On today's episode, I talk with Kelly Fryer, Executive Director of the FinTech Sandbox.
Kelly and I talk about the mission of the FinTech Sandbox, why she enjoys working with startups, current market conditions for fintech startups, why access to data is so critical for startups, the market shift to open banking, the banking crisis, horseback riding, and much more.
One quick PSA. If you want to reach the best fintech community, we have all the tools you need to shape your message and reach new clients. Sponsor an episode, sponsor a webinar, buy ad space; we have it all. Please reach out anytime: todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, I present Kelly Fryer, Executive Director of the FinTech Sandbox.
Episode highlights include
- Kelly's interest in startups
- Techstars experience
- The mission of the FinTech Sandbox
- Fintech Sandbox participants and partners
- Barriers to underrepresented founders
- Fintech fundraising
- Open banking and data access
- Kelly's love for horseback riding
- The banking crisis
- And much more…
Connect with Kelly on LinkedIn
Connect with Fintech Sandbox on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, we conclude PitchIt 2023. Before we start, I wanted to share a special thanks to our judges and participating companies.
You will hear from the following finalists:
PitchIt is a personal passion project for me; getting a peak into what’s coming next in fintech is a privilege. All the founders are building fascinating companies. Innovation is alive and well.
One quick PSA. If you want to reach the best fintech community, we have all the tools you need to shape your message and reach new clients. Sponsor an episode, sponsor a webinar, buy ad space; we have it all. Please reach out anytime: todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, I present the finals of PitchIt 2023. I hope you enjoy the show.
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I talk with Gavin Nachbar, Co-Founder & CEO of Column Tax. Please note this episode was recorded live at Fintech Nexus USA 2023.
Gavin and I discussed the founding story behind Column Tax, tax refunds versus more money per paycheck, why taxes are so interesting, embedded finance, raising capital, and much more.
One quick PSA. If you want to reach the best fintech community, we have all the tools you need to shape your message and reach new clients. Sponsor an episode, sponsor a webinar, buy ad space; we have it all. Please reach out anytime: todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, I present Gavin Nachbar, Co-Founder & CEO of Column Tax. I hope you enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include
- Column Tax founder story
- Why taxes are so complicated
- Tax education
- API accountant
- The lack of innovation in the tax market
- Embedded finance
- Raising capital
- And much more…
Connect with Gavin on LinkedIn
Connect with Column Tax on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I am joined by Rodney Robinson, President & Co-Founder of TabaPay.
Rodney and I discuss the shift toward faster payments, what that means for the overall payments market, and where the US sits today in payments innovation. TabaPay is a platform built for real-time money movement.
One quick PSA. If you want to reach the best fintech community around we have all the tools you need to shape your message and reach new clients. Sponsor an episode, sponsor a webinar, buy ad space; we have it all. Please reach out anytime: todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, I present Rodney Robinson, President & Co-Founder of TabaPay. I hope you enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include:
- TabaPay's founding story
- There And Back Again
- Faster payments costs
- FedNow
- The banking crisis
- US vs. International payments systems
- Raising capital
- Recommended reading - The Martian by Andy Weir
- And much more…
Connect with Rodney on LinkedIn
Connect with TabaPay on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I am joined by Oscilar's Co-Founders Neha Narkhede and Sachin Kulkarni.
Neha, Sachin, and I talk about the founding story behind Oscilar, the importance of no code, the efficiency of out-of-the-box solutions, the benefits of engineering talent from all industries, the rising importance of fighting fraud, being married as co-founder, raising capital, and much more.
One quick PSA. If you want to reach the best fintech community, we have all the tools you need to shape your message and reach new clients. Sponsor an episode, sponsor a webinar, buy ad space; we have it all. Please reach out anytime: todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, I present Oscilar's Co-Founders, Neha Narkhede and Sachin Kulkarni. I hope you enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include:
- Oscilar's founding story
- No code
- Out-of-the-box solutions
- Fintech, BNPL, BaaS
- The importance of diverse engineering talent
- Fraud to the top of the stack
- AI risk management
- Being married as co-founders
- Raising capital
- And much more…
Connect with Neha on LinkedIn
Connect with Sachin on LinkedIn
Connect with Oscilar on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
PitchIt is back and better than ever for its 9th year!
PitchIt, a competition for fintech startups, provides selected finalists unparalleled access to industry experts and invaluable exposure, branding, and more.
