MINNEAPOLIS — Visionary business leader William M. Lively remembers the night when a single bold idea shifted everything. He was standing in a conference room at EXtrance long after the sun went down, surrounded by whiteboards covered in sketches and equations. His engineering team had just pitched something that sounded too ambitious, the kind of idea most leaders would shelve for later. Lively paused, studied the room and told them to run with it.

“Experimentation was not just encouraged, it was expected,” he said. “Every idea, even the unconventional ones, was treated as a potential breakthrough. That mindset is what kept us agile.”

That one belief shaped the fintech company he built from the ground up. EXtrance, a platform powered by AI, machine learning and blockchain infrastructure, reimagined how commercial real estate investors manage their capital. It tackled one of the most opaque corners of the market and pushed it into the future with transparency, automation and scale.

In 2025, EXtrance was acquired by a major investment bank. The deal validated years of innovation and experimentation, but Lively’s story goes deeper than a successful exit. As he built the company, he was also building something else entirely. In 2020, he launched the William M. Lively Foundation, a community-led initiative focused on digital literacy, entrepreneurship and creative empowerment in underserved neighborhoods across Minnesota.

These parallel tracks, one driven by high-velocity fintech engineering and the other by slow, thoughtful community creativity, gave him a perspective few founders ever develop. For Lively, innovation has never been confined to one sector. It has always been a mindset that connects technology, art, business and everyday life.

“Innovation is not just technology,” he said. “It is the ability to see problems from angles that no one else is looking at yet.”

Today, Lively stands at the intersection of both worlds, proving that advanced digital systems and creative human expression can shape a more inclusive future when they are allowed to work together.

William Lively: ‘I Stayed Inspired By Looking Beyond Technology’ 

William Lively’s entrepreneurial path began long before EXtrance. He started his career in the venture capital and blockchain ecosystem, co-founding SyndEX Labs and helping define early infrastructure for alternative investment markets. He later became a partner at DCI Capital Advisors, one of the earliest U.S. firms focused on blockchain venture capital. His work advising startups on funding and adoption shaped the instincts he would rely on later.

However, the seeds of curiosity were planted much earlier.

“I stayed inspired by looking beyond technology,” he said. “I studied architecture, art and cultural movements. Those influences shaped our product direction at EXtrance more than most people realized.”

He built EXtrance on that foundation of cross-disciplinary creativity. It was not just a tool for investors. It was a reimagining of how investment ecosystems should work.

At the company, he established a culture that rewarded rapid prototyping, constant feedback loops and fearless collaboration. Teammates were expected to bring wild ideas to the table, explore unconventional approaches and challenge the assumptions that governed legacy systems.

“I encouraged teams to prototype rapidly, fail quickly and learn constantly,” he said. “Cross-team collaboration was standard practice.”

That culture did not just spark ideas. It kept the company nimble as it scaled. When EXtrance designed a modular development system that allowed clients to customize features quickly, it was not just a technical upgrade. It was a competitive differentiator that eventually became central in acquisition discussions.

“That architecture changed the game,” he said. “It reduced production time and boosted scalability. It showed what was possible when you allow creativity to guide technical decisions.”

For Lively, creativity was never an accessory. It was the engine.

Lively’s Career Was Built on Innovative Problem-Solving and Bold Thinking

When the acquisition process began, many assumed EXtrance would shift into a more rigid structure. William Lively saw an opportunity instead.

“During the acquisition, I reframed the transition as a creative reimagining rather than a corporate overhaul,” he said. “That shift allowed EXtrance to integrate seamlessly while preserving its innovation culture.”

Rather than feeling boxed in, his team felt empowered. They had permission to keep experimenting. They were encouraged to see integration as a new canvas rather than an endpoint.

One of the most notable breakthroughs came from simply thinking differently about legacy workflows. Instead of automating old processes, EXtrance questioned their relevance altogether. The team used design sprints, customer journey inversions and scenario forecasting to rethink the entire investment management lifecycle.

