Fintech Leaders

Miguel Armaza
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Learn from today’s global leaders building the organizations that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.

  1. Is Finance Technology? How Founders Can Avoid the Mistakes That Kill Fintech Companies

    2 DAYS AGO

    Is Finance Technology? How Founders Can Avoid the Mistakes That Kill Fintech Companies

    Send us Fan Mail I sat down with Andrew Endicott, fintech entrepreneur and my co-founder at Gilgamesh Ventures. Andrew is also the author of the recent book "Is Finance Technology?", a practical guide for founders, operators, and investors in financial services. The book covers everything. From the common mistakes that kill fintech companies, to how to think about risk, fraud, and regulation across verticals. I highly recommend picking up a copy. Few people have operated across as many roles and verticals as Andrew has. Having been a financial services lawyer, investment banker, entrepreneur, board member, and now investor, this book reflects that breadth. Timestamped Overview: 00:00 Finance origins and early technology 05:56 Necessity driving creativity 07:42 Solving everyday consumer challenges 13:49 Impact of emerging technologies 16:44 Fintech innovation and successful founders 19:30 Challenges of choosing customers and partners 21:39 Dealing with fraud challenges 26:00 First movers in payment industry 31:11 Writing the book and changing views 32:46 Fintech companies becoming banks 37:01 Venture capital trends and shifts 39:32 Writing process and challenges 42:27 Hoping to inspire future entrepreneurs Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

    44 min
  2. Lesaka - Building Africa's Leading Fintech as a Publicly Traded Company, with Ali Mazanderani

    24 MAR

    Lesaka - Building Africa's Leading Fintech as a Publicly Traded Company, with Ali Mazanderani

    Send us Fan Mail I sat down with Ali Mazanderani, Chairman of Lesaka, a nasdaq traded, leading fintech in Southern Africa with over $400 million in revenue and 2 million active customers. Ali is a fintech veteran investor and builder, who’s been closely involved with several multi-billion dollar fintechs in emerging markets, including Stone, Pine Labs, Kushki, Thunes and is also a co-founder of Teya. ‌ We discussed why Southern Africa is one of the most exciting fintech opportunities in the world, how Lesaka is turning 120,000 merchants from cash-only to digital, the strategy behind acquiring Bank Zero, and why being a publicly traded company is a feature, not a bug. Timestamped Overview: 00:00 Intro & Ali’s Background 05:00 Creating positive impact through fintech 09:23 Founding Taya Joy in Building 10:32 Customer first approach to success 14:49 Benefits of Public Market Discipline 18:12 Fintech's Limited Impact in Africa 20:36 South Africa's business opportunities 25:45 Bank Zero Digital Advantage 27:46 Customer-First Mindset & Innovation 32:27 Key Focus Growth and ARPU Trends 33:41 Value Over Price Wins Customers 38:35 Driving Merchant Payment Efficiency 42:52 Digitizing Africa's Future 43:58 Ambition for global excellence 47:14 Authenticity and empathy drive success Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

    51 min
  3. Sequoia's George Robson: An Inside Look at Sequoia and What it Takes to Build Generational Companies

    10 MAR

    Sequoia's George Robson: An Inside Look at Sequoia and What it Takes to Build Generational Companies

    Send us Fan Mail Miguel Armaza interviews George Robson, Partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the most legendary venture firms in the world. Founded in 1972 by Don Valentine, Sequoia has backed some of the most successful tech and fintech companies in history including Nvidia, Apple, Google, Nubank, and Stripe. Sequoia-backed companies make up over 25% of the Nasdaq's market cap, and add up to $13+ trillion in market cap. George is one of 19 investing partners at Sequoia and was previously a product manager at Revolut. We discuss how Revolut built a multi-product machine by treating every team like a startup, how Sequoia uses storytelling to calibrate its investors on what generational founders look like, and why the next wave of fintech winners will be full stack companies that internalize the technology instead of selling it to incumbents. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & George’s Background 04:14 Finding My People at Revolut 07:37 Building Self Sufficient Cross Functional Teams 10:57 Focus on Growth and Profitability 14:45 Crucial Decision and Growth 17:49 High-Conviction Investment Strategy 19:07 Parth's Inspiring Entrepreneurial Path 23:38 Entrepreneur Growth and Resilience 28:19 Storytelling Key to Early Success 31:05 Effective Board Dynamics 34:14 Entrepreneurs Investors and Problem Discovery 36:42 Outsiders Tackling Big Markets 40:21 Rewriting Business Laws of Gravity 44:04 Humbling Reads and Insights 46:17 Doug Leone Fierce and Kind Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 80,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

