SoFi responded to the allegations on the time by saying that they had been investigated internally and “found to have no merit.” But Cagney nonetheless stepped down from his CEO function later that yr, arguing that the media protection had change into a “distraction” for the agency.

At the Fortune Future of Finance convention on Thursday, Cagney mentioned a number of the cultural points at SoFi, however argued that the “frat house” atmosphere portrayed within the media wasn’t correct. “Obviously, some of it was biased. Some of it was true, some of it wasn’t true…but that is what it is,” he stated.

However, Cagney admitted that he ought to have targeted extra on firm tradition at SoFi throughout its speedy progress period, and he’s spent plenty of time reflecting on previous errors. “When we built SoFi, it was a performance-oriented culture. We didn’t put a lot of thought into cultural values and cultural norms, and that introduced a bunch of conflicting issues that we had to deal with.”

The veteran entrepreneur went on to say he’s revamped his method towards firm tradition at his new monetary service firm, Figure, which he based alongside former SoFi VP June Ou.

“With Figure,” he defined, “I said to my cofounders, let’s spend some time and come up with something that we believe is true and is genuine to our behavior, and our core principles. And we put a culture-first organization out there, that I think has been transformative in terms of how it works and how it treats people. And I’m extremely proud of what we’ve been able to build.”

Cagney emphasised that there was a protracted “maturing process” throughout his years as a CEO and founder. He even mentioned his expertise at certainly one of his first corporations through the dot-com bubble in 2000, with one of many greatest takeaways from that have being the significance of understanding how workers really really feel, as a substitute of assuming they’re all in good spirits.

“I was so excited that we had 100% retention,” Cagney recalled. “Nobody was leaving the company, and I’m talking to the cofounders, and I’m like: ‘I think everyone’s really happy here.’”

But his cofounders had a unique take. “You’re a horrible CEO,” they responded. “People are miserable. They just can’t get a job.”

For Cagney, the dialog was a wake-up name that left him “crying in corners,” however he says it additionally sparked a severe change. “I wasn’t a very good CEO,” he admitted.

After the SoFi drama, Cagney once more stated he needed to reevaluate his conduct and concepts about firm tradition earlier than beginning Figure and sister firm Figure Markets.

“At SoFi, there were…deficiencies in our culture,” he added. “And so I think with Figure, it’s a maturing process. And, I expect I’ll leave Figure Markets even better than we were able to leave Figure, so I think we just constantly learn.”