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Lena Ilie

Lena Ilie is a woman with a talent for obtaining, to some as it would seem, the impossible. Challanges make her life exciting and make her successful. That’s why helping businesses beat the odds is what she enjoys.

LDI Growth Partners is a factoring company. To put it simply, Lena and her company buy commercial accounts receivables at a discount. This is an extremely valuable service for emerging businesses as well as established businesses in a rapid growth cycle. In both these cases, working capital doesn’t always keep up with their increasing success. They help owners of emerging and growing businesses navigate through this challenging stage.

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Welcome to Pow.wow Lena. What is your background?
I was born and raised in Romania. I moved to San Francisco in 1990. My professional experience in the US is predominantly with small, entrepreneurial companies, with a few depressing stints in the corporate world. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing out, so I explored that path briefly. In the end, I was drawn to start ups. I like the excitement of building something against the odds. I love constantly alternating between creativity, problem solving, linear rationale, sheer dog headed determination, and Zen like letting go – the feeling of launching something. I can’t describe it but I can’t imagine working any other way.

Why did you choose the field your in?
My field actually chose me. I found myself in transition in 2001 and I learned about a position with a small factoring firm in Walnut Creek. At the time, I only knew of factoring in the algebraic context so I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into, but I wanted to transition from operations to finance, and this was a fantastic opportunity. The company was young and the people were great. It was a wonderful experience. In January 2007, my business partner, Melissa Donald, and I opened our own factoring firm at the request of some of the private investors with whom we had worked in the past. It was surreal.

What was the specific defining moment that led you to start your business now?
Melissa (my business partner) and I worked together since 2001. We were both executives at the old factoring firm we worked for and for the last two years we managed the company. In November 2006, the week after Thanksgiving to be exact, we were approached by private investors with the proposal to launch our own firm. Ready or not – and at the time not really – we accepted and never looked back. LDI Growth Partners opened for business on January 2, 2007.

Where does your inspiration come from?
I am inspired by our clients, my colleagues, our investors and the amazing people in my ever growing network. They are all entrepreneurs and kindred spirits. I am inspired by their fearless optimism, ingenuity, wisdom, energy and drive. I am proud to offer a service that enables them to keep doing what they love. I’m also enjoying the added benefit of living the entrepreneurial experience through them as well.

What would be the biggest professional reward for you?
It is incredibly rewarding to hear from clients that, with our help, they felt confident in launching a big new project they didn’t think they could finance. Or sometimes we hear from clients that they weren’t sure how they would recover from some unfortunate event until they found us. The best however is when we learn that a client has outgrown us and cash flow is no longer a challenge. That’s what we are in business to do.

What would be the biggest professional reward for you?
It is incredibly rewarding to hear from clients that, with our help, they felt confident in launching a big new project they didn’t think they could finance. Or sometimes we hear from clients that they weren’t sure how they would recover from some unfortunate event until they found us. The best however is when we learn that a client has outgrown us and cash flow is no longer a challenge. That’s what we are in business to do.

What would you change with your business if you had the time?
I would finally get caught up. I realize that is not a realistic goal but I’m a dreamer. We have so many plans and ideas and I long for time to work on them all but I think it is for the best that we have to learn to pace ourselves.

How do you get new business?
So far all our business has come our way through referrals. It makes sense because we value relationships above all in our personal and business lives. We make our own choices based on recommendations from people we trust. Our priority is to build trust with our clients and our network. It has been a very successful strategy. In time, we will increase our exposure in other ways but in our business relationships are of the utmost importance. People trust us with the most important aspects of their business, their money and their clients.

What is the one piece of advice you would give someone just starting out?
Make a plan but plan on flying by the seat of your pants. I think it is absolutely necessary to be organized, plan well and be proactive but in a start up the saying about the best laid plans is especially true. I would recommend doubling the initial estimated time for almost all projects. As entrepreneurs, we are wildly optimistic people and tend to overestimate our superhuman capabilities.

Where do you see your business in the next 5 years?
I’m thrilled that we are actually growing more rapidly than we anticipated, so in 5 years we may be in an even better place than we estimated. However, we intend to keep our company fairly small so we can continue working with emerging and growing businesses, about which we are most passionate. Such clients require very individualized service. We enjoy doing business this way and will continue to do so 5 years from now.

Has being a part of PowWow helped you?
I enjoyed meeting some incredibly intelligent, talented and interesting ladies. At the events I attended, there was always such a dynamic exchange of ideas. I thrive on that.

Thank you Lena, for making us understand the fabulous world of factoring.

Lena Ilie LDI Growth Partners
www.ldigrowthpartners.com
(925)757.6639