How This Founder Is Disrupting The Debt Industry
Each year over 4 million students apply to college, hoping to graduate and land their dream job, but at what cost?
Getting approved for a loan is so simple, and because of that, college students will continue applying for them. Unfortunately, debt runs the world, and who better to disrupt it than a platform built to eliminate debt. Revival is a platform where borrowers can buy out and eliminate their debt for the same price that it gets sold to debt collection agencies. To date, Revival has helped borrowers eliminate more than $55,000 worth of debt.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Daryl Holman Jr, Founder of Revival, found himself with nearly $100,000 in student debt. He thought of all the ways to get out of debt from moving to another country to faking his own death. The desperation of that movement forced him to get involved in the fight for debt cancellation. As a student, Daryl was frustrated by student loan liability, so he came up with the idea to help design platforms for the Student Debt Crisis and the Debt Collective. He later served as a U.S. Senate panelist on the topic and has led conversations with the Secretary of Education on the need for student debt cancellation.
I think about how much debt I have every day. I thought about ALL the ways to get out of it. I used the word “thought” as if it’s past tense; I still think about it.
Daryl has always wanted to save the world. Growing up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he attended Eastern Michigan University for his undergraduate and graduate school but left grad school before moving to New York City. After moving to NYC, Daryl started working for the Harlem Business Alliance. He did marketing and community management alongside assisting their Black women’s incubator, a coding program, cannabis advocacy, and general small business support.
As a self-taught designer who learned on YouTube and upskilled into mobile app development, Daryl wanted to spend more time honing his skills, so he decided to freelance full time. He worked for Uber, Paypal, and other advocacy organizations. His determination and skills helped launch an app that scaled to thousands of users in the United States. After the successful pivot, Daryl got the entrepreneurial itch and wanted to build something that mattered.
People can be helpful in ways that they don’t think to mention. Try to get on a call with everyone at least once and those things start to come out and your business benefits as a result.
As a first-time entrepreneur, Daryl learned how to get comfortable with failing in public. Entrepreneurship isn’t a journey to begin on your own and having encouragement from friends and mentors will help you keep pushing and growing. So many people want to know how to bring their application idea to life. To be helpful in everything he learned, he wrote a 5 article series on how he got #thefirst1000 users to download his FreeSpot Co app.
The biggest advice for entrepreneurs is to just keep going. There are days when Daryl wanted to quit and go travel the world. Things will start falling into place when you least expect them. Like many entrepreneurs, there are struggles with negative self-talk which can get in the way of growing a company but always remember to be kind to yourself.
Debt makes you do crazy things. The constant shame of debt and how it ties you to work you don’t want to do forces you to make life decisions that you wouldn’t do otherwise. People deserve better. Daryl’s advocacy work around debt cancellation inspired him and changed how he saw the world. He could no longer wait for politicians to get the job done, so he concentrated on helping others put their debt behind them.
Debt will always be around, but you can start thinking about life after debt when you have Revival in your corner.
Revival is among the 20 companies selected to be part of the inaugural Friends & Family Winter 2022 cohort. Daryl Holman Jr joins a nationwide community of motivated and innovative founders who are receiving business mentorship and guidance from Slauson and Co. and Grid110.
About Grid110
Grid110 is an economic and community development nonprofit dedicated to creating clearer pathways to success for early-stage entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. Their mission is to foster the most thriving, inviting & inclusive community for entrepreneurs by making the entrepreneurial path more equitable, inclusive, and accessible. Through their no-cost, no-equity accelerator programs, Grid110 provides founders with a growing community of fellow entrepreneurs, expert mentorship, and crucial resources. It has supported 215 companies that have raised more than $60 million since its creation in 2015. Ninety-four percent of companies supported by Grid110 are led by women and entrepreneurs of color.
About Slauson & Co
Slauson & Co. is a $75 million Los Angeles-based early-stage venture capital firm rooted in economic inclusion. The firm established Off Slauson as its non-profit arm to support entrepreneurs beyond the investments made by the fund.
