From Seed Stage to Self-Sufficiency
About
Zippy is a Dallas-based fintech lender focused exclusively on manufactured home loans. It operates a fully digital platform that lets applicants pre-qualify, apply for, and manage loans without stepping foot in a bank, often originating loans in as little as five days. Founded by former bankers turned community operators, Zippy’s mission is to modernize the lending experience for manufactured home buyers through faster, simpler, and more efficient technology. Zippy is active across multiple states and has seen record growth as demand for affordable manufactured housing financing increases.
Testimonial
“Partnering with ISC transformed how we approached hiring. They acted as a true extension of our team, helping us add over 80 exceptional team members quickly and efficiently without ever compromising on quality, culture, or cost.”
When ISC first partnered with Zippy, the company was a 10-person, seed-funded startup without internal recruiting resources, tools, or scalable processes. The founders needed to hire quickly but deliberately, ensuring each addition would accelerate growth without straining culture or cash flow.
ISC became Zippy’s embedded talent acquisition function through its Workstream model, prioritizing critical early hires and establishing a structured, scalable hiring process. This model flexed up or down with hiring cycles, allowing Zippy to grow at the right pace while maintaining cost control.
Over nearly three years, ISC helped Zippy expand from seed stage to growth stage, adding 86 team members across technical, operational, and go-to-market roles. This precision hiring approach fueled Zippy’s expansion and set the stage for a successful transition to an internal talent acquisition function.
The Challenge
As Zippy prepared to scale beyond its seed stage, the company faced a critical inflection point: it needed to grow quickly to capture market opportunity but carefully to preserve culture and cash flow. With no internal recruiting resources or systems, every hire carried high stakes. Each decision would shape the company’s trajectory and its ability to secure future funding.
Hiring ad hoc or relying on expensive external providers risked becoming unsustainable. Zippy needed a partner who could build structure where none existed, deliver results with
speed, and adapt to changing demand while functioning like an internal team without the overhead of prematurely building one.
Our Approach
ISC deployed its Workstream model to act as Zippy’s embedded talent acquisition function, providing a scalable solution at a stage where building an internal team or relying on traditional external services would have been costly and inefficient.
The engagement began with in-depth conversations with the co-founders and key leaders to understand their vision, culture, and long-term goals. These insights shaped hiring priorities and informed the messaging used to attract candidates who would excel in their roles and align with Zippy’s mission.
With the strategy defined, ISC quickly built qualified pipelines for Zippy’s highest-priority roles, ensuring early momentum. As hiring needs evolved, ISC scaled support up or down, maintaining the right level of recruiting bandwidth without adding unnecessary overhead.
When Zippy was ready to establish an internal talent acquisition function, ISC partnered closely with the new TA leader to transition active searches, transfer process knowledge, and ensure continuity. This seamless handoff positioned Zippy to continue growing with a clear roadmap and established hiring infrastructure.
Results
Over nearly three years, ISC played a central role in helping Zippy grow from a 10-person seed-stage startup to a well-prepared growth-stage organization. Through its Workstream model, ISC delivered a steady flow of qualified candidates across technical, operational, and go-to-market roles, enabling Zippy to hire quickly during periods of high demand while remaining cost-efficient in slower cycles.
During ISC’s tenure supporting Zippy’s talent acquisition efforts, the company added 86 new team members. The average cost-per-hire was $3,350, significantly below industry benchmarks, and the average time-to-hire was 37 days. This efficiency freed resources for reinvestment into product development, operations, and market expansion, accelerating Zippy’s growth trajectory.
When Zippy decided to establish an internal talent acquisition function, ISC ensured a smooth transition by handing off active searches and transferring process knowledge, leaving the company with a fully operational hiring engine.
Conclusion
Zippy’s journey shows that strategic, scalable talent acquisition can transform a company’s growth path. By embedding early and aligning hiring with business priorities, ISC helped create a disciplined and repeatable process that delivered both speed and quality.
The partnership left Zippy with more than just a larger team. It provided the infrastructure and confidence to continue building independently, with a clear roadmap for the future.