16 semifinalists. Best and Brightest VCs. 1 chance to Change your Future.
Semifinal round 2
- Ascent
- Calque
- Uplinq
- Neofin
- Debbie
- Glide
- LamaAI
- The People's Card
VC Judges include - Citi Ventures, JAM FINTOP, Team8, Prosus, BankTech Ventures, CMFG Ventures, Sutton Bank.
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
PitchIt is back and better than ever for its 9th year!
PitchIt, a competition for fintech startups, provides selected finalists unparalleled access to industry experts and invaluable exposure, branding, and more.
16 semifinalists. Best and Brightest VCs. 1 chance to Change your Future.
Semifinal round 1
- Boss Insights
- Conductiv, Inc.
- FinGoal
- Grounded Technologies
- Momnt
- Paperstack
VC Judges include - Citi Ventures, JAM FINTOP, Team8, Prosus, BankTech Ventures, CMFG Ventures, Sutton Bank.
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I am joined by José Carlos, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Palenca.
José and I talked about the differences between the US and LatAm fintech markets, how hard it is for lenders to get an accurate picture of a borrowers income, Palenca's pivot from a lender to a data provider, Mexico's fintech journey and where fintech is today in Mexico, tae kwon do, raising capital, and much more.
A couple of short PSAs:
Applications for PitchIt have now closed; keep a lookout for the semifinals on April 26 and April 27. The finals will occur at Fintech Nexus USA on May 11 at The Innovation Zone on the Expo Floor.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, José Carlos, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Palenca. I hope you enjoy the episode.
Episode highlights include:
- Palenca's founding story
- José's time at Uber
- Why they pivoted away from lending
- The differences between the US and LatAm fintech markets
- Open banking
- Financial inclusion
- Raising capital
- Tae kwon do
- Recommended reading - The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects by Andrew Chen
- And much more…
Connect with José Carlos Aguilar on LinkedIn
Connect with Palenca on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I am joined by Ron Ross, Co-Founder, President & COO of Everee.
Ron and I talk about his journey to starting a company, his CFO experience in raising capital, the problems with and incentives around payroll, the path to payday becoming every day, the Boston Red Sox, and much more.
A couple of short PSAs:
Applications for PitchIt have now closed. Keep a lookout for the semifinals on April 26 and April 27. The finals will occur at Fintech Nexus USA on May 11 at The Innovation Zone on the Expo Floor.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Ron Ross, Co-Founder, President & COO of Everee.
Episode highlights include
- Ron's journey from four-time CFO to founder
- The meaning of the word Everee
- The history of payroll
- Real-time beer rations
- Misaligned incentives around payroll
- Payroll as a competitive advantage
- How payday becomes every day
- The SVB crisis
- Raising capital
- And much more…
Connect with Ron on LinkedIn
Connect with Everee on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I'm joined by Ron Benegbi, Founder & CEO of Uplinq.
Ron and I discuss his history of entrepreneurship and how it ties closely to his family's journey as immigrants. We talk about the SMB credit score, the shifting definition of small business, the overuse of as-a-service, getting more lenders to yes, fraud detection as a byproduct, raising capital, the NFL Draft, and much more.
A couple of short PSAs:
We are still accepting applications for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus USA 2023, head to (https://www.fintechnexus.com/usa/2023/startups/) Fintech Nexus dot com for details. The link will be in the show notes.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Ron Benegbi, Founder & CEO of Uplinq. Enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include
- Ron's entrepreneurial background
- The founding story behind Uplinq
- The lack of an SMB credit score
- The overuse of as-a-service
- The various definitions of small business
- How lenders get to yes more often
- Better data equals lower defaults
- The fraud byproduct
- No regrets
- Recommended reading - Good to Great by Jim Collins
- The struggles of raising capital
- And much more…
Connect with Ron on LinkedIn
Connect with Uplinq on LinkedIn
Apply for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus 2023 HERE
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I'm joined by Lamine Zarrad, CEO and Founder of StellarFi.
Lamine and I discuss his unique journey to the US and fintech, the inequities in the credit system, rebuilding your credit, why he chose to be a public benefit corporation, the health of the US consumer, banking regulation and failures, raising capital, and much more.
A couple of short PSAs:
We are still accepting applications for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus USA 2023, head to (https://www.fintechnexus.com/usa/2023/startups/) Fintech Nexus dot com for details. The link will be in the show notes.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Lamine Zarrad, CEO and Founder of StellarFi. Enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include:
- Lamine's unique journey to the US and StellarFi
- The importance of being a public benefit corporation
- The current credit health of the US consumer
- Why credit building and repairing are so complicated
- Is the credit score outdated?
