A Problem Solver: Michalek is Still Transforming Equipment Finance

by By Hannah Nearpass
Dan Michalek has made a career out of identifying problems in the equipment finance industry and launching businesses to help solve them, most notably through PayNet. With his newest endeavor, Syndifi, he is looking to modernize the syndication process and with his track record, he’ll likely do just that.

Dan Michalek,
CEO and Founder,
Syndifi

This year’s Monitor Pioneer Icon, Dan Michalek, CEO and founder of Syndifi, set his eyes on the equipment finance industry in the early 90s when the industry was operating on legacy systems and antiquated processes. Three decades and almost 10 companies later, Michalek’s pursuit to solve problems and innovate beyond industry measures has transformed traditional business models within the equipment finance industry.

“My entrepreneurial background has always been focused on solving problems, and if I can create a successful business in the process, that’s a bonus for sure,” Michalek says.

Disrupting the Status Quo

The first major problem Michalek discovered in equipment finance was the access, or lack thereof, to comparable payment history information. Previously, companies called and faxed competitors to unlock this information. Michalek’s observation of this inefficient method led to the conception of PayNet, a business he helped found and led as CEO. PayNet harnesses the collective power of commercial lending data so commercial finance, commercial banking and alternative lenders can make better decisions.

“Essentially, the major equipment finance companies were calling their competitors to get pay history, so we digitized that process to eliminate these phone calls,” Michalek says. “I decided to start PayNet around 2000 and brought in Bill Phelan as my co-founder. I knew it would be a huge task to aggregate all this data and most folks I talked to doubted it could be done.”

With perseverance, PayNet was brought to market and met with open arms. “Our biggest cheerleaders were the chief credit officers at these finance companies, as they could see how a database like this could really help improve their credit decisions by obtaining comparable pay history digitally,” Michalek says.

But, entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. It comes with many challenges. “The biggest challenges were at the very beginning, getting critical, massive data and having enough capital until we got there,” Michalek says. “But with strong perseverance and getting the team at PayNet to believe in our vision, that Bill and I had for the company, to solve those major problems and improve the industry, we were able to overcome these challenges.”

“I worked with Dan Michalek in the very early days of PayNet and continued to interact and present to him at board meetings up until the company’s acquisition by Equifax in 2019,” Tom Ware, a former senior vice president at PayNet, says. “He’s definitely a leasing guy, but he’s also a quintessential serial entrepreneur. Of the six companies I know he’s started, they’re all very different. Two aren’t even in the leasing space, and the other four — a leasing company, PayNet, a Groupon-like company for hospitals to buy equipment and now Syndifi, to facilitate loan syndication — were born from his knowledge of the industry and address very different aspects of it. He’s had the vision to see a wide range of voids, see win-win ways to fill them and then follow through with his great collaborative skills to get a business going. I’ve always admired creativity and drive like that and think it’s at the heart of the vibrance of the American economy.”

“I honestly believe that PayNet has helped improve the credit process on billions of dollars of transactions, where better decisions are being made to create a more substantial, sustainable industry, to where now, with over a trillion dollars in annual originations,” Michalek says.

Access to payment information and insight is not the only process that Michalek  has digitized. Today, Michelek is disrupting the syndication market. “Most recently, in the last several years, I’ve been eying the syndication market with equipment finance and I really can’t believe it looks almost the same way as it did back in the 90s when I began in the industry,” Michalek says. “What blows me away is the lack of security with the transfer of sensitive information between buyers and sellers in the syndication market.

“In looking at the issues surrounding the syndication market, I decided last year to start Syndifi to modernize the syndication process around secure file sharing and to build a platform like a CRM to track deal activity for sellers and create a better presentation of the transaction for the buyers.”

Always Learning

Michalek’s successes and failures have enabled him to unlock great potential. “Every step along the way, both professionally and personally, has been a learning process. I’ve learned a lot from the successes as well as from the many mistakes along the way to guide others around me to believe in themselves to become the best they can be — along with having the confidence to overcome any obstacle in front of them. Every day for me is an event, with new challenges to learn from and pass along to inspire others to become leaders themselves,” Michalek says.

“During the past five-plus years that I’ve known Dan, I have always appreciated and admired his sincerity and authenticity,” Alistair Canal, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Syndifi, says. “Dan’s humility, passion and unwavering commitment to advance his industry with game changing technology is beyond reproach. I have worked for individuals who refer to themselves as leaders, but I have never been more proud to work alongside a genuine leader like Dan, who displays great ethics, compassion, unstoppable drive and, most of all, kindness to those he works with. I consider it a privilege to work with Dan and the Syndifi team as we embark on a mission to digitize syndication for equipment finance.”

Michalek’s leadership style has forged innovation and affected industry-wide change. “Leadership at its heart is being able to motivate a group of people toward achieving a common goal,” Michalek says. “Leadership captures the essentials of being able to inspire others. A leader must be personable enough for others to follow them and they must have the critical thinking skills to know the best way to use the resources around them. I try to exemplify these qualities in a cohesive way where others see the vision of how to build a business and have a great time in the process.”

To the leaders of tomorrow, Michalek offers this advice: “Don’t be scared of failing, as this is how you grow both personally and professionally. We can learn a lot from the failures that will shape us to combat any obstacle out there. Take risks — but in a measurable way that you can withstand should things not work out as planned. And that happens. I’ve always had to measure risk against potential reward, as there needs to be a good balance between them.”

Michalek doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. “My main goal is to continue improving the industry that’s been so good to me in the past. I want to take the syndication market to the 21st century and beyond by continually innovating and listening to our customers’ needs, most importantly. I am hoping to make Syndifi as successful as PayNet and have a lot of fun doing it,” Michalek says. •

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