"If You Stick Around Long Enough, I'll Teach You How To Start a Bank" with Dan Yates of Endeavor Bank (CA)

Vin, Zach, and DCG colleague Mike Mitchell are joined by Dan Yates, CEO and Co-Founder of Endeavor Bank located in Southern California. Dan shares lessons learned from training programs early on in his career and how he parlayed that education into the formation of two de novo banks. He speaks about Endeavor Bank's focus on "Consultative Banking," and how the bank's partnership with small- and medium-sized businesses is mutually beneficial. He also discusses Endeavor Bank's adherence to the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and how that framework permeates through all facets of the organization. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Dan talks about leaving a lasting legacy in his communities and filling the void left by larger bank consolidations.

For more insights and ideas, visit DCG at DarlingConsulting.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Transcript

On the Balance Sheet® S4 E_11 “If You Stick Around Long Enough, I’ll Teach You How to Start a Bank”

 Transcript

 [Vinny, 00:05]

Welcome to On the Balance Sheet, Season 4, Episode 11. And today, we're really pleased to be joined by a veteran banker, four decades of experience. He's done a lot of different things. It's Dan Yates, CEO and co-founder of Endeavor Bank, located in Southern California. 

 [Zach, 00:21]

Yeah, Vin, I'm really excited for this one. Dan's had a tremendous career over the last four decades, as you mentioned. We’ve got a great list of questions here for him. I think our listeners are going to learn a lot. And we're also joined, again, this is two in a row, by our colleague, Mike Mitchell. Mitch is in the house, and he's got some great questions for Dan, as well, as he works with Endeavor Bank. So, we're really thrilled to have Dan on, and I'm really looking forward to this interview. 

 [Vinny, 00:42]

Yeah, Zach, really, really looking forward to this one. I think there's so much we can talk to about with Dan. And so, without further ado, Dan Yates. 

 [Zach, 00:53]

Welcome back to On the Balance Sheet. We are very pleased to be joined today by Dan Yates, CEO and co-founder of Endeavor Bank. Dan, how are you doing today? 

 [Dan, 01:04]

Doing great. It's a pleasure to be here today. 

 [Zach, 01:06]

Our pleasure. And Dan, we'd like to just start out as we normally do with, could you just walk us through, kind of how you began your career in banking and the stops along the way that led you to the formation of Regents? And then we can get into the second half of your career with Endeavor. 

 [Dan, 01:23]

Yeah, really, I began my banking career during my college education. I worked in the evenings for Bank of America, never expecting this would be a career. But upon graduation, I was coming out of college at a time when the prior generation, whatever you started off in, ended up being your career. My dad worked for the defense industry for 40, 50 years. So, I was reluctant to pick my career, and I decided to enter a management training program for a bank in Los Angeles, thinking it would buy me a couple of years before I had to actually put a stake in the ground and say, this is what I want to do when I grow up. And I thought banking made sense for the start off because... You're exposed to all these different industries. And I figured I would finally figure out what I want to do when I grow up. About two years into that program, I realized that I wanted to continue forward at least a couple more years. And it wasn't long after that that I was exposed to one of the best training programs to develop your marketing skills. And that was the Union Bank program. Back in those days, some of the best CEOs in our industry came out of the Union Bank training program in Los Angeles. And it was a real privilege to be exposed to that level of training. Two years after, I really was fortunate because I was recruited to a bank by the name of First Business Bank. And that's where I met, for the first time, my mentors who had started a very successful bank in Los Angeles. And it wasn't long after joining that bank that Bob Coomer, the CEO, he said, “If you stick around long enough, I'll teach you how to start a bank.” And for the next 12 years, that's exactly what I viewed that role to be, was a training program of how to become a bank entrepreneur. And I'll tell you, Bob did a great job because quite a few of us left that organization to go on to start some very respectable banks. One of my favorites is still going on 20 years now, American Business Bank in Los Angeles. Those were my peers. Former CEO of Citizens Business Bank, Chris Myers, was another peer who ran that very successful bank for many years. And there have been several others. So, it was really a training ground for future bank entrepreneurs. And Bob Coomer gets really the primary credit for showing us the way. 

