Trixy Castro is a true inspiration. She is a dynamic entrepreneur who has started and invested in over 50 companies. Her story is one of passion, drive, and never giving up. The host of The Deep Wealth Podcast and post-exit entrepreneur Jeffrey Feldberg speak with Trixy about strategies that get results.
Trixy began her career by revolutionizing the real estate and finance industries. As the founder and former owner of Genesis Capital, she transformed real estate private money financing, making her company an industry leader. She also launched Genesis Auctions, a real estate auction platform, to help her borrowers access more inventory. Her visionary approach led to the successful exits of Genesis Capital, sold to Goldman Sachs and Hudson and Marshall, sold to Fidelity National Title.
Trixy’s journey offers valuable lessons to entrepreneurs everywhere. Let’s dive into her incredible story and see what we can learn.
Trixy didn’t always have it easy. She started her entrepreneurial journey at the young age of 14. She wanted to join the soccer team and the cheerleading squad, but each sport cost a lot of money.
“Turns out at 14, you need a worker’s permit and a ride to work and someone that’ll hire you,” Trixy recalls. Undeterred, she created her own business, “Trixy’s Theater Time,” making business cards herself. Trixy’s story of earning more money than her parents combined, all while still a teenager, laid the foundation for her future ventures.
“I was so excited to have made these two teams into want to be able to play with them, but I didn’t want to place any undue financial hardship on my parents,” she recalls.
Since she couldn’t get a traditional job due to her age, she decided to create her own opportunities. She designed business cards for “Trixy’s Theater Time” and went door-to-door offering her services. Within 30 days, she was making more money than both her parents combined, under the table.
Learning the Ropes
As she grew, Trixy realized the potential of real estate. She noticed that many of the largest depositors where she worked at Wells Fargo were from the real estate industry. Driven by curiosity, she decided to learn everything she could about it.
She started her company with a phone and a tiny desk. “My mother didn’t speak to me for like two weeks because she was so upset,” Trixy remembers.
Alongside a small team, including high school students working part-time, Trixy built Genesis Capital. Her determination and hard work paid off when she raised significant equity from investors, led by Oak Tree Capital.
Trixy wanted to make something big. She studied hard, getting a part-time job at Wells Fargo. She noticed that real estate was a big opportunity. People were flipping homes but needed better loans. So she created Genesis Capital. Her vision was clear: “I set out to create a bank and to be that debt provider for these groups,” she said.
She started from scratch, often joking about how small her office was. She hired her first employees, sometimes even from high school, to help build her dream. “So, this is my dream team,” she reminisced about her early team.
Trixy spent over two decades innovating in the real estate and finance industries. Genesis Capital, her groundbreaking company, revolutionized real estate private money financing. She started this with a phone, a desk, and a dream, scaling the company to industry leadership.
“I wanted to be the debt provider for these groups, where traditional banks couldn’t scale to meet their demand,” Trixy explains. Her company flourished, and she ultimately sold Genesis Capital to Goldman Sachs.
Embracing Challenges
Starting a company in 2008, during a financial downturn, was no easy feat. Yet, Trixy embraced the challenge head-on. She focused on understanding all aspects of her business, from processing loans to meeting with borrowers.
Trixy reflects, “I always had this thirst for knowledge to try and learn from others. Regardless of what business they were in, how could I take what they’ve done, and how could I improve what I’m doing, and how could I avoid pitfalls.”
Her hands-on approach and willingness to learn and adapt helped her build a thriving business despite the odds.
Starting a business wasn’t easy, especially for a young woman in a man’s world. “Hi, my name is Trixy. Please give me hundreds of millions, wait, billions of dollars” wasn’t going to cut it, she said. She learned every aspect of her business, from answering phones to underwriting loans.
Trixy didn’t have all the money at first, but she had big plans. She realized, “I needed to hurry up and it raised the right kind of money.” Through hard work and determination, she grew Genesis Capital into a company making billions.
