Lender Lounge with Kevin Kim
Latest Episode

From Brokers to Balance Sheet Lenders: The Dynamo Capital Story
Matt Medrano and Justin Rocheleau, co-founders of Dynamo Capital, join Kevin Kim live at Fortra Con in Las Vegas to discuss their rapid rise as a Midwest-based private lender. Starting from residential mortgage and brokerage backgrounds, the duo share how frustrations with traditional lending channels led them to launch their own fund and build a balance sheet lending business. They unpack their evolution from brokering deals to becoming a direct lender, the challenges of operating in overlooked Midwest markets, and their philosophy around autonomy, disciplined underwriting, and borrower relationships. The conversation also explores team building, market expansion, and maintaining consistency while scaling a fast-growing lending platform.

From Brokers to Balance Sheet Lenders: The Dynamo Capital Story
Matt Medrano and Justin Rocheleau, co-founders of Dynamo Capital, join Kevin Kim live at Fortra Con in Las Vegas to discuss their rapid rise as a Midwest-based private lender. Starting from residential mortgage and brokerage backgrounds, the duo share how frustrations with traditional lending channels led them to launch their own fund and build a balance sheet lending business. They unpack their evolution from brokering deals to becoming a direct lender, the challenges of operating in overlooked Midwest markets, and their philosophy around autonomy, disciplined underwriting, and borrower relationships. The conversation also explores team building, market expansion, and maintaining consistency while scaling a fast-growing lending platform.

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Meet the Host

Kevin Kim, Esq.
Kevin Kim is a Partner with Fortra Law and leads the firm's corporate & securities practice. His expertise lies in fund formation, private placements, and other securities offerings for private lenders, real estate developers, and investors of all sizes. Kevin and his team have advised and prepared hundreds of securities offerings including mortgage funds, structured debt offerings, real estate syndications, crowdfunding offerings, EB-5 projects, and Qualified Opportunity Funds. Kevin's passion lies in serving his clients as a pragmatic advisor focusing on real world solutions.
Kevin is also a nationally recognized expert in mortgage fund formation. Kevin is the lead instructor for the American Association of Private Lender’s Certified Fund Manager courses, where he teaches mortgage fund managers throughout the United States on fund management and securities laws.
Kevin hosts the podcast Lender Lounge with Kevin Kim, where he interviews industry leaders, friends, and colleagues in the private lending space to learn what makes them tick.
Previous Episodes

True Independent Lender | Renee Lewis, Bloomfield Capital
Renee Lewis, a three-time “Women of Influence” awardee by Real Estate New York, has a wealth of knowledge about private lending. A disciplined partner at Bloomfield Capital, she discusses their view on real estate finance and how they grew their business. Learn about Bloomfield Capital’s strong underwriting, utilization of data, and focused approach to capital used to build their national lending business.

Ahead of the Curve | Chris Hanson, Hanson Capital Group
Chris Hanson’s inspiring 2008 bootstrap story is a true testament to adapting to the market. He shares how he built Hanson Capital’s real estate investment business, the data that drives his decision-making, and how the company built their flat, attitude-focused culture.

Adapting to Industry Changes | Michael Ramin, Sharestates
What’s better than a podcast on the fly? Kevin enjoyed catching up with Michael Ramin – a long-time friend and much-loved industry leader – when they sat down for an impromptu interview during sponsor set-up at Geraci’s Captivate event. Learn about Michael’s journey in private lending as well as Sharestates’ history as a crowdfunding business and multi-disciplined lender.

Act with Honor | William Tessar and Whit McCarthy, CIVIC Financial Services
“Act with Honor” is more than a catchphrase for the team at Civic Financial Services. In this episode, William Tessar and Whit McCarthy discuss the lending giant’s history, the backstory behind their recent merger, and how their unwavering dedication to company culture positively impacts their business.

What’s in a Name? I Zack Lofton, Loan Ranger Capital
On the road in Texas, Kevin visited with Zack Lofton with Loan Ranger Capital. He got to learn about their “garage band debt fund” and how Loan Ranger has grown rapidly in a short period of time in the central Texas market. Kevin and Zack also talked about building the brand, staying lean and mean, and growing a great company culture. He also got to learn about Zack’s background as a Chartered Financial Analyst and learn how he grew the business from a solo operation.

Entrepreneur at Heart | Vincent Balagia, Stallion Capital Management
For this episode, Kevin took a trip to visit with Vincent Balagia at Stallion Capital’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. Vincent shared more about the history of Stallion Capital and discussed his perspective on leadership and culture. They also had a lively discussion about the local market conditions in central Texas. Listen in to learn more.

Candid Chat with the Best Dressed Man in Lending | Peter Steigleder, Fidelity Mortgage Lenders
For this episode, Kevin interviewed Peter Steigedler, the best-dressed man in Hard Money! Listen in to learn more about Peter’s career path at the German consulate, to real estate broker, to principal at Fidelity Mortgage Lenders – one of the oldest shops in private lending. Kevin got know Peter as a person as well as they discussed his work with the Guardians of Los Angeles Jewish Home.