 [Zach, 03:45]

It's a terrific background. And Dan, so that would lead you up to Regents Bank. And could you walk the listeners through, maybe briefly, kind of how you started that endeavor? And then, you know, kind of from there, maybe what you learned from that and how you progress into the next stage of your career. 

 [Dan, 04:05]

Yeah, you know, I was a native San Diegan all through my college career. And I always wanted to return to my hometown to start a bank at some point. And when First Business Bank was acquired by Mellon Financial Corp., I had to make a decision to stay in Los Angeles, where I'd been for 18 years building my career, or to finally return home to start a bank. And I made the decision to return home. But the challenge in leaving one community for another is you walk away from your clients, from key employees you might like to have on your team, and you have to start over again. And I envisioned it would take me several years to rebuild some of those ingredients in San Diego. But that was cut short by a phone call one day from Ed Carpenter from Carpenter Company, who had helped start 800 banks in California. And Ed called and he said, you know, there's a great opportunity, strategically speaking, to start a bank in San Diego. And I have a gentleman who just sold his bank in the Pacific Northwest. He has a covenant not to compete. He doesn't want to be a bank CEO any longer, but he's looking for someone with your skills to start a bank in San Diego. And would you be interested in joining forces with him? My short answer was no. I just didn't think it would work to come from the Northwest and try to do this in San Diego. It's a very different kind of community. So, I tried for about a year to talk Tom out of doing that. And he did the opposite. He talked me into becoming his partner. So, we started the bank together in what turned out to be just days before 9-11 of 2001. 

 [Zach, 05:48]

So, Dan, from that perspective, you were at Regence for the better part of the 2000s, correct? 

 [Dan, 05:54]

Yeah, 12-year run. Right. 

 [Zach, 05:57]

Which is a great run. Any lessons that you learned, you know, I guess going the de novo route for the first time, right? Because you were previously at some more established banks or banks that were already off the ground. What was most interesting to you about that? Or what are maybe some of the key lessons you learned there during that formation process? And then, obviously, as you ran that bank for the better part of a decade. 

 [Dan, 06:19]

You know, in that time period, starting a de novo bank was far more common than it is today. And I recall that in, in the early two thousands, all the way through 2007 or eight, in San Diego at least, we had dozens of new banks being formed. It was sort of a cottage industry throughout Southern California. Many of those banks did not do well and so we had a lot of casualties, and it seemed to me that we had more competition for talent than we had good bankers to fill the need for all these institutions coming out. It was also an easier time to start a bank - it took us all of 11 months from the date we filed our application until we opened the doors. That's rare today to see that occur in the country when you see de novo banks coming out in the last couple of years. So, it was an easier regulatory environment, less capital was needed, but far more competition for bankers and talent in order to execute on the business strategy. 

 [Zach, 07:25]

And then Dan, just kind of continuing through your past and your very successful career in banking, after you go through, you build up Regents, after that was sold, what were the factors that led you to start another bank, which is now Endeavor Bank, which you are currently the CEO of? What got you back in the game and how has that been for the last eight, nine years? 

 [Dan, 07:45]

