 Welcome back folks to doubt 189 I guess today folks Valerie who's bomb Harris Valerie is the executive vice president of Climate First Bank. I like it Climate First Bank. This is that we're all into climate. Yes. Okay. That's we're alive and kicking. Yes Guess what if we want to stay alive and kicking we better take care of the earth. That's right So tell us about climate first bank. All right climate first bank We opened on Tuesday this week. Yes. Yeah, we are now open. We are no longer in Organization so climate first bank is a values-based bank headquartered here in st. Petersburg. Yeah, our founders from the Orlando market He started two other banks there And he has decided that he has not finished what he came here to do and so this time. He is Unapologetically about the climate We are a legal benefits corp So if you know anything about that we have selected through our our election as a bank, you know our tax election We are so we are Mission-driven we are focused on doing things to improve people planet prosperity I mean that is really our mission and we don't believe that that's mutually exclusive from being profitable so we think we can do all of that and Still have a good return for our shareholders and which totally makes sense I mean every bill that's going through Congress right now. There's something in it with climate. Yeah, I mean the bottom line It's interesting too when you look at the large integrated oil companies, you know, they they lost a lot of cases, right? But their prices are still going up, so it's So my head's going that you know what they have so many engineers They're gonna make a shift to they are in fact I have a friend who just retired and he was in renewable energy with one of the large ones Now you see yo he's quite a guy Ken LaRoe He's an entrepreneur in a big way, isn't he in a big way and so he says he is He's both a rabid environmentalist and a rabid capitalist. Yeah. Yeah, he's having fun And folks when you go to their website and their website is a climate first bank Read read the MO on Ken because it's pretty cool. What's cool? What I thought was really cool about it was this it's a picture when I'm interviewing someone I hunt it You know, I mean right and the first thing I said to myself as a sale man. You already had one bank He sold it. This is just a Basically at MO that okay, I'm gonna call a first climb and I'm gonna sell it again, but when you read the story It's phenomenal. I mean because the guy drives a Prius Which he's not a big fan of Prius But he's committed he is committed so and so tell me about Community banks being committed in general, okay, you know, we have a lot of small businesses down here, right? You have the climate bank, of course, there's gonna be people that do deposits just because of that, right? Oh, yeah, but then then let's look on the other side of it that small businesses. They want to do Number one we're a community bank. Yes, we are a community bank headquarters in St. Petersburg Serving our residents our businesses, you know, I'm from I'm from St. Pete long in life long I wasn't born here. We moved here. I grew up in the south side. I go into Bay Point Bay Point Lakewood I live in the south side now. Yeah So, you know, we are very much a community bank You know, we have a number of our folks that we know the history of St. Petersburg We know the evolution we know the good things that have happened in St. Pete and some of the things that kind of disrupted our town So we're familiar. We're you know, we're we're we're the people that care about not just the planet but care about St. Petersburg so I've been waiting my whole life for an opportunity like this to Be in banking at a in a leadership level here in my hometown I started my career 32 years ago had many opportunities to advance But that required me to relocate out of the market and I just didn't want to leave St. Pete I just love it here. My friends here. My family's here. So anyway, you know You kind of get to that point where like this opportunity has has it will evade me and then all of a sudden Ken and I were Introduced I'm like, wait a minute and there's a whole bunch of banks and new starts and SBA a lot of things happening right now and I was weighing out my different options and I was at another community bank That was acquired by another bank and it just didn't feel and look like what I'd signed up for So I actually stepped back and said oh, you know what? I'm gonna figure this out There's a lot of opportunity and as I sat back I go wait a minute climate first bank without a doubt This is the direction. I have to go everything else looks the same. We could all promise good service We could all promise, you know many things, but we're bringing Something unique and what we're bringing unique is is a commitment to the needs of the planet and the needs of our community So one of the things that we're looking at doing is solar finance both residential and commercial Long-term fixed rate and if you've followed solar, I know it well, it's the Wild Wild West It's the what it's the Wild Wild. It's like lease cars meet. Sorry, you know use cars salesman It kind of all gets lost. Well, that's great news because yeah, I'm sure all you folks out there right across the country We've all seen those knockers and and let me tell you something so so my better half Bottom-line I come home one night and I get the solar guys there, too, and you're gonna picture I built a lot of houses. I know so upside down and all of a sudden I said to the poor kid I says listen man. I'm gonna Level with you. I'm gonna hear you pitch. Yeah, I don't mind it But guess what you're not putting a 40 or $50,000 number on it. That's what they do. They do it's 17 to 25 percent Right. Yeah higher than it should be at least right off the bat. All right. That's pretty cool That right off the bat you're looking at solar particularly in Florida, right? I mean we're in the epicenter of sun if you can put solar on your business or on your house and lock in your Costs for the for lifetime, you know and the solar panels have gotten so good I mean they're 25 year Warranties and they're holding up like 80 most like 80% or more of the panels holding up 80% or more To the to that term for the 25 years. So yeah, they're they're really worthwhile. So let's picture it You have the banks up and going now Tuesday. Yes, okay Bottom-line someone wants to do business with you get a small business wants to do business with it Talk to me. Are you gonna be doing SBA loans tell? Yeah, we're full service So, you know, whether it's your bricks and mortar real estate finance whether it's lines of credit for operating companies whether it's a business acquisition Finance which is a particular specialty of mine. I love this act finance and that I often do through the SBA 7a loan program Yes, exactly, you know, so you can lock something in on a business acquisition Ten years with as little as 10 percent down, you know, so that's something we're that we're doing USDA we're looking at doing some large-scale industrial Like