- Lessons from his time in public service
- Thoughts on the current bank crisis
- Bank failures and financial inclusion
- Recommended reading -
- The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic by Robert L. O'Connell
- Raising capital
- And much more...
Connect with Lamine on LinkedIn
Connect with StellerFi on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I'm joined by Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder & CEO of Zip.
Rujul and I talked about the frustrations he and his co-founder encountered, which led to the idea behind Zip, the importance of a consumer-grade solution, the growth trajectory Zip is currently on, raising capital, Roger Federer, and much, much more.
A couple of short PSAs:
We are still accepting applications for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus USA 2023, head to (https://www.fintechnexus.com/usa/2023/startups/) Fintech Nexus dot com for details. The link will be in the show notes.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder & CEO of Zip. Enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include:
- Zip's founding story
- A consumer-grade experience
- More spend visibility across the organization
- Better audit trail
- Easier budget management
- "Zip is where you do your best work"
- Recommended reading
- The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer by Christopher Clarey
- Raising capital
- And much more…
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I'm joined by Christian Maynard-Philipp, Founder & CEO at Pattern.
Christian and I discussed Pattern's origin story, why Pattern is different from some of the investing apps in the market, scalability, and financial advisors, the investing education gap, her time in the public sector, the best fundraising story I've heard, and much more.
A couple of short PSAs:
We are still accepting applications for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus USA 2023, head to (https://www.fintechnexus.com/usa/2023/startups/) Fintech Nexus dot com for details. The link will be in the show notes.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Christian Maynard-Philipp, Founder & CEO at Pattern. Enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include:
- Christian’s founder story
- Her time at Acorns and Cash App
- The investing education gap
- Consumer advocacy
- Smart scalability
- Financial health and inclusion
- Compliance, Compliance, Compliance
- The gender gap in fintech
- Recommended reading
- Ride of a lifetime, by Robert Iger
- Better not Bitter, by Yusef Salaam
- Raising capital
- And much more…
Connect with Christian on LinkedIn
Connect with Pattern Financial on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I'm joined by Susan Tanski, Co-Founder & Head of Strategy at Sunstone Credit.
Susan and I talked about Sunstone's origin story, what drove her interest in the climate, how Sunstone is helping SMBs finance solar power, the 1 trillion dollar opportunity in commercial solar, raising capital, and much more.
A couple of short PSAs:
We are still accepting applications for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus USA 2023, head to (https://www.fintechnexus.com/usa/2023/startups/) Fintech Nexus dot com for details. The link will be in the show notes.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Susan Tanski, Co-Founder & Head of Strategy at Sunstone Credit. Enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include:
- Sunstone Credit’s founding story
- An Inconvenient Truth
- Why Sunstone Credit focused on SMBs
- Commercial solar’s TAM
- Where we are today on the Climate
- Why everyone needs to do more on sustainability
- The broader embedded finance market
- Recommended reading
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell
- Raising capital
- And much more…
Connect with Susan on LinkedIn
Connect with Sunstone Credit on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I'm joined by Olga Chin, Founder & CEO of InterPrice Technologies, Inc.
Olga and I discussed InterPrice's founding story, her path to financial services, how InterPrice helps corporate treasury teams, the most significant problems treasury teams face, an unlikely byproduct of their platform, raising capital, and much more.
A couple of short PSAs:
We are still accepting applications for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus USA 2023, head to (https://www.fintechnexus.com/usa/2023/startups/) Fintech Nexus dot com for details. The link is in the show notes.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Olga Chin, Founder & CEO of InterPrice Technologies. Enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include:
- InterPrice's founding story
- Olga's acing of the MCATs
- Investment banking
- The funny story about their web domain
- Biggest impediments for corporate treasurers
- Relationship banking
- Dealmaking myths
- Advice from the founder of Noom
- Raising capital in good times and bad
- Recommended reading - Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up by Jerry Colonna
- And much more fun along the way
Connect with Olga on LinkedIn
Connect with InterPrice Technologies, Inc. on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode I am joined by Marcos Fernandez, Managing Partner of Fiat Ventures.
Fiat Ventures is an emerging VC focused on supporting and growing the next generation of market leading early-stage companies in the fintech space.
