President
Stellify Capital
Led by Gary Souverein and a “Dream Team” of industry veterans, Stellify Capital is leveraging decades of experience and a “common-sense” underwriting approach to reimagine small-ticket equipment finance as a high-velocity, relationship-driven independent funding source.
The equipment finance industry is witnessing a rare phenomenon: a “startup” launching not with a long runway but with the velocity of a rocket. Led by President Gary Souverein, Stellify Capital has emerged from the “2.0” planning sessions held in a COO’s basement to become a fully operational funding source in just four months.
The name “Stellify” — a transitive verb meaning “to turn into a star” — was chosen by the business development team to reflect the company’s goal: becoming the premier funding source for the third-party origination (TPO) channel.
A Cohesive Unit Built on Decades of Trust
What differentiates Stellify from a typical startup is its founding group of 17 leaders, whom Souverein says was described by others in the industry as the “Gold Standard”. This team possesses three decades of experience in non-prime business lending.
The 120-Day Launch
The speed of Stellify’s execution was made possible by this existing cohesion:
- Rapid Infrastructure: Within 120 days, the team secured capital, an office and IT infrastructure while creating entirely new operating systems from scratch.
- Collaborative Planning: Each functional area outlined specific implementation plans, ensuring every department understood what was required from their counterparts to be “open for business.”
- Broker Support: Long-time broker partners assisted substantially in testing systems and portals leading up to the official launch.
Leaving Legacy Behind
Starting with a “clean slate” allowed the Stellify team to abandon the “old ways” that hindered them in the past.
“Hands down, [we are] leaving behind certain legacy operating systems,” Souverein says. “Our past parent company forced us on to ‘enterprise-wide’ platforms despite our recommendations … that those systems lacked suitability to our business.”
By building from a blank slate, Stellify has implemented the specific operating systems the team identified through their own due diligence, allowing for reimagined processes that are more efficient and free from the “anchor” of unsuitable legacy tech.
The “Common-Sense” Approach to Underwriting
Stellify is focusing primarily on small-ticket “B”, “C”, and “Start-Up” credit, with “A” credit as a long-term goal. In a segment often treated as a commodity, Stellify relies on a subjective, common-sense approach, supported by all of the data and analytics tools available today, rather than “black-box” underwriting.
Experienced credit analysts use their deep industry knowledge to evaluate risk, ensuring that brokers never hear the “it didn’t score” excuse common among competitors. This transparency extends throughout the process: credit analysts’ names are attached to their decisions, and brokers are encouraged to speak with them directly about individual deals. Furthermore, the team is trained and empowered to make decisions and implement funding processes quickly, removing the substantial layers of management that often cause delays.
Culture as DNA
Souverein maintains that culture is the most important aspect of a successful business. At Stellify, this is defined by an “empowerment and personal responsibility” DNA. This mission-based culture is maintained by hiring new employees who demonstrate these same “can-do” and “do-it-right” attributes.
Because Stellify is an independent entity, it is free from the quarterly pressures of a public company. This shift allows the team to take a patient, long-term approach, focusing on the “right risk for the right price” rather than volume for volume’s sake.
A New Chapter with Old Friends
Addressing the challenges faced at their previous organization, Souverein emphasizes that Stellify’s “banking plumbing” and oversight are managed by the same quality team that maintained an unblemished reputation for decades at the subsidiary level.
As this new chapter begins, the overwhelming support from the broker community has been the highlight for the Stellify team. “So many people stuck with us and their support has been nothing less than remarkable,” Souverein concludes. “All we can say is ‘Thank You’!”
