Live Oak Bank’s BJ Losch on why AI is an accelerant, not a strategy
- Live Oak Bank grew from lending only to veterinarians into 40 verticals without ever opening a branch.
- President BJ Losch explains how AI is helping cut SBA loan approval-to-close times from over 100 days toward a two-week target, while keeping the credit decision itself with a human underwriter.
Most banks seem to chase small business customers as one segment among many. Live Oak Bank was built around a bet that specializing beats generalizing — and it started about as narrow as a bank can start, lending only to veterinarians. Today, Live Oak has grown that thesis into 40 verticals, holds the top spot among all SBA 7(a) lenders by dollar volume, and has done it all without a single branch.
My guest is BJ Losch, president of Live Oak Bank. Live Oak has never had a physical location, yet its people travel the country to sit across the table from customers a branch down the street never would. Now the bank is layering AI onto that model, cutting loan approval-to-close timelines from over 100 days toward a two-week target, and thinking hard about what it means to stay high-touch while going high-tech.
We talk about the theory of verticality, where automation should and shouldn’t touch the credit decision, and why BJ sees AI as an accelerant of Live Oak’s strategy rather than the strategy itself.
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Top-line Takeaway: In his conversation with Tearsheet founding editor Zack Miller, BJ Losch, President of Live Oak Bank, underscores that AI works best as an accelerant to a strong strategy, not a strategy in itself. For Live Oak, the branchless, nationwide bank, that strategy is vertical specialization: deeply understanding small businesses in specific industries and pairing that expertise with high-touch service. AI can take on more of the manual work behind lending, helping the bank move toward two-week loan closings and making personalized service more scalable. But Losch draws a clear line around human judgment in credit decisions, where trust, accountability, and borrower context still matter. The bigger opportunity, he says, is using AI to rethink workflows, productivity, and distribution while preserving the customer intimacy that has differentiated Live Oak from traditional banks.
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The backstory behind becoming the top SBA lender
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