Question & Answer with Prosper’s CEO – Chris Larsen

My Prosper Interview with Chris Larsen:

S.O. – Could you please introduce yourself and how you came up with the idea for Prosper?

C.L. – Chris Larsen, Co-Founder and CEO of Prosper. The idea behind Prosper really stems from my experience as co-founder of E-LOAN. At E-LOAN, we were able to fundamentally change the mortgage, home equity and auto lending process and experience for the benefit of consumers. By putting people in control of both sides of the transaction – the lending side and the borrowing side – Prosper takes the idea and vision behind E-LOAN to the next level. In many ways, Prosper is really the Web 2.0 version of E-LOAN.

S.O. – What new features are you currently working on at Prosper?

C.L. – Right now we’re really focused on improving and simplifying the borrowing and lending experience on Prosper. In terms of features… there are a number of things in the pipeline that we think the Prosper community will like… particularly lenders.

S.O. – Do you think growth will be slowed with current sub-prime lending fears?

C.L. – We actually think the environment is constructive to the Prosper marketplace. As consumers are being hit with the evaporation of introductory credit card rate offers and home equity loan options, Prosper is becoming an even more attractive financing alternative, particularly for more creditworthy borrowers. At the same time, lenders on Prosper are steering their bids toward borrowers in the higher credit categories and being far more cautious about chasing higher rates offered by subprime borrowers.

S.O. – Can we expect to see lending beyond the $25,000 limit?

C.L. – There’s really nothing stopping us from raising the limit; but at this stage, we think the $25,000 limit makes sense from a market liquidity perspective.

S.O. – Are there any plans to provide lenders the option to invest in secured loans?

C.L. – We don’t have any near-term plans to expand the marketplace to include secured loans… but down the road it is something we might experiment with.

S.O. – Have you met any resistance from the traditional banking brick and mortar establishment?

C.L. – We’ve actually received a pretty warm reception… one of fascination and interest. In fact, the FDIC had us present at their inaugural committee meeting on economic inclusion.

S.O.- With other players entering the peer-to-peer U.S. market (Zopa, Lending Club, Loanio, etc.); what do you think will provide Prosper the edge in regards to market share?

C.L. – Certainly being the largest marketplace in terms of liquidity, volume, performance data and VC backing has its advantages; but we don’t really think about other peer-to-peer players as competition. New players entering the market should help validate and build the people-to-people lending market as a whole.

S.O. – Is Prosper available only in the U.S.? If so, are there any plans to expand into other markets?

C.L. – Currently, we’re only in the U.S.; however, last month we announced an agreement to form a joint venture with SBI (formerly Softbank) to facilitate the launch of Prosper in Japan and explore other Asian markets.

S.O. – Do you foresee going public with Prosper anytime in the near future?

C.L. – We get this question a lot… but in all honesty, it’s really not where our head is at right now. We’re really focused on continuing to build the business and having raised $40 million, we have plenty of money in the bank.

Special thanks to Chris and the Prosper team!
Stay tuned for more…