In addition to Genesis Capital, Trixy founded Genesis Auctions, a platform that provided lenders with access to additional inventory. Her visionary approach led to partnerships and mergers, including the acquisition and integration of Hudson and Marshall. These ventures amassed significant success, leading to another notable exit when Hudson and Marshall were sold to Fidelity National Title.
Beyond her ventures, Trixy’s philosophy is deeply mission-driven. She focuses on housing, creating jobs, and empowering other entrepreneurs. Her extensive experience has provided invaluable insights into what makes a company succeed or fail.
“It takes one to know one,” Trixy says about evaluating entrepreneurs. “You want to know that when the chips are down, that person is going to roll up their sleeves and figure it out.”
The Importance of the Right Team
Trixy emphasizes the importance of having the right team. When building her businesses, she focused on creating a collaborative and innovative culture.
She shares, “Being very transparent with the team and being very open with the challenges that we faced and we were going to face and how we were going to work on them together really was, a way to learn by drinking out of the fire hose.”
Trixy believes in teamwork. She made sure her company felt like a family where everyone worked together. “It wasn’t like a team of I; it was really a team of us,” she explained. She also knew the importance of having a clear vision. “Understanding both in myself and in my team and anyone that I worked with, what is their why?”
She faced many challenges, raising money, finding the right employees, and competing with bigger firms. But Trixy always focused on her mission: creating opportunities for others and building a strong team around her.
This openness and shared vision motivated her team to work together through challenges, creating something truly special.
Trixy also shares about the importance of understanding timing and adaptability in business. “Being nimble and receptive to market changes is crucial,” she notes, reminding us that every successful entrepreneur must learn from their past and adapt quickly.
Investing in Others
Having achieved success, Trixy now focuses on helping other entrepreneurs. She understands the importance of support and mentorship.
She says, “So many times people will talk to you from wherever they are and they’re in that fear mode or you’re expected to do something by all of these norms that have been set in front of you and being okay to break those norms.”
Trixy advises entrepreneurs to filter out the noise and focus on their own vision and mission. She encourages them to be self-aware and confident in their abilities.
Another fascinating aspect of Trixy’s journey is her work with investments and mentoring. She believes in helping other entrepreneurs by sharing her experiences and providing support where she can.
Trixy learned from both her wins and losses. She’s invested in 50 companies and always focuses on the people behind them. “It comes, so much of it comes down to the entrepreneur,” she said. She also believes in being honest about challenges and staying flexible.
She takes the extra step to find the right people to work with. “If I’m not the right fit again, it doesn’t mean that I might not be the right fit down the road,” she shared about investments that didn’t fit initially.
“I love it. There’s so much that we can do together,” Trixy says. Her enthusiasm for collaboration highlights the power of community in the entrepreneurial world.
Trixy’s journey is not just about her own success. She continues to make a difference by investing in other businesses and helping them scale.
She mentions her latest partnership in merchant services, “How many ways can you free up cash for an entrepreneur without changing their day to day, their model, or creating more work? It’s a bit of a challenge.”
Through this partnership, she helps entrepreneurs cut their merchant fees, freeing up cash to scale their businesses.
## Final Thoughts
Trixy Castro’s story is a testament to the power of determination, learning, and collaboration. She believes in the importance of knowing your trade and being confident in your abilities.
“Remember you are the business. You are the business, so investing in yourself and taking that time to be able to do whatever it is that refuels you, whether it’s meditating, praying, yoga, working out, whatever it is, take that time for you,” she advises.
Trixy’s advice to everyone is simple: “You are the business, so investing in yourself” is vital. Take the time to refuel through activities that relax you. “Remember that you’re the business, block out the noise,” she added.
For anyone looking to start or grow their own business, Trixy’s journey offers invaluable insights and motivation. Her story reminds us that with passion and perseverance, anything is possible.
Throughout the podcast, Trixy’s message is clear: perseverance, innovation, and a solid support network are key to entrepreneurial success.
As Trixy so beautifully puts it, “Keep being yourself, Trixy. Keep wearing pink if you like pink. Don’t let the noise block you out. Do not let it block you out of that room you want to get into or that deal you want to make. Use it to fuel you and give it your all every single time.”
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