Path to the Lightbulb Moment: Siena Lending Group’s Simple Yet Effective Approach to Innovation

Siena Lending Group, an asset- based lending company based out of Stamford, CT, takes an innovative approach to a seemingly simple organizational mandate: to tailor unique financing solutions to complex challenges. With more than $2.75 billion committed over its more than 12 years in business, Siena is living up to its aspirations, and its ability to innovate is fundamental to driving its success.

“Our quest to innovate propels us forward, continually invigorating us to become better each day, tackle new challenges and accomplish new goals,” Scott Elliotto, president of Siena Lending Group, says.

According to Elliotto, Siena always approaches challenges with as much objectivity as possible, understanding that one-size-fits-all solutions don’t really exist and that striving for them is detrimental to achieving success. The company and its team members understand that every challenge, whether a new transaction, a portfolio issue or a business goal, is a unique opportunity with its own nuances.

“Every complex challenge demands some degree of innovation,” Elliotto says. “We seek to break the complexity down to its simplest components and address each one individually. That has always been our strategy and we find that it allows our collective experiences and expertise to truly shine through.”

With a roster full of talented and experienced industry professionals, Siena’s innovation is powered by its people, according to Elliotto.

“Their diverse backgrounds, skill sets and contributions to the lending process are fundamental to our success, enabling us to understand the unique characteristics of each challenge and work through the complexities of our transactions,” Elliotto says.

Although Siena’s primary work is focused on creating unique financing solutions that fuel the success of its business clients, the company’s innovative focus can also be turned inward, leading to benefits for the company itself as well as its customer base. For example, when Siena first launched, it engaged with a software provider for its loan management system. However, as time progressed, Siena began to outgrow the mostly standardized functionality of the provider’s software, leading it to seek out more customized solutions. During this process, Siena realized that it could yield the greatest benefit from developing its own loan management software, which is exactly what it did.

“We came to recognize that we were never going to get the precise features and functionality we wanted unless we took control of the situation,” Elliotto says. “The platform allows us to act more nimbly while also performing the necessary diligence to accurately monitor a credit.”

In addition to the efficiency improvements of the new platform, Siena also benefitted from the development process itself.

“We learned that projects like this one are extremely time-consuming and test the organization in ways that could not have been foreseen in the brainstorming stage,” Elliotto says. “But, we also learned that this type of project can strengthen the bonds between those involved, making it even more rewarding than anticipated.”

Unlike the dollar amount of deals or the percentage of leads converted into client relationships, innovation can’t really be quantified, but Elliotto and the rest of the team at Siena measure their progress against their ability to develop and maintain relationships over time. The company’s success in this area may best be exemplified by the fact that its first client is still a current portfolio client 12 years later.

“Innovation cannot be manufactured from scratch — it’s a product of years of experience,” Elliotto says. “Innovation occurs when all of the knowledge gained through years of successes and failures comes together to shape the pathway to that lightbulb moment.” •