Well, it really connects to why I started the first bank. I always envisioned creating some type of a legacy for the community of San Diego, one that would go on for many decades, if not 100 years. Why? Because in my early years growing up in San Diego, we had a 100-year-old family-owned bank. That really transformed San Diego's business community. It was called San Diego Trust and Savings Bank. Three generations of the Sefton family, 100-year-old bank. And I watched over the years and when that bank was acquired by First Interstate, later Wells, no other community bank really filled the void they left behind. So, when we started Regents, I had a handshake agreement with my chairman, who was our largest shareholder, Tom Young. that we were going to try to do that. And life happens when you're busy making other plans. So, 12 years in, Tom and I discussed the environment for banking, and it was his desire to exit. And in order to fulfill kind of our handshake, we agreed that we would sell Regents to a holding company of a bank that was looking to do a roll-up. That was Grand Point Bank. And so, I transitioned from CEO of Regents to become the president of Grand Point Bank and did that for about a year and a half. And the idea was we were going to acquire community banks and roll them up under the Grand Point Capital Holding Company. We did 12 of those. It was a very interesting experience to see how you combine cultures of various community banks in Arizona, San Diego, Los Angeles, very different communities. And we usually have a platform bank. Regents was a platform for San Diego. We had a different platform for Arizona and Grant Point itself. Grant Point Bank was a platform for Los Angeles. Learned a lot about what I experienced in that time is private equity-owned banks are much more focused on the execution of the financial model, not as much on the relationship side, it seemed to me. We were growing by acquisition. And it was kind of scorched earth every time we would acquire a bank, about half the talent we would release. There was a lot of arbitrages between how we were acquiring the loans and deposits at that time and using it to create what looked like organic growth. But a lot of that was just purchased assets, both on both sides of the balance sheet. Not as personally fulfilling to me, although I have deep respect for the outcome of that bank. Really impressive management team that put that together, and I was part of for a while. But when it was time to move on, I still had that desire to continue the journey that I started at Regents. It was just a matter of when was the right time to do that. And that's really what eventually led to the formation of my second community bank, this one being Endeavor. 

 [Vinny, 10:48]

Hey, Dan, this is Vinny Clevenger. Thank you so much for joining us. I kind of want to just go back to one of your earlier remarks. You know, I think it's a great quote. If you stick around long enough, I'll teach you how to start a bank. So, I guess my question to you would be the basic principles that you learned in that, through that mentor. I think you said his name was Bob Coomer. Are they still the same when you go to start a bank, or is it just virtue of the regulatory environment changing, which has kind of made it kind of more difficult to start a bank? I'm just kind of curious, the basic principles that you would use to start a bank have, in your opinion, have they changed from your first experience to now this new one, Endeavor? 

 [Dan, 11:29]

You know, I've really enjoyed watching other de novo banks come and go over the years, and I would say, what is the consistent theme that's been reinforced to me is you need to have a distinctive model today. To just be a generic business plan and try to compete is difficult. And what I came away from with First Business Bank is we were sort of a contrarian bank. We were a commercial business bank, and that's about where the comparisons to other business banks began and ended. Most of our competitors in those days could not really understand what we were doing inside of the bank walls. It didn't look like most banks. We were not competing on the product side, not on the technology side, and certainly not on pricing. And yet, we would almost always come away with a client if we were competing head-to-head with banks of any size. So, the question is, what were we doing that was so effective in those days? And it was... what we looked at as consultative banking. We've called it different things over the years, but it's really helping a privately held, small- to medium-sized business owner scale their company and overcome the challenges that come along when you're trying to grow an effective business. But do it not like bankers do, typically, but do it more like a management consulting firm might approach that or a CEO peer group. And so, over the years, I've really tried hard to hone that niche, and as many decades now as I've been doing that, it is still uncommon when I recruit a new banker to our team to find a banker from any institution that truly understands how that can look and should look in the marketplace. So, our biggest challenge is really, over the years, has been training a new generation of bankers how to do it at a highly effective level. So, it really translates into results for the client. But when it works well, both for the banker and for the institution, it has been a driving force that never goes out of style. Industries change, different entrepreneurs come and go, but they all have in common challenges that they're going to face and looking for individuals in their universe, their ecosystem, that could help them overcome that. And that's where we try to really focus most of our efforts during the year. 

 [Vinny, 13:56]

It's almost like you become a stakeholder in their business as opposed to just a financier, if you will, judging by what you're explaining to me. 

 [Dan, 14:06]

Yeah, and it's one of those passions that I think has kept me interested in being in banking all these years. We never got into the commodity side of banking, which to me has not been as personally enjoyable or satisfying. But helping a business owner achieve their dreams, having them scale the company and driving sometimes millions of dollars to their bottom line through suggestions and ideas that we come up with as a collective team or who we connect them to in our sphere of influence. And that gratitude that comes back around and just seeing that difference, it's just very satisfying. And it's something that you can... do in different ways throughout each year as you take on new relationships with entrepreneurs who are trying to do something unique in their respective company. So, we play a role in that. It just never gets old and never goes out of style. 