    48 min
  4. Michael Calvey: The Investor Behind Multiple $20+ Billion Companies

    24 FEB

    Michael Calvey: The Investor Behind Multiple $20+ Billion Companies

    Send us Fan Mail Miguel Armaza sits down with Michael Calvey, one of the most successful and legendary emerging markets investors of our time. Mike moved to Moscow at age 27 in the early 90s and built Baring Vostok into a powerhouse with $10+ billion invested in Russia. They backed now-decacorns like Yandex, Revolut, Tinkoff, and Kaspi at their earliest stages. Yandex alone was a 450x return for the fund. Along the way, he survived a 98% market crash, was detained by Russia's secret service, and made billions of dollars for his investors. He's also incredibly thoughtful about the ingredients of great founders, what separates the ones who win from those just chasing money, how the best companies constantly stack new S curves, and why being a hands-on owner but never a hands-on manager is the key to a great investor-founder partnership. Timestamped Overview 00:00 From Oklahoma to Russia - Intro & Michael’s Background 10:32 Building an Elite Emerging Markets Team 14:36 Geopolitics, Economics, and Market Resilience 20:25 Fewer Investments, Better Focus 24:08 Successful Entrepreneurs Value Purpose 28:47 Management KPIs and Key Insights 33:45 3 Cs of Ownership Focus 42:53 Marketplace vs. Fintech Growth Dynamics 44:02 Marketplace Dominance and Financial Complexity 52:25 Emerging Markets: Talent vs. Geopolitics 54:51 Emerging Markets and Fintech Ventures 01:00:20 Medici Family: Banking and Intrigue 01:05:59 Starting Over as Entrepreneur  Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

    1hr 8min
  5. Why Zero Hash Rejected a $2Bn Offer to Build the Future of Financial Infrastructure - Edward Woodford, CEO

    10 FEB

    Why Zero Hash Rejected a $2Bn Offer to Build the Future of Financial Infrastructure - Edward Woodford, CEO

    Send us Fan Mail Miguel Armaza welcomes Edward Woodford, founder and CEO of ZeroHash, to Fintech Leaders for a candid, insightful conversation on the future of blockchain infrastructure and the lessons learned from nearly a decade of building in crypto. Edward offers a unique perspective as a London-born, MIT-educated entrepreneur who’s seen ZeroHash grow into one of the most critical and least visible companies powering the global blockchain ecosystem. He shares his journey— from getting rejected by Oxford and taking the leap to the US, to building his first fintech business and discovering Bitcoin at the MIT bookstore. Join Miguel and Edward for a conversation packed with actionable insights for fintech founders, builders, and investors aiming to navigate the fast-evolving landscape at the intersection of crypto, infrastructure, and financial innovation. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & Edward’s Background 05:49 Balancing Business and Personal Life 08:58 MIT Bitcoin and Career Exploration 13:14 Tech-Driven Market Shift Insights 16:07 Tokenization and Global Interoperability 20:08 Impact of the founding team 21:54 Founding team dynamics explored 26:32 Power versus influence in investing 29:25 Effective Infrastructure Pricing Strategy 33:44 Weighted performance-based churn metric 35:00 Founder Mode Intensity Defined Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

    37 min
  6. Uzum, from 0 to $1.5Bn in Four Years. Building Uzbekistan's First Tech Unicorn. Nikolay Seleznev, Co-Founder

