The Free Toaster E041 - Tim Li, CEO of LendAPI: In-Store BNPL, Indirect Auto Lending & Building Through Content
Tim Li, CEO of LendAPI, joins Carlos live in the DC studio for a wide-ranging conversation on how LendAPI is quietly becoming the infrastructure layer for modern lending.
What We Cover:
In-Store Buy Now, Pay Later Most BNPL players are built for online checkout — but 87% of commerce still happens in physical stores. Tim explains how LendAPI landed a major retailer (Sunglass brand Salmoiraghi & Viganò / Sunglass Hut adjacent) as a client looking to build a fully branded, in-store financing experience — complete with loyalty programs, insurance products, and subscription-style payment plans. The key insight: major BNPL players optimize for the transaction, not the shopping experience.
Becoming Your Own Lender Tim breaks down how any merchant — from guitar shops to wellness centers — can self-finance customers using LendAPI's platform. High-margin businesses in particular can absorb default risk while collecting a down payment and building customer loyalty.
Indirect Auto Lending LendAPI recently certified on RouteOne and DealerTrack, the two dominant auto dealer POS systems. Tim explains why credit unions are ready to ditch legacy LOS providers and what LendAPI offers that incumbents simply can't — speed, flexibility, and zero change-order fees.
Building Through Content Tim shares his unfiltered content strategy: no ghostwriters, no AI tools — just 3,000-word blog posts written in 45 minutes at Starbucks on Saturday mornings. Two years in, LendAPI gets 3-4K website visits per day and runs entirely on inbound leads with no sales team.
Find Tim Li: LendAPI.com
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A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=mar
A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect
Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.
A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group:
Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.
https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/
To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:
A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:
New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.
Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators.
If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com