How Financial Innovation Might Save the American Dream

Greetings Everyone and Welcome Back!

We are launching something new this week on 🎧The Nick Halaris Show—a new series called Civic Spotlights where we will feature entrepreneurs, activists, leaders, and artists who are working to make the world a better place. The idea here with Civic Spotlights is to shine a light on all the inspiring people doing good work in the world to drive awareness and inspire others to join the movement.

Our first guest is my friend Kent Keirsey, a serial entrepreneur, civic activist, and military veteran. Kent is the President and Co-Founder of Acre, an innovative company dedicated to providing aspiring homeowners with an alternative to the standard mortgage. I think Kent and his colleagues at Acre are really on to something as the housing market is fundamentally broken here in America and causing problems with our democratic functions. Given where rates are and how expensive things have gotten, aspiring homeowners are going to need all the help they can get.

As you’ll hear in this inspiring episode, Kent is someone who really embodies the values we’ve been talking about here in Profit+ when it comes to service, socially conscious capitalism, and civic entrepreneurship. For Kent, it’s not enough to build a great business. The business must also be good for consumers and for America. I walked away so inspired from this conversation and think you will as well. Tune in to hear:

• All about Acre’s innovative products and how they are addressing the financial pain points of the homebuying process

• Why in a world where people are moving more frequently and home values are so out of reach we desperately need innovative financial products for would-be homebuyers

• Why the days of homeowners paying 6% commission on every sale have to be numbered

• Kent’s vision for what it means to be a civic entrepreneur

  &

• Much, much more.

Be sure to stay tuned to the end as we got into a fascinating discussion about Kent’s experience running for Congress in our polarized world and what it was like to serve as a young Army Officer in Baghdad’s Triangle of Death in the early days of the Global War on Terror. I was absolutely floored by Kent’s perspective on how far we ceded moral ground with things like our willingness to use torture and the drone assassination program. We finished on an optimistic note as Kent offered a challenge to those of us who care about things like morality and making the world a better place. Rather than give-in to the slippery slope of comprising our values to achieve a victory, rather than just accept the status quo, what happens if we ask the question: “How might we?”

Thank you all so much for tuning-in. Hope you enjoy!

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