When thinking of the hub of innovative tech brands, Seattle isn't the first to come to mind. But that is changing, as Seattle is becoming known as Silicon Valley's little brother. The city has become a hotbed of established tech companies ranging from Expedia and Microsoft to Zillow and Google, as well as start-up disruptors GitHub, HipChat and Slack, among others. So, with this new found tech environment, how does one become a commercial lender in Seattle?  

When I was hired in December 2014 to run member business lending at Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union, the financial institution was only doing business loan participations at the time. For all intents and purposes, SMCU was a startup in business lending.

I was excited to be working off a clean slate – there was unlimited upside and no existing business or team for me to transition. On the other hand, the bank faced formidable challenges in creating a credible commercial lending operation from scratch.

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Lending