 [Zach, 15:05]

Dan, it's a great story. And I'm just wondering, how do you approach training your bankers so they can offer the highest level of service? You mentioned Union Bank and some of the formal training you had back in the early part of your career. So, how do you make sure your bankers are ready to meet those high standards that you have that you just explained? 

 [Dan, 15:25]

It always starts early on as a player coach. We have a training program where we take college grads all the way through credit underwriting into eventually an apprenticeship program where we show them the way that CEO peer groups tackle this very issue. CEO peer groups such as Vistage, YPO, EO, there's quite a few throughout our community and elsewhere in the country. They have long since proven that a peer of a CEO peer in a different industry from the one that is in your group is able to transfer skill sets that are of value. Once I've seen that myself inside of those rooms, I know how to train bankers how to do that. So it's really a training program that we model, demonstrate, take our younger bankers on calls with us so they can see it. As we go through the whiteboarding, as we go through the process of helping clients tackle their issues, it is something they can learn to emulate and eventually to lead those calls without anyone from the executive management team helping them. But in the early days, we tend to lead by example. Now I have a deep bench of team leaders and seasoned consultative bankers that I've been grooming for many decades that they can now be the mentors to the younger generation of bankers we're bringing onto the team. 

 [Mike, 16:54]

That's great stuff, Dan. This is Mike with you. This really sounds like you have a playbook for starting banks. You have a playbook for coaching up the next generation. You have a playbook for just building on these client relationships and joining them through the education process. And you've mentioned in the past, kind of having a formula for that around the entrepreneurial operating system. So, can you touch upon that? I mean, there's just a lot of overlap here in some of the structure that you're able to apply across these different facets. 

 [Dan, 17:26]

Yeah, I think many people are aware of Gina Wickman, the author of Traction. And the EOS, or the Entrepreneurial Operating System, is used by tens of thousands of companies nationwide. I've only met a handful of bankers who utilize EOS in their own institutions, and we are one of those banks. And it is really, if you think of EOS as the best practices found in your top business books assembled into a system. We use a software called 90 IO and we use that software to set our company values. We have a people analyzer that, every quarter, we're measuring the performance of our team members against those values. Are they living them, walking them, delivering them to our clients and to one another? We have an internal system called Nectar where we award points, one employee to another, for doing something above and beyond what would be expected in applying one of those company values. We also use it to set our ten-year vision, our three-year business plan, our one-year business plan. We work it back to what we need to do each quarter. We set company ROCs and individual ROCs, and we make sure that we accomplish, at a minimum, all the company rocks. And if we do that consistently each quarter, it's almost by definition, you're going to achieve the one-year goal and all the way through to the three- year and eventually the ten-year vision for the bank. It also gives complete transparency to every employee in the bank because we have a VTO vision traction organizer, which is like the state of the union address for the company where every quarter we sit down with a bank-wide meeting, and we describe what are the goals we've set for that quarter, how is each employee going to play a role in accomplishing the company goals and individual goals, and then there's a part of the EOS system in the 90s software where we do what's called IDS. We identify issues, we discuss them, and we solve them. And that becomes a very organized process to figure out what are the most important issues that are standing between accomplishing a ROC or a goal for that quarter and dealing with issues that come up during the business. Every employee is on the software. And so, if a department has an issue that requires the executive team to solve it, they escalate it to the team. When we meet weekly, we see the issue, we discuss it, we solve it, we cascade it back down. And so, it's a living, breathing, strategic plan that's not static like a written plan. And so, when issues come up, like for example, when we were all dealing with a pandemic and all of a sudden we created this PPP program. It was this software that allowed us to set up a program to handle a very high volume of PPP loans and bring in employees from outside of the industry. And we basically set up a factory to make sure that we could issue a high volume of PPP loans to serve our community. How we did that and the process was all made possible because of the utilization of EOS. 

 [Mike, 20:38]

So many good themes in there from culture and core values to accountability, putting the right people in the right places. And as you noted there, part of that's a near-term vision, one-year, maybe the three-year plan and that ten-year vision. So, did you start Endeavor with that loftier ten-year vision? And we're just a few years away from it now. How do you score yourself? 

