When Michael White struck out on his own after stints at DoorDash and Square, his plan was to help tech employees access the value of their equity while their companies were still private. But as White and his cofounder Gautam Gupta enabled workers to get a line of credit, they found that most people were using it to finance a home purchase.
“It makes sense,” White says. “That’s a big reason people seek liquidity—or that’s one of the first things that people do if they have an exit....