How 1,000+ Mortgage Brokers Are Earning Extra Revenue Without Extra Clients

Julian Fayad, Founder and CEO of LoanOptions.ai, joins Christian Stevens on this week's episode of Beyond The Numbers. As Australia's first AI-powered loan comparison platform, FBAA Industry Champion of the Year, and a Deloitte Tech Fast 50 company, Julian has been building AI in financial services since 2020 — years before it was mainstream. He joins Christian to unpack the full story of how it happened. But it wasn't a straight line. From building a loan matching engine in an Excel spreadsheet at midnight, to walking away from a publicly listed company during COVID with nothing but his non-compete removed, Julian opens up about what it really took to build LoanOptions.ai from the ground up into a team of 35 with operations in Australia and New Zealand. He speaks candidly about the difference between AI hype and AI that actually works, why he refused to let lenders pay to rank higher on his platform, and the coming product releases he believes will triple the business in 12 months. This episode is a rare look inside one of Australia's most exciting fintech companies — and the obsessive, uncompromising founder who built it. If you're a mortgage broker, business owner, or anyone curious about where AI in lending is actually headed, this one's for you. 3:15 - From Admin to State Manager: Julian's Path Into Finance 6:00 - The Midnight Excel Spreadsheet That Started It All 8:16 - Why COVID Changed Everything — and Led to LoanOptions.ai 11:30 - Refusing to Let Lenders Pay to Rank Higher on the Platform 13:00 - From B2C to B2B2C: Finding the Business Model That Actually Works 20:45 - What "AI Native Business" Actually Means (and Why It Matters) 29:32 - Team Culture: How Julian Runs a Team of 35 Mid-to-Late 20s 37:54 - What's Coming Next: New Products, NZ Expansion & the Partnership That Could Triple the Business Learn more about Flint: https://flintgroup.au/ Connect with Christian Stevens: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/propertyfinance/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrstevens/ Connect with Julian Fayad: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianfayad/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julianfayad/