Breaking Banks Breaking Banks - The #1 Global Fintech Podcast

In This Episode







It's another engaging episode from Breaking Banks' new series, Killing It. Host Jason Henrichs shares a candid conversation with Sankaet Pathak, Synapse CEO and Co-Founder, about Synapse's just completed, very public bankruptcy and acquisition that came with highly opinionated social media commentary. Listen as Sankaet shares his personal story as well as a behind the scenes narrative of Synapse's journey, the challenges faced, and what ultimately brought him to the decision to kill Synapse as a stand-alone entity. Sequencing is important.









https://youtu.be/tkIwAiaI2dA











Full Show Transcription

[00:00:00] Welcome to Breaking Banks. The number one. Killing it. Killing it.







There's often a story behind this story. The explosion of social media, private Slack and WhatsApp groups, newsletters, make it difficult not only to decipher fact, but even put together a cohesive story. Synapse is just completing a very public bankruptcy and acquisition with highly opinionated social media commentary.







Sankat Pathak, Synapse's founder and CEO, joins me on this episode to share his side of the story and the journey that brought him to the decision to kill Synapse as a standalone entity.







Well, thanks for agreeing to have a difficult if not painful conversation about the last chapters of Synapse's journey as a standalone entity. [00:01:00] Building in public is hard and, you know, finding a soft landing is admirable and difficult enough without public commentary. I guess I should be thankful Twitter didn't have the reach and vitriol in 2014 when we like tried to crash land, you know, Perk Street, same maneuver.







I sometimes tell people it's like, we landed the plane. People were definitely on fire. But no one died, right? Um, I'm going to start with, you know, there are some of the experts on X saying, you know, all sorts of things, here's what went wrong. Why don't we start with, what are people getting wrong about the narrative in what transpired with Synapse and the TabaPay acquisition?







I think the biggest thing that people don't realize is that We didn't file for bankruptcy, and then somebody bought our assets. Uh, we filed for Chapter 11 because that's what Tapupe wanted, uh, as a safe way to be able to acquire the [00:02:00] asset. Um, because of all the noise around the company, specifically with one of our, uh, Ex customers.







Um, uh, It starts with a capital M, maybe? Yeah, Mercury. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that was the core of the reason, but I think a lot of people, uh, and again, like on Twitter, I think the mob mentality is vicious and it's fine. Um, uh, sometimes it's fun. Mostly it's painful, but that's okay. Um, their whole narrative was bankrupt Synapse has its Assets being acquired by TabaPay, but it's kind of the opposite.







It's more so the liability piece and sequencing is important, but that's the piece that people missed. Yeah, well, I mean you did have two million dollars of cash still on the balance sheet It's not like you were out of runway, you know There are other maneuvers that you could have executed and I don't think that people really understand That asset purchase agreements are the way that a lot of tech companies are acquired [00:03:00] Just because the acquirers don't want any lurking, you know, calm the iceberg liabilities that you don't even know what they are.







And you have some that are above the surface, let alone below the surface, not lurking there in court papers that that's actually way more common to do an asset purchase than people would think. Not always bankruptcy. Right. Yeah. Um, but I think that's an important part of the narrative.

In This Episode







Pay by bank is gaining momentum in the U.S., it's a natural evolution of how we pay with funds from our bank accounts. What will it take to get more people to use it and what about readiness for different use cases? Listen as host Brett King, Eric Sager, Plaid's COO and Trevor Nies, Adyen's SVP, Global Head of Digital discuss the state of pay by bank, what is driving it in the U.S., the value it delivers, the next segments to adopt, and how key challenges are being overcome to make it good for consumers and for businesses. Will we start seeing pay-by-bank in everyday e-commerce experiences? Listen to our latest episode of Breaking Banks to find out!









https://youtu.be/HDybRTh0mmE

In This Episode







Embedded banking is reshaping the industry for those with the right approach. To succeed, banks of all sizes will need a strategy, tools, and technology.







Listen as host Brett King connects with Booshan Rengachari, CEO of Finzly, pioneering provider of modern money movement systems to financial institutions, as they uncover the opportunities and keys to success in embedded banking.







Attract more corporate banking customers with new advanced features, learn how to handle KYC & KYCC compliance for fintech partnerships, and how open APIs, virtual accounts and ISO 20022 nativity enable embedded banking.

In This Episode







Todays’ Breaking Banks spotlights sister podcast Finovate, featuring host Greg Palmer’s recent interviews on the Future of Real-Time Payments with The Clearing House's, Jim Colassano, SVP Product Development & Strategy and a new report on Cost of Living, Lending and Insights from Tink with Jack Spiers, Banking & Lending Director, UK & Ireland.







Finovate Spring is around the corner, May 21 - 23, 2024 in San Francisco, CA. Check it out!









https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yIeYTZbXpQ

In This Episode







This week on Breaking Banks, we feature an episode from sister podcast EMERGE Everywhere.







Is artificial intelligence the key to providing personalized financial advice for all? While companies like Credit Karma are tapping into AI’s vast potential to help customers manage their money, the technology also raises weighty questions about how to use it responsibly. In this episode, Jennifer Tescher, host of EMERGE Everywhere speaks with Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin about how the company has embedded AI into its solutions, the biggest opportunities and challenges right now, and what an AI-enabled future might look like.

In this Episode







This week, Jason Henrich connects with Mary Wisniewski to talk about her new podcast, Money Isn't Everything, which will explore unconventional ideas and strategies within the financial services sector.  In her biweekly podcast Mary will tap into her passion for uncovering counterintuitive concepts, sharing stories and looking at complexities, gaps and opportunities in our market with focus on the role banks and credit unions play in driving and improving outcomes,







The first episode of Money Isn't Everything airs 4/18, catch it on Apple, Spotify or the Cornerstone Advisors website.









https://youtu.be/3PsqPUDBmO8