In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Craig Cecilio, the CEO and founder of DiversyFund. Craig shares a pivotal story about recognizing opportunity during the Great Recession, which led him to pivot from buying cheap real estate to building a fintech platform. He outlines the CEO skill set he has cultivated—big‑picture vision, real‑time decision‑making, team recruitment, and turning ideas into reality. His core business advice is simple: never give up and ignore naysayers. When asked about happiness, Craig says staying in motion and constantly learning keeps him content. He cites Napoleon Hill’s The Law of Success as his favorite book and highlights a Michael Jordan quote—“Never say never, because limits like fears are often an illusion.” Craig explains DiversyFund’s origin: created under the JOBS Act using a Reg A+ offering to democratize alternative‑asset investing, allowing everyday investors to commit as little as 10% of their net worth. He wraps up with his social media handles (Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) for listeners to connect.
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Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner as always. Today's sponsor is Authors Unite, and if you want to become a successful author, Authors Unite is the place to go. So head on over to authorsunite.com to check out a free case study that will teach you how to do exactly that, and now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Craig Cecilio with us. He is the CEO and founder of Diversifund. Craig's mission is to disrupt traditional alternative asset investing and empower the average investor by giving them the same wealth-building opportunities available to the 1%. So welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me, appreciate it.
Of course, grateful to have you on. So the first one I got for you, Craig, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
The best story, so you make me choose just one story. So, I would say every decade I probably had a big story to share. And I guess I would say more recently, I always like to talk about the downturn and what I saw as an opportunity coming out of the downturn to pivot and what I actually wanted to do in life. Because going before the recession, for people who were part of that party, it was a giant party. Business wasn't making sense. Everybody was making a lot of money. It was just basic principles weren't being followed, and that's kind of some of the reason why everyone was doing so well. And I thought we had, uh, that's why we had such a hard crash, and it should have been a depression and the Great Recession. So coming out of that and, and, and pivoting and seeing an opportunity, and I was like, oh my God, you could get, buy real estate for dirt cheap. And then later on, I was like, how do I pivot what I'm doing with the advent of all the startups and tech companies, pivot that into a tech company. So I was able to kind of pivot at that point in time. One, get, uh, create some wealth through real estate, and at the same time pivot into the startup field and build out a fintech company.
And then, uh, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Uh, I would say the, the biggest thing about myself, my expertise As trying to more be a true CEO, I think the skill set that I've developed over the years was being able to, being able to pivot, being able to see the big picture, pop up to that 30,000-foot level, connect all the dots with everything, be able to communicate what I want, my goals, my needs, Being able to recruit a good team, being able to, uh, take, take a vision, take an idea and see it to fruition. And that was developed over years. And I would say that that's probably my gift, is being able to make decisions in real time and just kind of see the big picture.
Okay. And then, um, what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Just don't give up. Don't, don't listen to the naysayers. Don't listen to other people telling you you can't do something. That's a word that's not in my vocabulary. Just don't give up. Just keep going. Keep pressing ahead.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Uh, think bigger. And yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, no, so then now, so now we'll get a little deeper, right? This is gonna— we're going down a little different path. In your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
For myself personally, I always have to stay in motion. So, I don't look back on life saying I didn't make a decision or didn't act upon something. So, as long as I'm learning and moving forward, I'm pretty happy all the time.
All right. I agree with that. That's actually the same for me. And then, what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
The best book I'll say I read online is, uh, The Law of Success, Napoleon Hill. I have like an original version, kind of a hardback, kind of one of those old brown cover types. So that was probably the best book.
Got it. And actually, just before I get to our next question, can you tell us, like, break down a little bit more about Diversity Fund and just, just tell us about the whole story of it?
Uh, Diversity Fund was created out of the JOBS Act that was passed due to the Great Recession We developed it into a fintech platform that allows the everyday investor to invest online through technology into alternative investments. So we took some of the laws from the JOBS Act that was passed in 2012, and the one that we chose to use was a Reg A+ offering that got, I think, enacted back in May 2015. So really didn't go to market until middle of 2016. So it's a fairly new type of investment vehicle. That allows the everyday investor to invest in alternative investments.
Okay. And then, um, and just cause I'm, I'm curious, I think I've, I've heard of, um, uh, there's a couple of companies I've heard of that basically you can invest, like you don't have to have, forget what the guidelines are, but like for like the top 1% or something and to invest, excuse me, invest in some of these, you have to have like $250,000 net worth or something like that. So are you saying like, You know, your net worth in this sense, you're enabling anybody to invest. They don't have to have a certain net worth.
Yeah, just 10% of your net worth. So you have a net worth of $2,500 and invest $250. So it's just a percentage.
Okay, got it. And then, what is your favorite quote and why?
Favorite quote? Um, quite a bit of quotes. Now, you think my favorite one's probably too long to say on this, but I do like Michael Jordan's quote from his Hall of Fame speech. He says, "Never say never, because limits like fears are often an illusion." I like that.
Well, listen, man, short and sweet. Thank you so much for coming on. The last one I got for you: where can our listeners best connect with you and find you online?
Pretty easy to find me. My social handles: Craig Cecilio. I'm on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Perfect. Thank you again.
Great.
Appreciate it.
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