 [Dan, 21:03]

We're on track. Our original ten-year vision started with what size did we want to grow the bank to by year ten, and that was a billion. We're tracking just over $700 million in year eight. Whether we accomplish it just short of year ten or just beyond, it's not as important as having kind of a directional waypoint. It's not an end goal. In other words, we will continue beyond the billion. But as you think about what you have to do as you approach a billion, how do you scale an organization? What kind of infrastructure do you need to build? Each step along the journey, EOS has been a very important factor, including this past year where we launched an AI journey. And that has been very instrumental in trying to help us get to the type of efficiency and profitability we want to achieve once we hit the, you know, the ten-year milestone of a billion in assets. And we're well on track to accomplish that. 

 [Zach, 22:00] 

Dan, what do you see, maybe outside of just speaking to Endeavor, but maybe to the overall industry? I mean, you've had four decades of experience, and we're obviously in a new world now with - payments are changing, and the whole banking industry has obviously been evolving here. What do you see as maybe big opportunities or even threats, depending on which way you want to go here, for the banking industry over the next couple years to decade? 

 [Dan, 22:25]

Well, I think like many of us, we recognize that AI is going to touch our industry as it is our clients’. And so, we partnered last year with a company called Cadre AI. I think of them as a third-party CTO for, specifically for, helping companies complete the AI journey. So, we're  well into that. A lot of positive lessons and takeaways. We think we can also use AI to help further drive our consultative business model by automating pieces of that using AI. And then I think the other opportunity is really to focus more on what I call the people culture differentiator. We are spending a great deal of time mapping out career paths for every position in the bank, leadership training, and making sure that we can build strong career pathways to attract quality bankers and help them really thrive once they arrive here. And we've heard over the years that many, many bankers don't really know how to get into different parts of our industry. And how do you go from being a teller, for example, to maybe being a relationship manager or getting to the C-suite? So, we're very purposeful in how we build those pathways out and provide the third-party training throughout the organization. You know, we're something shy of 90 employees right now, so it's not a big company. But to a person, we have a very good idea of what their personal goals are, what they want to accomplish in their career, and how to help them accomplish that. As far as the threats, I think the one that currently is getting a lot of talk around our company is the whole stable coin conversation that I'm sure all your guests are speaking to. And, you know, I think back to, you know, the days when money market funds first hit our industry and we saw the disintermediation of billions, if not trillions of dollars, in lead banking. And I think that's the big threat is, you know, will we see the same type of outflow of deposits? It's a stable coin. And, you know, you can either be on the proactive side of that, and it can be an opportunity - or it could be a threat. So, we're studying that very closely and looking at the payment rails and looking at the guardrails that are being discussed right now. Spending a lot of time talking to our core provider, which is Jack Henry, and what is their strategy for stable coins? How does that impact us? So, we're looking at it from many different lenses. Secondly, I would say the whole cybersecurity and fraud risk continues to be of concern. And we're using new technologies each year to try to combat that. But as our industry gets a little smarter and in playing defense, you know, the bad guys, the bad actors are always one step ahead, it seems. So, you never can really... complete that journey. And I think the final thing that we focus on the last couple of years is just margin compression and deposit competition, which never seems to go away. And so, it's really our biggest challenge to grow our assets is making sure we can grow our deposit liabilities effectively and with low-cost deposits. S,o a lot of effort is spent on all those areas right now.

 [Zach, 25:39]

 Dan, to shift gears a little bit here, you shared with us that building these banks was about really your passion for the community. So just tell us some of the things you're doing, some of the things that drive that forward and both linked to the bank and personally about your involvement with the community. 

 [Dan, 25:59]

Yeah, I mean, when I'm not at Endeavor Bank, I chair one of the largest foundations in San Diego, the Previs Foundation. And it really helps me professionally and personally satisfy some desires I have to really give back to our community. And I see there's a lot of crossover between what we do at the bank and what we do at the foundation. We have many nonprofit clients, for example, that we serve through the foundation. And many of those are also clients of the bank. So, I sometimes have to remember which hat I have on. But it's really helping our employees understand that - how they can give back, whether it's serving on boards, volunteering their time, their skills. But San Diego is a community that really thrives upon the type of work that bankers do, and I don't mean just our bankers, but our whole network of community bankers and large banks in this town have all had a history of really being contributors to the community. And then through the nonprofit sector, which I've been on many boards over the years, too many to count, the latest just being the foundation chair. It's really my way to give back and pay forward what I've gotten from out of this community over the years. And I think that is really what is true of community banking nationwide. And it certainly is true here in our town. 