It's a fascinating time in fintech, one one hand, you have a lot of bad news with layoffs happening almost daily, but on the other you also have these incredible stories of growth and excitement.
Marcos and I delved into where fintech sits today, how early stage founders should think about capital and when to raise, the precarious position crypto is in, the lack of diversity within the ecosystem, operator versus investor, the Las Vegas Raiders, and much more.
A couple of short PSAs:
We are still accepting applications for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus USA 2023; head to https://www.fintechnexus.com/usa/2023/startups/ for details.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Marcos Fernandez, Managing Partner of Fiat Ventures. I hope you enjoy the show.
Session highlights include
- Marcos's journey to Fiat
- Where the name Fiat Ventures came from
- Fiat's investing thesis
- Fiat's portfolio companies
- Fiat's differentiated approach to investing
- The state of fintech today
- The current fundraising environment
- The lack of diversity in venture capital
- Why crypto and Web3 still have a bright future
- Marcos's love for the Oakland (Las Vegas) Raiders
- Recommended reading
- And much more…
Connect with Marcos on LinkedIn
Connect with Fiat Ventures on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today’s episode, I’m joined by Patrick Sells, Co-Founder of True Digital Group.
True Digital Group's mission is to help financial institutions embrace digital innovation through investments in culture, capabilities, and capital.
It really is a mission for Patrick and the team at True Digital Group. Over the last few years, he’s had the chance to speak to 1,100 financial institutions. You can say he truly has the pulse of the banking community.
Patrick and I discussed common themes from the 1,100 conversations; the biggest barriers banks still face today, the education gap amongst banks and fintechs, Mindshift, blockchain and crypto, raising capital, and much more.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Patrick Sells, Co-Founder of True Digital Group. I hope you enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include:
- Patrick’s journey through banking to True Digital Group
- 1,100 bank conversations
- The Mindshift product
- Top impediments banks face today
- The education gap
- Selling to banks vs. credit unions
- Blockchain and crypto
- The impending recession
- Raising capital
- Recommended reading - When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- And much more…
Connect with Patrick on LinkedIn
Connect with True Digital Group on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today’s episode, I’m joined by Joe Cianciolo, Founder & CEO of HomePace.
HomePace's mission is to enable homeowners gain financial flexibility. They do this by allowing homeowners to unlock the equity in their homes.
HomePace's innovation gives homeowners more financial freedom without taking on more debt and gives institutional investors access to the real estate asset class.
Joe and I talked about where the HomePace idea originated from, his time at SecondMarket and FutureAdvisor, the typical use of funds through this transaction, how the overall real estate market impacts their business, playing football at Penn State, raising capital, and much more.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Joe Cianciolo, Founder & CEO of HomePace.. I hope you enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include:
- Joe’s journey to HomePace
- Lesson’s learned from FutureAdvisor & BlackRock
- HomePace’s model
- Correlation to the broader housing markets
- Equity v. Debt
- The education gap for equity housing transactions
- Raising Capital
- His time playing football at Penn State
- Recommend reading for kids: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Ronald Dahl
- Recommend reading for founders: Moneyball by Michael Lewis
- And much more…
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today’s episode, I’m joined by Dani Pensack, Co-Founder & CEO of Rightfoot.
Rightfoot enables developers to add debt repayment to any application.
Founding stories are always unique, but Dani and Rightfoot are thus far the most interesting to date. They moved into a retirement home to test out their initial idea. Yup, a retirement home, and only one out of 150 said yes.
The idea was that high school kids could make good money by helping retirees with technical tasks like coding; the money would then go into a 529 education account.
While the initial idea didn’t pan out, it helped them to figure out their current business and gave them a life experience like no other. Dani is one of the most resourceful founders I’ve met thus far; just wait until you hear the vacation van story.
Dani and I also discussed the core problems associated with debt repayment, how debt impacts households, her time in Southeast Asia, raising capital, and much more.
If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at todd@fintechnexus.com.
Without further ado, Dani Pensack, Co-Founder & CEO of Rightfoot. I hope you enjoy the show.
