Commercial real estate crowdfunding platform Realty Mogul of West Los Angeles has brought on two executives who helped launch Colony Mortgage Capital, a unit of Santa Monica’s Colony Capital.

Michael Sanchez and Charles H. Kim were vice presidents at the commercial mortgage lending unit at Colony and will be vice presidents of commercial real estate at Realty Mogul.

“Charles and Michael are pretty well known in the commercial lending industry given the sheer volume they’ve done at Colony Capital,” said Realty Mogul Chief Executive and founder Jilliene Helman.

The former Colony Capital vice presidents’ experience launching a new lending division was especially compelling for Realty Mogul, she said.

“That was a startup within a very large private equity firm,” said Helman. “We’re trying to find people who thrive building something, rather than just thrive in operating something.”

Realty Mogul finances commercial real estate properties through crowdfunded debt and equity sales online, a process it said lowers transaction costs and broadens the field of potential investors. The company has ballooned to 80 employees since launching in 2013 and has raised more than $10 million in venture capital. It has secured $250 million in capital commitments from institutional investors for bridge and permanent lending in commercial real estate.

Helman said she’s been able to peel away executives from traditional real estate companies by pitching Realty Mogul as the future of real estate lending.

“It’s very logical, I think, if you get their wheels spinning: commercial real estate will be disrupted by tech like other industries,” she said. “When you start making people believe we are going the way of the Internet and this is real, this isn’t going away, those two things are very convincing.”

Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @garrettreim for the latest in L.A. tech news.