    28 JAN

    Uzum, from 0 to $1.5Bn in Four Years. Building Uzbekistan's First Tech Unicorn. Nikolay Seleznev, Co-Founder

    Send us Fan Mail Miguel Armaza sits down with Nikolay Seleznev, Co-Founder of Uzum, Uzbekistan’s first tech unicorn rewriting the playbook for e-commerce and fintech in Central Asia. From Moscow to Tashkent, Nikolay Seleznev brings global banking experience and entrepreneurial grit to a country leapfrogging straight into the digital economy. In this episode, Nikolay Seleznev shares the origin story of Uzum and how a simple, subpar online shopping experience sparked the vision for a super app serving millions. He dives into the challenges of building next-day delivery and financial services from scratch—without warehouses, 3PL infrastructure, or widespread digital adoption. Discover how Uzum managed to issue 4 million debit cards in a single year, reach 20 million monthly active users, and outperform their first-year GMV forecast by 4x, all while driving massive change in a historically cash-based society. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & Nikolay’s Background 05:45 Building a Super App Ecosystem 08:05 Time as the ultimate resource 10:51 Uzbekistan’s rapid transformation 15:13 Commerce and Fintech Ecosystem Overview 20:12 Building trust through products 23:15 Uzbekistan’s first unicorn funding 26:57 Scaling success and adaptation 28:22 Super app strategy adjustments 32:02 Super Apps and Local Adaptation 35:41 Self-focused entrepreneurial perspective Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

    38 min
  7. How Deel Built a $17 Billion Company in 7 Years - Dan Westgarth, COO

    13 JAN

    How Deel Built a $17 Billion Company in 7 Years - Dan Westgarth, COO

    Send us Fan Mail Miguel Armaza interviews returning guest Dan Westgarth, COO of Deel, the company that's redefining how businesses hire and pay talent anywhere in the world. Deel has grown into one of the most valuable private tech companies on the planet. In 2025, they crossed one billion dollars in revenue, achieved a $17 billion valuation, and paid out $22 billion in payroll globally. Dan oversees an organization of 3,300 people across more than 100 countries. Before Deel, he was an early operator at Revolut. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & Dan’s Background 05:51 Expanding products and global reach 06:30 Optimized systems scaling go-to-market 12:55 Begging for Ghostbusters Expertise 13:41 RevOps solved with Ghostbuster 18:05 Building a Streamlined Goal System 20:26 Payroll and Adjacent HR Services 26:09 Keep It Simple Prioritize People 28:15 Morning Routine and Work Prioritization 31:46 Clarifying Communication for Alignment 35:27 Building payroll processing engines Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

    39 min
  8. FinTech's Multi-Billion Comeback: Steve McLaughlin (FT Partners), From Darkest Days to Record Deals

    09/12/2025

    FinTech's Multi-Billion Comeback: Steve McLaughlin (FT Partners), From Darkest Days to Record Deals

    Send us Fan Mail Miguel Armaza recorded this episode at FinTech Nerdcon in Miami with Steve McLaughlin, Founder and CEO of FT Partners, the largest fintech-focused investment bank. Since 2001, Steve has built a 250-person firm that's advised on landmark deals including Coinbase's $4.3 billion Deribit acquisition and Revolut's multi-billion dollar raises. FT Partners works with everyone from early-stage startups to industry giants. In this conversation, Steve shares his unfiltered views on Fintech's dramatic recovery, the tokenization revolution, and why AI will completely reshape financial services. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & Steve’s Background 02:18 Fintech thrives with smarter strategies 07:45 Crypto M&A Major Deals Emerging 09:38 Future of Asset Tokenization 12:41 AI transforming digital business 17:45 AI enhances analyst efficiency 21:08 Efficient AI investment insights 25:57 Closed-Loop Ecosystem Dominance 27:42 Building a passionate resilient team 30:07 Subscribe for more interviews Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

    31 min
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About

Learn from today’s global leaders building the organizations that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.

Information

  • Creator
    Miguel Armaza
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    199
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Fintech Leaders
  • Show Website
    Fintech Leaders

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