Ryan Williams (entrepreneur) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ryan A. Williams
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| Born | 1988 (age 37) |
| Alma mater | Harvard |
| Occupation | CEO and founder of Cadre |
Ryan Williams is a technology expert who started his own company, Cadre. Cadre is a company in New York that uses technology to make it easier to invest in real estate. Ryan has been recognized on many important lists, like Fortune's "40 under 40" and Forbes' "30 under 30." He was even on the cover of Forbes Magazine in 2019. In 2022, Business Insider named him one of the "Top 100 Global Leaders Changing Business."
In 2021, Ryan launched the Cadre Direct Access Fund, which was one of the biggest real estate funds started during the pandemic. He later launched a second fund, the Cadre Direct Access Fund II. In 2023, Cadre was named to the Forbes Fintech 50 list for the seventh year in a row. Later that year, Cadre joined with another company called YieldStreet. This made their combined investments worth $9.7 billion. Ryan continues to be the CEO of Cadre after this big change. Through Cadre, Ryan has helped invest over $1.2 billion in real estate across the country. As one of the few African American leaders in real estate technology, he often speaks out about making his industry and society more fair. He believes that teaching more people about money and how to manage it can help close the wealth gap in America.
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Early Life and Education
Ryan Williams was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. When he was just 13 years old, he started his first business, which sold sports clothes. He later went to Harvard University. While there, he founded the Veritas Financial Group. This was the biggest student group at Harvard focused on teaching people about money.
Ryan's Career Journey
Ryan's interest in real estate technology began while he was still at Harvard. He saw how many homes were being taken by banks (foreclosed) during a trip to Atlanta. This inspired him to create a way to track these homes. He used information about properties and neighborhoods to find homes that were very cheap. He would then buy these homes, fix them up, and sell them. This was his first business venture, where he worked with classmates and other investors.
In 2020, Ryan shared how important Citizens Trust Bank was to his early success. This bank in Atlanta was started by five Black businessmen and is still Black-owned today. Ryan said that 10 other banks had turned him down for loans. But the chairman of Citizens Trust Bank personally called him to say they believed in him.
After graduating from Harvard, Ryan worked at big financial companies like Goldman Sachs and Blackstone. He worked in Blackstone's real estate investment team.
Starting Cadre
At 26 years old, Ryan left Blackstone to start Cadre in 2014. Cadre is a technology platform that aims to make investing in real estate as easy as buying and selling stocks. Ryan is currently the CEO of Cadre. He helped the company raise $65 million in funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz.
Ryan has said that Cadre's goal is to create a more efficient economy. He wants to connect buyers and sellers for things that have been hard for many people to invest in. He believes that giving more people direct access to commercial real estate, like buying and selling on Amazon, will help more families build wealth over generations. This includes making it easier to buy and sell these investments later, at a lower cost. The Economist magazine has even compared Cadre to tools that make all kinds of investments as easy to trade as stocks.
Ryan often speaks at conferences and on news programs about real estate technology.
Making an Impact
In 2018, Ryan announced a deal where Cadre would receive at least $250 million in real estate investments from clients of Goldman Sachs. In 2020, he wrote an article for CNBC. In it, he talked about how a Black-owned bank supported him early in his career. He also shared his commitment to increasing diversity among banks and real estate companies in the future.
In 2020, Ryan shared a plan to create more economic opportunities for different communities. This plan included mentorship programs and training to help people of all ages start careers in a changing economy. He was interviewed by CNBC and Forbes about his ideas for increasing economic fairness. Later in 2020, he stressed the importance of fixing racial wealth differences in the United States. He pointed out that only 21 out of over 4,700 banks in the U.S. are Black-owned or Black-led. He promised to work with diverse partners and lenders. He also committed to keeping at least 10% of Cadre's cash in minority-owned banks. This helps these banks lend money to communities that need it most. In 2020, he and Robert Smith spoke at a Forbes event. They discussed their commitment to building businesses that create more economic opportunities for everyone.
In 2021, Ryan announced a $400 million fund that invests in commercial real estate and supports minority business owners. This fund aims to create more economic fairness. Ryan later shared that his old university, Harvard University, invested in both Cadre and this $400 million fund.
In late 2021, Ryan announced that Cadre sold three buildings for about $312 million. This gave investors $95 million back and a good return on their investment. Ryan said one of these sales was the biggest digital real estate deal ever. This means the property was bought, sold, and managed using a digital platform.
In 2023, Ryan led Cadre through a merger with Yieldstreet. Yieldstreet is a company that focuses on credit investments. After the merger, Cadre and Yieldstreet together had created over $3.1 billion in returns for clients. Their total investments were worth $9.7 billion. Ryan will continue to be the CEO of Cadre, which will operate on its own. He will also lead global partnerships for the combined company. This deal makes Cadre one of the most successful exits in financial technology. Fortune magazine believes the merged company might even become a public company in the coming years.
Personal Life
Ryan Williams is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is a big fan of LSU football. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. He has talked about his goal as a leader of color in an industry that doesn't have much diversity. He says, "I've never let anyone outwork me." In a 2019 CNN interview, he said his goal is to be judged only on his performance. He believes it's about the results you deliver, "not about the color of your skin."
In 2020, Ryan shared that his great-great-grandmother, Addie Lynch, was born on a plantation in the late 1800s. Her mother had been a slave. He said this part of his family history helped him decide to make Juneteenth a holiday at Cadre. He believes this helps the company and the country learn from past unfairness and build a better society.
