INNOVATORS VS COVID 19

Neil Zumwalde of Credmark on Pre-organized for a Pandemic

Published

3 years ago

02/11/2021

Kossi Adzo

We talked to Neil Zumwalde about how Credmark provides crypto lenders data to measure and mitigate risk, and provides traditional lenders the expertise and tools necessary to incorporate crypto lending practices into their business and here is what he said about it.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?

Neil Zumwalde: Couldn’t be better. We’re part of the privileged class that can work from home and has everything we need to be delivered on request.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Credmark.

Neil Zumwalde: I’m an engineer by training. I spent the early part of my career in the renewable energy space. After discovering crypto, I went in head-first and eventually founded Credmark to address a big need in the market.

How does Credmark innovate?

Neil Zumwalde: Everything we do is new. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how things should work and getting input from people in the industry.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Neil Zumwalde: It hasn’t affected us at all. The company was founded as a distributed organization, so when Covid hit, nothing changed.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Neil Zumwalde: The only thing that really changed is that it became more acceptable to have meetings online. We used to travel a lot to meet investors and partners. Cutting that travel out extended our runway and saved us a lot of time.

What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?

Neil Zumwalde: We all try to stay physically active. That seems to be an important part of keeping sane when it’s so easy to just work all the time.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Neil Zumwalde: For better or worse, we’re on the cutting edge in our sector. We don’t have any direct competitors yet, but they’re coming. We’ll be ready for them!