 [Mike, 27:22]

Yeah, you have a tagline here. When businesses thrive, communities flourish. And that's exactly what I think of when I think of your bank. 

 [Dan, 27:29]

Yeah, well said. 

 [Zach, 27:30]

Dan, you've been so gracious with your time today. We really appreciate it. I have one last question, but I didn't know if Mike or if you had anything else on your agenda here. 

 [Vinny, 27:38]

I guess I did have one, Dan, and it's a hard hitting one, as always. If you were placed in the head seat at any one of the agencies, what would you do to incentivize more de novo formation? I mean, obviously the theme through this has been, obviously, the importance of community, and us three sitting around this table spend so many times and so much time in so many different communities around the country. And you see the role that these community banks play and credit unions for those we work with in these local communities. And over time, that's been eroding. And I think starting a bank nowadays is very difficult. So, what is it that you would do if you were placed at the head of the table to incentivize more de novo formation? 

 [Dan, 28:20]

You know, it was shortly after we launched Endeavor that the FDIC invited me to have that conversation in San Francisco, and they were setting up meetings throughout the country to figure out what they could do different and better to help banks form. And I thought it ironic that I was going to be helping create more competition, but it's the right thing to do. And I gave some very good sage advice. And then more recently, I had a chance to sit down with a group of recent de novo banks. And I was sort of disheartened to hear that many of the issues that I felt needed to be addressed seven, eight years ago, they were still dealing with. And so, I know we as an industry are doing, I think, a better job right now of trying to carry that message to the regulators so they can be more aware of what they can do, their role. Some of the issues are outside of the regulatory world, but the parts that they can help with is not a tall ask. For example, believe it or not, if you start a new bank today, it's very difficult to be able to offer your clients a debit card the day you open your doors. Those are solvable issues. So, there are just certain pain points that I hear time and again that de novo CEOs are asking their peers, how did you overcome this issue? And there are issues that should not deter you from opening the bank. But the bigger issue really is economics. It's not regulatory. It is a challenge to develop a business model that will return to shareholders an effective return that will make it attractive to raise capital. And the number one issue I'm hearing from people who are trying to start de novo banks is their challenge in raising capital. But that really falls to all of us who have come before. If I do, and the other de novo banks that have come before, if we do a good job of rewarding our shareholders, our stories become the future stories that other de novo banks will point to and say, look at how Endeavor Bank did. We can do the same thing in our community. So I view it as a responsibility that I run a good organization and take care of shareholders because I know that in the future decks that other bankers are going to use are going to point to all the de novo banks that were in the class before to say, look, this is what we can do. So, it's also my responsibility to pay that forward by how I handle the stewardship that I've been privileged to be part of here. 

 [Zach, 30:56]

Dan, as a, probably a follow-up on that capital, Ray's point you just made, that was actually my last question. So, it syncs up with what Vin was getting at. I read that when you did capitalize Endeavor, you lowered the minimum to invest in that. So, was that partly because of the challenge to bring in capital? Was that more of a strategy to, you thought that'd be a bit more beneficial down the road to have more community folks have skin in the game? What was, kind of, the strategy behind that?

 [Dan, 31:28]

It's all that and more. What I found is the typical community bank capital strategy is to find a handful of millionaires that can write seven-figure checks. And when you get your 20, 30 million, you call it a day. And what I thought would be more effective is to lower it to 25,000. And somebody who is gonna invest 25,000 in a bank, typically it's not as big a concern if that investment does not work out versus a seven-figure check. So that was part of it. It's just an easier ask. But secondly, depending on who's writing that check, those become your future clients. And we targeted CEOs of private companies that knew us well, that would be willing to not only invest in the bank but move their business over. And because they have skin in the game, they also become part of your sales force. So, we have upwards of 1,000 business owners who own stock in the bank, and they're out there driving business to our door, supporting the bank. We have future capital calls. They're usually the first to want to invest more in the bank. It's been a multi-purpose strategy for having them as shareholders versus just having a smaller handful of larger network individuals. That typically is what you'll find with many community banks that start out. 