Innovate Special Edition | Kristina Sawyer, Arixa Capital; Ruben Izgelov, WeLend LLC; Vincent Balagia, Stallion Capital
Geraci’s Innovate Conference for 2021 was a massive success. While we were there with all of our wonderful clients and friends, Kevin had the opportunity to interview Kristina Sawyer with Arixa Capital, Ruben Izgelov with WeLend, and Vincent Balagia with Stallion Capital. The purpose of this episode was to get a better understanding of their local markets. All three individuals have immense expertise of their local and surrounding geographies and shared their insights on where the market was headed. One interesting point was how popular ADUs are in all three markets. Listen in and learn more!

Champion of Culture and Customer Service | Kevin Werner, Renovo Financial
For this episode, Kevin interviewed Kevin Werner with Renovo Financial. The Kevin’s discussed the history of Renovo, its values, and its steady growth over its 10-year life cycle. They went into a pretty deep discussion on this episode, talking about their expansion philosophy, their internal culture, and their obsession with customer service. Listen in to learn more.

Keeping It In-House | Scott Rerucha, Legacy Group Capital
For this episode, Scott Rerucha, CEO and founder of Legacy Group Capital in Washington state, joined Kevin to discuss the unique way the firm built their business and avoided a single foreclosure in their 10-year history. Scott discussed his background as a banker, investor, and private lender and how that has affected his ideas about the firm’s growth, the Legacy team, and values as a company.

Game Changer | Paul Rahimian, Parkview Financial
For this episode, Kevin interviewed Paul Rahimian, who has become a household name in the construction business, at Parkview Financials’ headquarters in West Los Angeles. Paul emphasized how he has remained true to his original thesis of creativity and capital preservation, even as he now competes with institutional lenders across the U.S.

Lend to Live | Beth Johnson & Alex Breshears, Flynn Family Lending / Lend2Live
For this episode, Kevin interviewed Beth Johnson and Alex Breshears to talk about their newest book, Lend2Live, and the story behind the book. The three discussed the industry’s dislocation, the importance of small, local lenders, and the difference between “private money lending” and “hard money lending / private lending.”

Investing in “Personnel” Assets | Justin Ehrlich, Churchill Real Estate
For this episode, Kevin interviewed Justin Ehrlich, founding partner at Churchill Real Estate. Kevin learned more about Churchill’s history as an NPL buyer and how they came to be an asset manager and capital provider to the private lending industry. Justin also dove into the story behind Churchill’s meteoric rise.

Pragmatic Mindset | Jennifer McGuinness, Invigorate Finance
For this episode, Kevin interviewed Jennifer McGuinness, President of Invigorate Finance. Kevin had a great time learning about Jennifer and how her mortgage career was actually a series of “accidents.” Invigorate Finance is a unique private lending business that serves both the consumer and business purpose lending arenas; Jennifer discusses the reasons for this strategy and her philosophy of diversification and pragmatism in approaching her business.

Operational Efficiency | Lisa Alberti and Mark Roberts, Western Alliance Bank
*NOTE: This episode was recorded in June 2022.*
Kevin was delighted to finally interview Mark Roberts and Lisa Alberti from Western Alliance Bank, a company that has become an integral part of the private lending industry. In this episode, Kevin talks to Mark and Lisa about the bank’s history, their backgrounds, and their bank’s philosophy on lender finance and line of credit. Lisa also discusses the new networking group, Women in Private Lending, and the impact a group like this will have on women in this space.

Reliable Capital | Ray Sturm, AlphaFlow
For this episode, which was recorded during the market volatility of May 2022, Ray Sturm and Kevin sat down and discussed AlphaFlow’s thesis from a technology standpoint, their philosophy when it comes to solving their customer’s challenges, and having discipline when it comes to an ever-changing market.
Special Mini Episode | Ruby Keys, Fortra Law
We’re dropping this mini episode in your feed to give some insight into Captivate, Geracicon’s upcoming private lending event. Kevin is joined by Ruby Keys, Geraci’s event extraordinaire, to discuss why it is a perfect opportunity for our listeners. Listen in to learn about the event’s capital-raising theme, nationwide attendee presence, and success stories from past years (including Kevin’s!).
Captivate will take place August 21-23, 2022 at the Encore at Wynn in Las Vegas, NV.
More info and registration can be found at our website: https://geracicon.com/captivate

Passionate Visionary | Trixy Castro, Aureus Finance Group
*NOTE: This episode was recorded in May 2022.*
We are kicking off Season 3 with none other than Trixy Castro, founder and CEO of Aureus Finance Group. We were honored to sit down with this industry legend in person and learn more about Trixy and her history as an entrepreneur founding Genesis Capital and Hudson Marshall in the early days of private lending. We learned all about her new vision for Aureus, including how she approached her re-entry into the market after taking a few years off. Trixy has achieved so much in the industry yet maintains a level of entrepreneurialism and excitement about private lending and what it stands for.