solar farms in Florida. So it's not in these major metropolitan areas But certain areas that do qualify within USDA at USDA eligible map. So so what's really cool about this folks? And now if you happen to be around here, great Give Valerie a call that climate first bank will get that phone number if you're not, you know And it's somewhere else when you're talking with the community bank It's always great when they know the SBA upside down, but they know these programs What I've seen is that there's so many programs out there for people. They just don't realize it, right? Right, and they're very Inexpensive efficient all of that. I mean, it's pretty amazing Right now the 7a program if you the the government is still paying those closing costs and still providing other incentives through the end of September, so it's still a great time. Yeah, yeah, so there's still but even if you're if you're Look talking to your community bank. Not every banker understands SBA lending. It is a niche within commercial lending. Yeah, and In all these different programs, I can't be an expert on all of them There are far too many, but I know my partners at SBA or at the government that I can say hey listen I've got somebody that's in this space. Can you help guide them to somebody who can help with that program or product? So the goal of climate first as you read through as you reach to the website folks Go Ken's goal is they don't that's three to five years. Yeah, you go public We get an acquisition and try to go public and I'm not putting you on the spot But yeah, that's a five seven years going full right right now. We're focused on the first three years We're Genova. We're you know, we're heavily regulated So we have a business plan that we have to adhere to and by the way we oversubscribed our capital raise last week Congratulations. Yes. We started with a business plan of 17 million. Yeah We thought we'd come in at 25 or 27, which we did and then they allowed us to keep it open Took us to forty three point five. Oh, that's a big one 42. Stay right there Valley and I come my back folks Sharpening your skills as an investor is like getting better at playing a musical instrument You have to practice sure, but you also need excellent instruction from experts at TFNN You'll get advice and guidance from the authority and technical market analysis and it's not just dry tedious text either TFNN airs live financial content streamed live on TFNN.com and TFNN's YouTube channel with Tiger TV Live every market day from 8 30 a.m. To 4 p.m. Eastern for free each host is an experienced trader and gives their take on the market while taking calls and questions live from around the World from the moment the market opens until the closing bell sounds Tiger TV has eight different shows with expert hosts to help you make the Right moves with your money watch online at TFNN.com or on TFNN's YouTube channel and become the investor You were born to be TFNN educating investors Markets can rise and fall like the tides Subscribe to Basil Chapman's newsletter the opening call and you too can ride the wave Basil Chapman is an authority in technical analysis His Chapman wave trading system has been helping traders identify trends and capitalize on momentum in the markets since 1984 TFNN invites you to test Basil's proprietary Chapman wave trading methodology with a monthly Subscription to the opening call newsletter for only $149 Your subscription to the opening call comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee as well as daily market updates on key indexes stocks and commodities Ride the wave sign up for the opening call risk-free today Introducing Primal Edge today, it's even more important to take a supplement that complements your health Primal Edge is specifically formulated to boost your immune system and help with weight loss better sleep stress reduction and a need to detox Our early ancestors found all their nutritional requirements in the wild environment But today our food sources don't contain the vitamins minerals and nutrients that we need to stay healthy and strong That's why we need Primal Edge daily nutrition It includes a special blend of ionic soil based vitamins minerals fatty and amino acids in an easy to use liquid form Primal Edge is powered by highly concentrated humic and fulvic acids Nature's preferred delivery system They've been called miracle molecules because like sunlight air and water without them life cannot exist That's right Ellen. They ensure we receive all the nutrition we need to be healthy and thrive We take it every morning Primal Edge just eighty nine dollars exclusively at TFNN.com Don't forget you can listen to TFNN live on your mobile device 24 hours per day Go to TFNN.com and hit watch Tiger TV. That's TFNN.com and hit watch Tiger TV Welcome back folks down down right now but 188 Nasdaq up 208 S&Ps are up about 40 and folks a bottom line that high is gonna get hit. It may not be today, but that high wants to get hit So Valerie Talk to me. All right, so I was saying to you that we are starting here in st. Petersburg We saw this as an excellent market for all the reasons we all love st. Petersburg You know the climate the the people the businesses the art the culture We are then opening in Orlando, which is Ken's primary market coming back to Tampa for our third location Back over to Orlando for a fourth. We're going to fill in the I4 corridor. Okay This is what we're doing the first three years Then we do look to I heard you talking about warrants those investors They have the opportunity to to to to do their warrants and then perhaps another capital raise And then we will go public at some point But our goal is to be across the largest climate-oriented bank in the country largest in southeast in the very well very near a future but After Tampa Bay in Orlando, we're looking to go Asheville Nashville, Austin, Atlanta cover the southeastern United States So well, congratulations acquiring other banks be the acquirer. Yes. No. Yeah, totally because because the idea when you package an idea like this He has you have the vision right the vision is a huge deal, right? You already have the experience right that executing You are at the fun state Well, you're particularly the fun stage now because you just raised the 42 million. Yeah, 33.4 Yeah, and you only had to raise 17, but 25 was great because that gets you into a difference here, right? And then we just blew it out. Congratulations. Thank you. Well, listen. Thank you so much for being here Thank you for having me look forward to having you again. All right. Oh You remember folks, whatever you think about you bring about whatever your focus on grows and whatever you want in life folks Visualize it. Just like a nice big motion picture step into it Take ownership of a fly with it. Everything you need is right inside us folks Have a great weekend. Have a safe weekend Come back and visit us Monday morning. Tommy kicks us off 9 o'clock in the morning Please tell your friends about TFNN tell them to go to YouTube search TFNN and subscribe