Shamir Karkal, Co-Founder of Sila – Selling Your Company to a Large Bank, A Bullish Case for Consumer Fintech, The Hard Parts of Entrepreneurship

Miguel Armaza sits down with Shamir Karkal, Co-Founder of Sila, a fintech company that’s raised over $20m to modernize payments. Shamir is also a true OG in fintech. He previously co-founded Simple, the first US neobank built for the smartphone era, and sold it to BBVA in 2014 for $117 million.

We discuss:

• Selling Simple to BBVA and the post-acquisition challenges of integrating to a big bank
• Company building lessons and the importance of good timing
• The real reason why banks do not buy fintech companies too often
• Why Shamir is bullish on consumer fintech making a comeback… and a lot more!! 

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Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.

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