“I relied heavily on creative problem-solving,” he said. “We explored unconventional solutions before committing to any strategic direction.”

Their ability to challenge norms helped the company stand out in a crowded market, but Lively believes the deeper value came from the mindset it cultivated.

“Creativity gave us the ability to differentiate,” he said. “It helped us build products that could outlast market trends.”

Even now, after the acquisition, the fingerprints of that creativity remain embedded in the platform’s structure.

From Fast Prototyping To Purpose-Driven Creativity

While EXtrance was scaling at a rapid pace, something else was taking shape in the background. In 2020, Lively launched the William M. Lively Foundation, a nonprofit committed to expanding digital literacy, entrepreneurship and access to technology in underserved communities.

Here, Lively’s leadership style changed.

“At the Foundation, creativity feels different,” he said. “We give people the freedom to imagine without immediate constraints. The ideas come from lived experience.”

The shift was profound. At EXtrance, innovation was measured in speed and scalability. In his foundation work, innovation was measured in depth, intention and community impact.

He began collaborating with Avant Garden, a creative collective that merges art, culture and technology. The partnership exposed him to new ways of thinking and opened doors to nontraditional funding models.

“Blending artistic collaboration with technology grants allowed us to support community-led design in ways traditional philanthropy would have overlooked,” he said.

Instead of design sprints, the Foundation used creative workshops and interdisciplinary think sessions. Instead of rapid prototypes, they embraced collaborative art sessions and long-form journaling. The goal was not to build fast. It was to build meaningfully.

“We embrace slower, deeper creativity that serves long-term impact,” he said. “Practicality now means making sure solutions uplift communities sustainably.”

His current project, a cross-sector innovation residency, merges artists, technologists and community leaders to develop solutions for climate resilience and accessible technology. It reflects the convergence of every lesson he has learned.

Philanthropy As An Innovation Engine

William Lively’s foundation work clarified something he always believed. Creativity does not compete with practicality. It strengthens it.

He approaches each community program by balancing the imaginative with the functional. Ideas are allowed to grow wild in the early stages, but they are refined with real community needs in mind.

“Practicality means listening to what communities actually need,” he said. “We prototype with community input, then adjust until the solution meets both creative vision and real-world demands.”

The method is similar to EXtrance, but the purpose is different. Here, creativity exists to restore opportunity, build confidence and bridge the digital divide.

The foundation invests in mentorship programs, technology education and entrepreneurship pipelines. It inspires youth to explore careers they may have never imagined and trains adults who want to transition into the tech economy.

“Our mission is to make technology accessible,” he said. “We want innovation to feel like something people can participate in, not something happening far away.”

Through partnerships with artists, schools and community organizations, the Foundation’s work has begun to reshape the way local leaders think about social impact. It is a model that blends philanthropy, creativity and technology into one ecosystem of empowerment.

William Lively: ‘Technology Must Serve People’ 

Looking ahead, Lively believes the next decade of innovation will demand something more holistic than the past.

“Innovation requires people who can think across disciplines,” he said. “Technologists who appreciate art. Artists who understand technology. Leaders who know how to listen.”

He envisions a future where fintech platforms become more accessible, where communities co-create solutions, and where creativity is the starting point rather than an afterthought. His belief is that the next major breakthroughs in business will come not from rigid systems but from the friction where creativity meets problem-solving.

“Technology must serve people, not just profit,” he said.

As both a founder and a community advocate, Lively is committed to building that future. His story shows that leaders do not have to choose between innovation and impact. They can build both. They can stand in the boardroom and in the community. They can solve complex problems while nurturing the human spirit that fuels new ideas.

And they can prove, as Lively has, that creativity is more than inspiration. It is infrastructure.

“In the end, innovation is about seeing possibilities where others see limits,” he said. “That is the mindset that shapes the future.”