Armando began his unique career as a professional poker player before pursuing an MBA at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He subsequently joined The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) before transitioning to Business Operations (BizOps) at Better.com. Armando is now the Head of Strategy & Business Operations at Better leading a team of roughly 18 people.

Better.com is one of the fastest-growing homeownership companies in the country, having grown 3.5x year-over-year and funding over $700 million in mortgages a month. The fintech disruptor took apart the home-financing ecosystem, replacing it with a digitized process that eliminates commissions, fees, unnecessary steps, and time-wasting appointments. In 2019, Better.com also launched homeowners insurance, title insurance and real estate network. Continued here...

Jump to the following questions:

• Can you explain a bit about your journey into BizOps?
• Why did you choose to pursue BizOps? Was it the only role you were looking at?
• What does a role in BizOps at Better entail?
• What does a typical day for a member of the BizOps team look like?
• What does your typical day look like?
• How could BizOps vary at different companies?
• How is the BizOps team at Better structured?
• Do you have any tips for getting into BizOps?

Can you explain a bit about your journey into BizOps?

My journey into BizOps has been fairly unique. I've always wanted to either launch my own company or join an early-stage startup. When I was thinking about starting my own company, I realised I wanted to build a strong foundational toolkit that management consulting provided. So I decided to pursue an MBA here in the US and then joined BCG. Throughout my experience at BCG, I eventually realised that I wanted to get more into “the doing.” Advising a company is great, especially these large companies that have a very broad reach. However, you get to the point where you deliver the deck and then someone else is making the change happen. I wanted to be on the other side of the table and the one making it happen. 

Throughout my search, my criteria brought me to BizOps. I spent a good amount of time meeting people and trying to understand what every different company was about. As I met people here at Better, I fell in love with two things: