(alt-text: A photo of Eric Blue sitting on a couch in formal attire.)
A former attorney and current entrepreneur Eric Blue founded Nevly at the beginning of 2021. Still, the company has already seen substantial growth in its infancy stages. For Eric Blue, many opportunities and experiences led to the opportunity to build a company focused on leveraging technology to develop products that serve consumers, helping them strengthen their financial health.
How did Eric Blue become a founder and CEO of a successful FinTech company? Knowing the story that got him to this point helps him make sense of it.
Early Life
Eric Blue grew up in New Orleans, deeply connected to the city. After having academic success in high school, he decided to study mathematics at Xavier University of Louisiana.
Once his undergrad years were behind him, he spent a few years as an investment banker before committing to the University of Texas to attend law school. He had dreams from an early age to work in some type of law, and getting a degree from a well-known, prestigious school like Texas had a chance to set him up for success.
Given his job history in finance and finishing with honors at Texas, opportunities became plentiful for Blue. It was up to him to decide what direction he wanted to take his life.
Early Professional Career
Following graduating from University of Texas, Blue’s career started out just as he had imagined, holding the position of corporate attorney with some of the largest law firms – for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld, LLP and Baker McKenzie.
Working for well-respected international law firms made Blue feel like all his hard work and dedication in the classroom paid off. There’s nothing better than working hard toward a goal and meeting those expectations.
However, despite his professional success, being an attorney was less fulfilling than he had hoped for and he found himself searching for ways he could be more impactful. When other opportunities started to pop up, he was listening. That eventually led to a career change that, in a roundabout way, got him to Nevly.
Valler Holdings Corp.
With Eric Blue’s background in mathematics, working for international law firms focusing on capital markets and M&A transactions made sense. He found a way to incorporate his mathematical mind with his knowledge as a newly trained lawyer.
It took a lot of hard work from Eric Blue to establish himself as a professional before jumping all in when straying away from law practice. He did that in 2014 when he became CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Valler Holdings Corp.
This was the first chance for Blue to get the opportunity to run the show on his own. Valler Holdings is a global conglomerate investing in public and private companies. They would look for different levels of stakes to make it work for them and their investors.
Everything with Valler Holdings Corporation was about collaboration. With Eric Blue’s leadership, they wanted to create value by owning and providing support for investments showing promise. He exceeded expectations, which led to him looking for new pursuits.
Developing Nevly
After over six years of building Valler Holdings, Blue continued to feel like something was missing and started looking for his next challenge. He would lean on an idea from childhood that could become a reality thanks to his knowledge and connections.
Blue stated in interviews in the past that the empathy that underlies Nevly’s brand is inspired by his childhood and the business model is a reflection of him leveraging technology to build what he believes his mom would have wished for when he was a child. He could see firsthand his mother’s financial struggles and how much stress and anxiety money caused her everyday. Being one of the most resilient people in his life, her struggles with money was something that would always stay with him. She had overcome substance-abuse issues, fought for eight years to regain custody of her children and worked multiple jobs at a time just to get by and yet having greater control over her money would be her constant challenge.
Out of all her kids, Eric was the only one under 18 when she regained custody of her children. The two fought as much as possible to become financially stable, but it seemed impossible. After experiencing more than two dozen evictions, despite working multiple jobs at a time, Blue became all too familiar with the challenges that most Americans face just to get by.
Instead of feeling helpless all these years later, Blue used his experiences to fuel a desire to develop a business model that could strengthen the financial health for people facing similar situations.
Building up Nevly
The financial world is constantly changing. The same must be said for any type of successful FinTech company in today’s world. The advances in technology, including AI and open finance, have forever changed the landscape of innovation and allows innovators like Blue to stay laser focused on delivering real tangible solutions to the most vulnerable.
Nevly has grown considerably and is still just at the beginning of its journey. The company launched Nevly Money late last year and is excited about its ability to disrupt the credit repair industry and continues to actively engage customers as it prepares to launch its mobile application.
Eric Blue understands that delivering and meeting expectations is crucial for any entrepreneur jumping into the fintech industry. The company’s Nevly Money product has already received outstanding reviews, and the company is focused on using that momentum to launch an amazing mobile application later this year.
Why Eric Blue’s Experience Makes the Difference
In a relatively short time, Eric Blue has worked as an investment banker, a corporate attorney, a volunteer and board member at numerous nonprofits, and a founder of a Fintech company focused on owning the consumer financial health space. He’s done quite a bit already, and he has high expectations that he’s still scratching the surface.
Nevly is off to a strong start and looks to stay laser focused on delivering real tangible solutions to consumers who need them the most. Blue is confident that if he and his team stay focused on the customer, limit the white noise and execute at a high level, there is a real opportunity to build an amazing family of products that drive financial health related change.
If someone were to ask Eric Blue where he’d been in 10 years last decade, it’s improbable he would’ve predicted anything close to leading Nevly and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s found what he’s been searching for – a place to build and a community of people to serve.