 [Zach, 32:52]

No, it's a great answer. It's a great idea. Dan, clearly, it's served you folks well over the past eight years. Mike, if nothing else from your side, Dan, we just really are appreciative of your time. It was almost like a masterclass in just starting a bank and the key things to be thinking about. So, we were very gracious that you were able to join us today. 

 [Mike, 33:13]

Dan, you've built an incredible bank. You have an incredible team, really active ALCO group makes my job really fun. Keep on my toes with all of your experience and insight. So, I know I'm learning just as much in the relationship. So just really appreciate the time. 

 [Dan, 33:28]

Well, we appreciate all you're doing for our bank. And you give sage advice. And I know others appreciate what you do for them as well. So, it was a pleasure to be here today. Thank you. 

 [Zach, 33:38]

That was terrific. Thank you again for carving out some time for us. That was awesome. 

 [Vinny, 33:44]

And we're back here On the Balance Sheet. Great interview with Dan. Learned so much. I'll tell you guys, personally, the thing that kind of stuck out to me, something I think about so often is, how is it that you can start a successful organization, successful bank? You don't see it every day. Dan even alluded to the fact that, from time to time, there were casualties in Southern California. And he said it was a sort of a cottage industry. But the one thing he said to me that stuck out was that you got to have a distinctive business model. And I think that is so very true to think that you're going to go out and try to employ a model for a hundred plus year old institution has, with the benefit of being able to grow the deposit base organically over a very long period of time. And you think you're going to do that. and replicate that model in short order, I think is a huge lift. So clearly, they do some things a lot different. Dan spoke to that and that was really enlightening to me. I really enjoyed that part of the conversation. What about you, Mike? 

 [Mike, 34:43]

Yeah. Just with all of his experience and success, I selfishly wanted to ask him, you know, what's the proudest moment of your career? But after you hear him talk, it's not about a moment. It's not about, you know, an ROA. It's not about an asset size. I mean, he's got one goal when he started and he's still on that mission and that's about community and with that, building a legacy. So those are kind of the, just the two words and themes that stuck out to me today. 

 [Zach, 35:10]

Yeah, it was really interesting, all the different experiences he's had with building banks throughout various parts of his career. But I think one thing that I took, and I've seen this, or this has been weaved, right, Vin, through a number of different interviews, is folks who have been through formal bank training programs, which almost don't exist anymore, probably. For the most part, maybe some do at the biggest of banks, but how those have really influenced some of these bankers' careers. Yeah, right?  Over time and even today. He started Endeavor in the late 20-teens, and through today, they have a training program because they want to make sure that their folks understand how to do that type of business. But they also want to get them acclimated to different parts of the bank too. And I think having some level of a program for young college grads, there's not many like banking classes in colleges generally speaking, right? Like here's how you underwrite a credit or run a bank. There's a lot of other classes, but I think that's a really important thing - to get them understanding it. And he talked about the career path planning. There's all these things that come into training your people, investing in your people so they can then execute on what his vision is. And he went through a ton of things on their vision as well. But I thought that was a cool story in how they still place emphasis on the training program. 

 [Vinny, 36:28]

Just so important. Well said, Zach. I guess that's a wrap for this episode with Dan. I thought this was really terrific. We're probably right in the midst of the holiday season for you folks, so we hope you enjoy your holidays, and we hope more that you can get a chance to stop by the next time and listen to On the Balance Sheet. 

 [Dana, 36.46]

On the Balance Sheet is a podcast produced by Darling Consulting Group, DCG. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are solely their own and may not represent those of DCG. All third parties are independent entities and are not affiliated with DCG. This podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only and is not considered as advice. All views and opinions expressed are based on the information available at the time and may have changed based on current market and other conditions. For more information about DCG, please visit www.darlingconsulting.com or email us at info@darlingconsulting.com. 

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