Episode highlights include
- Dani’s journey to Rightfoot
- Rightfoot’s founding story
- Dani’s time at IBM in SE Asia
- How Rightfoot’s API works
- Embedded finance
- Financial Inclusion
- The barriers women-led startups face raising capital
- Tips on raising capital
- Recommended reading - The Messenger by Markus Zusak
- And much more…
Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
- Craig’s journey to Finalytics
- The importance of the cloud
- The community bank and credit union tech mindset
- Why data is so critical
- Common mistakes made by community banks and credit unions
- The evolution of the fintech-bank relationship
- Human high touch vs. digital high touch
- Raising capital
- The San Francisco 49ers
- And much more…
Connect with Craig on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
- Ben's journey to CoinFlip
- Why is asking advice asking permission
- The Crypto Winter
- Traditional FI adoption of blockchain
- The differences between crypto and blockchain tech
- Bootstrapping
- Learning to clear your mind
- Olliv
- Financial health and inclusion
- People matter
- The Crypto Experience Centre
- And much more….
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I was joined by Andrew Brown, Founder & CEO of Check.
The Check platform makes embedded payroll possible. Check helps leading companies launch a successful payroll business in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost.
Embedded products have taken off in recent years, which has helped enable companies like Check. Embedded finance has quickly become one of the hottest areas in fintech.
Payroll is another area in fintech that's catching fire. Payroll is one of the biggest challenges for small business owners, especially since we've moved to a more distributed workforce. Check enables companies to offer payroll within a suite of management tools. The Check platform of platforms frees small business owners to focus on growing their companies.
Andrew and I discuss the fragmented payroll market, the future of payday, the larger embedded finance trend, stories from the fundraising trail, and much more. I hope you enjoy the episode and don't forget to rate the show.
Episode highlights include:
- Andrew's journey to Check
- What's a platform of platforms?
- Why is payroll so complicated
- The fragmented payroll market
- The rise of embedded finance
- The changing nature of payday.
- Recommended reading - Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
- Raising Capital
- And much more...
Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn
Connect with Check on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
The Fintech Nexus weekly news show covers the top stories in fintech.
Get ready for this week by catching up on last week's top stories:
- Bloomberg | Sam Bankman-Fried’s Path to Jail Took Just Weeks in Speedy US Probe
- NY Times | Prosecutors Say FTX Was Engaged in a ‘Massive, Yearslong Fraud’
- Atlantic Council | It’s official: The United States is developing a bank-to-bank digital currency
- American Banker | Lawmakers caution SBA on admitting fintech lenders to 7(a) program
- American Banker | Figure-affiliated SPAC plans to merge with mortgage bank
- TechCrunch | Why Checkout.com lowered its internal valuation
- Fintech Nexus | LatAm22: VC ‘dry powder’ can outwait everyone, McLaughlin warns
- Fintech Nexus | LatAm22: Pix hits 64 million user milestone, Central Bank official says
- Fintech Nexus | LatAm22: No magic to growth, Covalto CEO says
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
On today's episode, I sat down with Jean Smart, Founder & CEO of Penelope.
Penelope is the retirement savings platform for small businesses & entrepreneurs. Small is the key term; Penelope focuses on the smallest of the small businesses.
Penelope currently serves companies that have no more than 15 employees. A lot of these small firms are local mom-and-pop shops. One of the biggest barriers these companies face is finding and retaining talent.
Penelope offers them a chance to compete. Retirement accounts are one of the top asks from prospective employees. Having the chance to offer retirement savings helps level the playing field.
Jean and I discussed her journey to Penelope, her family's immigrant journey, how Penelope designs content & education, do-it-yourself investing apps, risky asset classes like crypto, raising capital, and much more.
Episode highlights include:
- Jean's professional journey to Penelope
- The biggest barriers SMBs face in trying to offer benefits
- Lessons learned from Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and others
- Language and education barriers
- Financial inclusion
- Changing the perception of SMBs
- Crypto
- Raising Capital
- And much more
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
The Fintech Nexus weekly news show covers the top stories in fintech. With Fintech Nexus LatAm approaching, we focused on Latin American fintech news.
Last week's top stories:
- MercadoLibre in talks with WhatsApp on business messaging payments -CFO
- PIX could go international as Brazil’s central bank shares protocols
- Brazil's Nubank announces $330 million equity capitalization in Mexico
- Argentine Fintech Ualá to Start Giving Personal Loans in Mexico
- Brazil postpones capital requirements deadline for fintechs amid weak economy
- The Crypto Industry Struggles for a Way Forward
- Plaid lays off 20% of staff
- Meeting the hype of fintech in remittance
- Destácame closes $10 million series B round to consolidate expansion in Mexico
Connect with PitchIt:
- Tweet me @ToddFintech
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous PitchIt episodes
- Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com
Until next time.
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