing – albeit incredibly rewarding – experience.
“Our biggest markets have been California and Massachusetts,” she said. “I lead a lot of the East Coast deals, as do Alex and Ben, and this morning I was up at 5:45 working with the East Coast. So there are a lot of 16- hour days, especially with a startup company, but that is to be expected. And at the end of the day, I can look at what we’ve managed to build.”
Born and raised in Maine, Stoodley started his first business, in home repair and landscaping, when he was 18 years old. This taste of working for himself, he said, was all he needed to kickstart an entrepreneurial career.
He has been in hard money lending for seven years, and said he initially met Malkoon while he was working as a loan originator. Since then, the two have been friends and co-workers. Although Ben said he has been involved with a number of startups, there is something unique about the atmosphere at BiCoastal.
“It’s been a great experience so far,” he said. “My personality is ‘I want to get to the next level faster,’ there was a learning curve with the back-end side of the business, but once I had that knowledge – and pretty much right away actually – I knew that we would be hitting the ground running. I’m not surprised with the consistent growth we’ve seen because of the strength of our team.”
This growth, Malkoon said, is proof that if the right minds get together, anything can be accomplished. She also said Ben’s background in structural engineering is a sizable asset to BiCoastal. Malkoon said the private money field is a crowded one and getting noticed is tough, but BiCoastal has no ambition of slowing down. One of the largest signs of success thus far, she added, is the company surpassing its total 2018 gross sales in the first quarter of 2019 – it also has experienced consistent month-over-month growth.
“We’re three younger people – I think a lot of people look at us like ‘they’re inexperienced and they’re not going to go very far,’” she said. “There are a lot of people who doubt up-and-comers. But being noticed now, being put on the map, helps us move forward.”
Ben said although it can be difficult to mull the trajectory of a new venture, he said BiCoastal will continue to grow as it becomes more comfortable with existing clients and branching out on both coasts.
“I’m really excited to see where BiCoastal takes us in the future, the possibilities are endless,” he said. “Our goals are quite big and lofty. We honestly want to change the entire industry and confidently believe we are on the path to do so. In a few years, you’ll see BCC as one of the elite lenders on both East and West coasts, known for its innovation and dedication to improve.”
Looking forward, Malkoon said she is excited to continue on the path of growing her company. Her biggest regret, she said with a slight chuckle, is “that I didn’t start BiCoastal sooner.”
