Rowland Hobbs

DEFINING THE PATH. Rowland Hobbs’s path from a curious child growing up outside of Seattle to a pioneering entrepreneur in the fintech and real estate sectors is a testament to his relentless drive to learn, adapt, and make a difference. Growing up in a household where intellectual curiosity and social impact were at the forefront, Rowland was inspired by his parents’ work—his father, a scientist at the University of Washington, and his mother, a professor who started the Head Start program for at-risk children. This upbringing instilled in Rowland a deep sense of purpose and a commitment to using his talents to better the world around him.

Despite being born with ocular albinism, a condition that significantly impairs vision, Rowland’s supportive family encouraged him to embrace his difference and turn it into a strength. “Luckily for me, I was incredibly social,” Rowland reflects. “I had a knack for persuading people, and that was kind of my superpower.”

Rowland’s academic journey took him from Washington State to New York, where he initially pursued a career in philosophy, earning a master’s degree in Belgium. However, a serendipitous opportunity led him to the world of digital marketing just as the internet was beginning to transform industries. In 1999, he started a digital marketing practice for a large firm, a role that quickly taught him the value of adaptability and resilience, especially when the dot-com bubble burst in 2001. This trial by fire laid the foundation for Rowland’s first startup, Post + Beam, a marketing and communications firm that grew to five offices across North America before he exited in 2013.

After stints at Accenture and Teneo, where he gained experience working for CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, Rowland felt the pullback to entrepreneurship. But this time, he was driven by a desire to create something with a deep social impact. In 2018, he founded Stake, a company on a mission to accelerate renter wealth by offering cash back, banking, and credit building services to renters—a segment of the population often overlooked by traditional financial services. “In my previous roles, I would see presentations that would leave off housing as a major expense, and I didn’t get it,” Rowland explains. “Housing costs are at least 30% of people’s take-home income, so why aren’t loyalty programs and customer experience tools applied to that?”

A WEALTH REVOLUTION. While the initial idea was to offer equity in rental homes, Rowland quickly pivoted after conducting hands-on research—literally running up and down apartment stairs in New York City to gather renter feedback. The overwhelming response? Renters just wanted more money in their wallets. This led to Stake’s current model, which offers cash back rewards for signing leases, renewing leases, and paying rent on time. “One renter really put it well: ‘It’s the money, stupid,’” Rowland recalls with a smile.

At the core of Stake lies a deep empathy for both renters and landlords, a trait Rowland credits to his experiences as a person with a visual disability and as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. “Growing up different gave me a superpower—to see how everybody’s a little different,” he says. This empathy allows Rowland to design solutions that work not just for renters, but also for landlords who sometimes operate on thin margins. Stake’s impact is already significant, with over 100,000 homes across the U.S. participating in the program, benefiting average everyday American renters.

Today, Rowland’s goal is to establish Stake as the leading banking service for renters, providing them with the financial tools that homeowners take for granted. “We’re not just looking to make a minor impact for millions, we’d rather have a major impact for hundreds of thousands.”

Rowland’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to be willing to be wrong for a long time. “You have to stay true to the problem you’re trying to solve and be willing to keep trying,” he advises. To LGBTQIA+ founders specifically, he offers: “Double down on your difference—write down your mission, put it on a post-it on the bathroom mirror so you see it each morning, and keep going back to it.”