O'Leary Ventures President Talks Mortgages, Wines and Bags of Cash!

Now this is the story of a young man, a law school graduate, who, uh, paid off his student loan, huge student loan, with cash. How do you do something like this? We're joined now by Alex Kenji of Toronto, president of O'Leary Ventures, a startup investment company owned by Kevin O'Leary.

Hi Alex, how are you?

Hi Sean, how are you?

I'm great, how are you?

Hey, good. Nice to hear from you. Alright, tell me about this. You paid off what, 115 thousand dollar student loan?

That's right, yeah, I did. I posted the receipt on Facebook just very spontaneously, and, uh, the next morning it had kind of gone viral quite, uh, unexpectedly.

Oh, is that how it happened?

I know, it's unbelievable.

Well, I think that what's interesting is not only you paid it off, but you paid it off with cash. How did that happen, Alex?

Well, you know, I went to my first, uh, my bank, where I had deposited the, um, the cash that we got when I sold my, my first startup from before I worked for Kevin. And, uh, when they asked me how would you like the money, I thought, well, you know, this is a big moment in my life; why not make it hilarious? And I said, uh, you know, why don't I’ll take it in cash? Because I had to walk it, of course, across to the other bank that had my, uh, my student loan.

Oh yeah, so, um, so you know. And, and what people have found really interesting is how much of a hard time the two banks both gave me. So, the, uh, the first bank, you know, really didn't want to do it, and the second bank didn't want to take the money initially.

Really? It's funny, isn't it? It's legal tender; it was cash money.

I thought so, you know, but, um, but they all had a good laugh with me at the end. So, you know, it worked out nicely.

So, you sold off a company? Good for you. Going to college, getting a degree, and also running a company that that was obviously profitable. You get 115 thousand cash. Did you have armed guards in a bulletproof vest as you walked to the other bank?

I did not. I had my wife, uh, but, uh, yeah, you know, she protects me.

It must have felt pretty good, Alex, because, you know, a lot of people take years and years to pay off their student loans.

It did, you know, and, uh, you know, I guess I'm lucky because for me, I know for sure now that the debt was all worth it. And other people have to sometimes wait a lot longer before that becomes clear.

What do you attribute your success to? What, why, why have things worked out so well for you?

I don't think I'm so different from a lot of other people who take on a lot of student debt. I mean, for me, I went into an entrepreneurial stream, I guess, so I was okay with taking, you know, pretty big risks. Um, and, you know, I would have had to live with it either way had it worked out or not. So I think you have to have some humility, and for the role of luck in everyone's life, you know, some people...

You posted that receipt, as you said it kind of went viral. Some people say, like, oh, he's just bragging; this guy's just bragging and making us all feel bad. And, you know, how do you respond to that?

Uh, you know, that I really didn't mean to do that, and really sorry if it seemed that way for some people. I definitely did not mean to rub it in people's face. Um, that's for sure, you know. I realized that, you know, for a lot of people it takes a lot longer. And like I said, it could have been me, um, just as easily had the company not worked out as well as it did or not been sold so quickly.

So, yeah, but surely you have the right to celebrate some success, right? You're just celebrating; you're just putting it out there, I paid off my student loan.

That's true, and that's all I was really trying to do. So I'm glad you see it that way.

Well, Alex, what's next for you? You've got this paid down; that's fantastic. What are you up to right now?

I have the coolest job ever, I think. I'm working with Kevin O'Leary, who's one of Canada's most well-known and successful entrepreneurs. And what we're building, some really exciting new companies with him. Um, he really wanted somebody who was both young and hungry but also had experience building, uh, successful companies that grow really quickly. And so he found me, and we're building, uh, some really exciting businesses.

We're building a mortgage business, so Canadians will be able to take out an O'Leary mortgage designed to be easier to understand and easier to live with than what people are used to seeing today.

Um, we're going into the inves, so by the end of this summer, you'll be able to get O'Leary wine. The idea being also, you know, taking his brand of just making things simple and easy to understand and honest and direct, and putting that into a really something that's usually very complicated like wine. So, you know, one red, one white that, you know, is going to be good for a good value.

I'm kind of, kind of a shameless plug there, but I'm excited!

You can plug away, Alex, but we have to leave it there; we're up against the clock. Great to talk to you and a great story. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

I appreciate it so much for having me, Sean. I really appreciate it.