Cornerstone Financing is a company that empowers informed homeowners and financial advisors to plan financially with a patent-pending home equity insurance/investment funding solution. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Cornerstone Financing CEO Craig Corn to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
Craig Corn’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Corn said:
“A nearly 40-year career split between Wall Street in structured finance and trading, and Main Street leading mortgage companies with a focus on reverse mortgages.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Corn shared:
“Primarily driven by two events: 1) Me and my partner’s (Dan Anderson, a longtime friend) careers informed much of what we were trying to solve for. In Dan’s case, there was a recognition that there is a systemic underinsurance issue in this country in the life, annuity and LTC space, mostly driven by a lack of funding capability; in my case, it was a desire to figure out how to most efficiently allow senior homeowners to access their largest asset, home equity, in order to facilitate successful aging in place; and 2) when Dan and I started discussing these massive challenges facing millions of Americans over 2 years ago, it became clear that as we learned more about each other’s business, there were multiple solutions staring us in the face, including my understanding of new home equity products that were making their way into the marketplace that did not involve debt but rather selling a fraction of one’s home (overcoming a major challenge which is older adult homeowners do not like debt as they get older), and Dan’s understanding of wholesale insurance distribution, which allows for the ability of the company to significantly scale its distribution network without having to “pay” for it; rather we provide insurance and financial advisors a new funding source to offer their homeowners clients as a means to purchasing critical retirement-oriented insurance & investment products.”
“The combination of a non-debt home equity product and scaled distribution allows our company to create a compelling value proposition to the consumer through a low cost yet scalable origination model. This is unique, and it’s what sets us apart from any other company in the traditional premium financing space and other companies using home equity as a tool to generate cash for homeowners.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Corn reflected:
“Many things, but the build is always exciting. Dan and I are serial entrepreneurs, and we both agreed right out of the gate that if we were going to invest our time and resources into not only a start-up, but creating an entirely new industry, the value proposition to the consumer, and by extension the insurance/financial advisor, had to be our north star. The process of sketching out the business model was exciting, but the over 12-month process of validating the business model to all stakeholders in the insurance space, including distribution, carriers, asset managers, and reinsurers, has been the most exciting part of the journey. However, now that we have launched, the excitement over our first transactions with consumers and their advisors has been not only super exciting for Dan and me, but for our over 20 colleagues who have been with us from the beginning. Nothing better than seeing an idea play out in real time.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Corn explained:
“Our core product is our insurance/investment funding product we call ‘CHEIFS’ (cornerstone home equity insurance/investment funding solutions), spelled the ‘right’ way, not the way they spell it in Kansas City! CHEIFS is a product that allows homeowners to sell a fraction of their home, rather than selling a fraction of their investment portfolio or using cash on hand to fund insurance & investment products. With CHEIFS, homeowners retain 100% of the utility benefits of homeownership but can efficiently monetize a dormant asset class and re-purpose it for more optimal outcomes. It’s why we also use CHEIFS “converting home equity into financial success” as the action part of our business model, in addition to our product.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Corn acknowledged:
“Like any start-up, especially a start-up trying to create an entirely new, and possibly transformational business model, getting things done at the pace we would ideally like is always the big challenge. With that being said, Dan and I recognize the incredible opportunity to change the way insurance and investment products are paid for, so dotting the proverbial I’s and crossing the T’s is paramount, if not sometimes frustrating. In addition, we have had to overcome the challenge of the “not invented here” syndrome. While Dan and I have had long and successful careers, we’re not rocket scientists. What we have done, however, is connect existing businesses in ways that were not done before, and I think it’s the experience and expertise we have accumulated in our respective careers that was unique, fitting almost hand in glove, which allowed us to create something that has never been done before. When we explain that to stakeholders, it’s easier to understand how a couple of guys from New Jersey came up with this concept.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Corn noted:
“We started from scratch, literally. We were fortunate in that we had access to resources who we have worked with before and wanted to be part of this journey. We also have decades of experience in building home equity origination systems, which gave us a great intellectual platform to begin the build out of Core, our CHEIFS origination system. Now, we have a full end-to-end proprietary system built where advisor’s clients can take an application, and we can process, underwrite, close, fund and on-board the CHEIFS contract with our sub-servicer. Core has practically no volume limitations, but our investment in Core really never ends, as the goal is not only creating a compelling product value proposition in the form of CHEIFS, but it is also to create a superior customer experience, for both the advisor and, more importantly, their client.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Corn cited:
“Our first state approval in 2024, Arizona, was super exciting. Finalizing our $285 million financing facility with our partners, Nomura and Aquiline, at the end of 2024 was not only a monumental achievement, but practically unprecedented for a company that had not started its business operations. Taking our first application in 2025 was beyond exciting, and closing our first CHEIFS transaction, right here in the state of NJ, was a massive milestone.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Corn highlighted:
“There are numerous customer success stories, but here’s one we like: we received approval to do business in New Jersey in April 2025. Our first application in New Jersey came 5 days later. The advisor’s client is a married couple with 4 children and 3 grandchildren. They own several homes outright, including a large oceanfront house on the Jersey shore. It’s unclear to this customer whether their children will be able to purchase the beach house after they pass, or whether they want to. So, they are using CHEIFS proceeds to purchase a large second-to-die life insurance policy, with the beneficiaries being the children. Upon their death, the children will have the option of either using the life insurance funds to purchase the house or simply using the life insurance proceeds as they desire and sell the house to pay off the CHEIFS obligation. Creating this type of legacy and flexibility was important to our customer, and Cornerstone’s CHEIFS product was the optimal solution.”
Funding
When asking Corn about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“We discussed funding before, in the form of the $285mm financing facility through Nomura and Aquiline. We have raised roughly $10mm to date in the form of friends & family capital to fund the business to date. Depending on how aggressive we wish to grow, we may consider raising some more growth equity. Too early to discuss revenue metrics, but the beauty of the business model is in its simplicity: We do not pay for the referral from advisors, which allows Cornerstone to benefit from a very low-cost to originate business model, in addition to creating a superior value proposition for the customer. The demand for home equity products has increased significantly over the past few years, especially on the back of the rating agencies beginning to rate home equity products like CHEIFS, which allows us to create assets in demand at a low cost. It’s the ideal revenue model.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Corn assessed:
“The total home equity market is $35 trillion. Our demographic is the mass affluent and higher consumer, roughly 50 -75 years of age, which is where the majority of the $35 trillion of home equity resides. Needless to say, the TAM for CHEIFS is enormous.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Corn affirmed:
“We are the only company focusing on the mass affluent and higher consumer; we are the only company with a b to b to c model, which allows for a lower cost to originate model that translates into better terms and conditions for our customers; and we are the only company creating assets that often match up well with the liabilities created by insurance carriers when CHEIFS fund their insurance products. We often talk about our business model being a flywheel – we fund insurance & financial advisors’ ability to better serve their customers and sell more product; we fund the liabilities that insurance carriers issue, and we create assets that those same carriers, and other investment managers focusing on insurance assets, can purchase to better asset/liability manage their business. That is unique.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Corn concluded:
“Getting into many more states over the course of 2025, expanding the distributors that we work with, creating many more case studies so that advisors (and homeowners) can see the power of CHEIFS, continue to hire in order to meet demand, have our CHEIFS funding product become mainstream and part of the insurance point-of-sale software tools that the insurance industry uses today to serve their customers.”
