Ten years ago, I was a “pretend CEO” of a brand-new company that I quit my job to start. I had no kids, no girlfriend, no mortgage payment to worry about—just an overpriced Manhattan apartment and eight more months to wait before I made my first sale.

Talk about blissful ignorance.

If I had even the remotest inclination of the stress, hard work, and overall aggravation that would come with running a business, I would have probably quit on the spot. My co-founder Dave and I would have never made it to now.

We would never have made it to LodeStar’s second Inc. 5000 win, which we just learned about this week. We would never have become the Fee Experts, the industry’s leaders in closing cost disclosure automation—and the only independent fee provider in the space.

We would never have had the privilege of working with clients like NOVA® Home Loans, Taylor Morrison, and Draper & Kramer Mortgage Corp., who are among hundreds of lenders who trust our knowledge of nationwide closing fees. We would never have built our Closing Cost Calculator—a powerful automation tool that is so accurate, it results in a cure only once in every 22,000 quotes and can save lenders 61,694 paid work hours, or $1.96 million in hourly pay, every year.

We would never have invested so much in thought leadership and content marketing. We would never have enjoyed such amazing, enriching partnerships with other mortgage industry leaders. We would never have had the opportunity to host important conversations on mental health in the workplace ,the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the role of women in mortgage, the importance of high conduct standards at industry conferences, and best practices for hiring.

We would never have had the opportunity to build such an amazing team of diverse, hard-working people. We would never have started the Lending Leaders Podcast, where we’ve talked for three seasons with inspiring people about topics we never thought we’d learn about. We certainly would never have started “A Tale of Two Mortgages,” a goofy webcomic just for the mortgage industry.

All in all, if Dave and I had quit way back then, we would have so much less to be grateful for. It’s been an awesome ten years, and we can’t wait to see what comes next!

P.S. To celebrate, we’re throwing a party at this year’s MBA Annual Conference—which happens to be in our hometown, Philadelphia, PA. Registration is free, and we’d love to see you there! Sign up HERE.