When Lauren StClair joined San Francisco-based NerdWallet Inc. as chief financial officer in December 2020, she jumped right into her first major project: the company’s initial public offering. NerdWallet generated proceeds of $150 million on the sale of 8.3 million shares of Class A common stock in November 2021.
“The opportunity to go public has a lot of benefits, but it also creates new challenges and requirements for the business,” she said. “The stakes are higher, and the company is much more visible.”
NerdWallet is an online resource for consumers and small and midsize business owners looking for financial guidance. It was founded in 2009 and has grown to 23 million monthly unique users who come to the platform for information and to shop for credit cards, student loans, mortgages and other financial services.
Since the IPO, StClair and her team have tackled several significant growth projects. In July 2022, NerdWallet closed on the $120 million acquisition of On the Barrelhead Inc., a Colorado-based startup using artificial intelligence to provide personalized loan advice to consumers and small and midsize business owners. In September 2023, the company replaced its credit facility with a five-year, $125 million senior secured revolving credit facility with the option to increase up to an additional $75 million.
The company launched its first financial product for consumers — NerdUp by NerdWallet — in October 2023. NerdUp is a free, secured credit card designed for NerdWallet users who aren’t yet a good fit for traditional credit cards. “We don’t strive to offer our own financial products that compete with partners, but in this case, we saw a major gap in the market that needed to be addressed,” StClair said. “Too many Americans are denied access to build and improve their credit, often because current secured card terms like annual fees, high minimum deposits and hard credit checks are prohibitive.”
Before joining NerdWallet, StClair was the CFO of North America at eBay, and she credits former eBay interim CEO Scott Schenkel and former CFO Bob Swan as mentoring and inspiring her career. “Both leaders were instrumental in my decision to pursue a path in finance,” she said, “and I continue to be motivated by the ways they led companies through times of significant change and growth.”
Lauren StClair, NerdWallet Inc.
TITLE: Chief Financial Officer
TENURE: December 2020 to present
BACKGROUND: PayPal, eBay, StubHub
Download the full 2024 Bay Area CFO of the Year Award supplement here.
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