Fintech Brainfood

Simon Taylor
  • 4.9 (19)
  • Investing
  • Updated Weekly

A podcast about and for the people building the future of financial services. The Fintech CEOs, Nerds, VCs and founders who believe that by making finance better, you can make *everything* better.

Episodes

  1. Feb 18

    Fintech Nerdcon - Interview with Increase CEO Darragh Buckley

    In this episode Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo sits down with Increase CEO, Darragh Buckley to explore long-term infrastructure thinking, compliance as code, stablecoins vs. traditional rails, and what’s actually broken in payments. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:19 The motivation for Increase: addressing payment disbursement failures 03:04 Technical and business challenges in international financial expansion 05:00 Viewing compliance as an engineering problem to be solved 07:31 Admiration for legacy financial systems built with constraints 09:10 The simplicity curve: abstraction, complexity, and underlying simplicity 12:45 The philosophy of building "lovingly boring" financial infrastructure 14:30 The necessity of early partnerships and gatekept features in fintech 16:50 Stablecoins as parallel infrastructure versus replacement for traditional systems 19:58 The existing strengths of US deposit rails and last-mile delivery

  2. 06/26/2024

    S1 Recap: Alex Johnson and Cokie Hasiotis Review the B2B Fintech CEOs

    After speaking to the CEOs of Ramp, Brex, and Mercury, my first instinct is to find other nerds with whom to share my thoughts. Immediately, I thought of Alex, and then I needed to bring some class to proceedings. I called my old friend Cokie (an OG and still my favorite Fintech content writer). This is the most fun, relaxed, and engaging conversation I’ve had about Fintech in a long time. I’m not even going to try and sell it to you. Just take a listen. Who knows if or when I’ll do season 2, but this has been a fun side project. Get in touch if you want to know more about me, my day job at Sardine, or you have any feedback on season 1. Now back to your regular scheduled newslettering. ST.

  3. 06/19/2024

    Meow CEO on Why Financial Services are a Commodity

    This was perhaps the most intense conversation I can remember having. Incredibly efficient, scarily so. Focussed, intentional, direct.  Why should you listen to this episode? This company arguably created a category. By focussing on offering high yield and higher deposit insurance at a time when banks were not, when interest rates began to rise, they capitalized on a generational market opportunity. Today Meow is known for its access to high-yield treasury, and while there are a few in this category none quite have the explosive growth that Meow has. This is a company that has lazer focussed on execution, channel partnerships, and go-to-market. I describe conversations I’ve had with Brandon like talking to a scalpel. He’ll get to the point so quickly and surgically it's often hard to keep up.  Meow started offering high-yield access to Stablecoins but may have pulled off the mother of all pivots. Today Meow offers up to $125m in FDIC insurance through its deposit sweeps network, which is expanding internationally and the CEO even graced the pages of Forbes. What makes Brandon tick? What makes Meow work? And how are they building an enduring business

  4. 06/12/2024

    Mercury CEO Why Fintech is more complex than software businesses

    Mercury hit 8 Quarters of profit and has more cash on its balance sheet than it has raised. Immad believes the account is the wedge to build a financial platform. In this episode How the account becomes a platform you can build much more from How Fintech is much more complex than a software business Why learning all of the non software stuff (like compliance) is critical to long term viability The importance of owning UX Why customer support tickets should drive your UX roadmap The founder-led Go-To-Market What it will take for Mercury to win

  5. 06/05/2024

    Arc CEO on Compliance as a Competitive Advantage

    In the crowded world of B2B Fintech Neobanks and platforms, did the world need one more? In 2021 the peak of Fintech mania Arc launched and on the surface risked looking like just another B2B Fintech.   Since then, their product velocity, growth and trajectory has made them stand out. Their approach is unique. In the post-Silicon Valley Bank world, they have the advantage of arriving late and fixing the things others missed. Their core offering is a dashboard for startups for treasuries, operations and reserve accounts. This is a big bank like proposition, but with all of the features modern startups offer, in one place. What caught my eye is their moves into lending. Yes, they offer revenue finance and working capital, but they're pushing the boundaries with venture debt, asset-backed loans, and now, even helping their clients access third-party lending. This is a curated white glove and full suite. Can such a small company pull that off? Especially given their well funded, capable competitors who have a head start and traction?

  6. 05/29/2024

    Brex Co-CEO How Being Vertically Integrated Unlocks Global Scale

    Hey Fintech Nerds 👋, Can owning Fintech Infrastructure help companies scale globally? In this second interview from the B2B Fintech series, Pedro Franchesci, Co-CEO of Brex, gives Fintech operator level depth on 👇 🧠 Why being Vertically Integrated is a structural advantage 🧠 Why Quarterly releases > Incremental updates 🧠 How Brex goes global 🧠 How Brex can compete

  7. 05/21/2024

    Ramp CEO Eric Glyman: The equation for Hypergrowth

    Ramp has become known for its expense cards that "just work." While a few competitors are in this category, none have grown as quickly as Ramp.  I put that down to obsession—an obsession with the details driven by North Star metrics like hours saved per user and dollars saved per customer. But how does that manifest as a product?  As the old saying goes, it takes a lot of effort to make it look effortless. Never want to add a memo to a monthly expense again? Just hit the "make recurring" button. There is so much to learn from how Ramp executes, yet such a challenging road in front of them.  Today, Ramp is so much more than an expense card. It's one payment and procurement platform. Yet it has taken a downturn. It has famously not charged for key bits of the product, and it is in the single most competitive spot in Fintech, with companies like Mercury, Brex, and Arc snapping at its heels. This wide-ranging conversation starts with Eric and Ramp, but I also wanted to discuss Fintech as an industry and whether it is here to stay in the post-SVB world. Or is it all just waiting to be acquired by JP Morgan.

  8. 04/14/2024

    Introducing: Fintech Brainfood Interviews

    Hey Fintech Nerds 👋, Can B2B Fintech rescue us from the banking crisis, or does it make it worse?  Fintech Brainfood Interviews is a series of 1:1 conversations with CEOs of Fintech companies. We go deeper, getting into how they're building the product and partnering and how that makes them different.  The first five episodes are with Ramp.com, Brex, Arc, Meow, and Modern Treasury. Episode 6 is a bonus after-show with my favorite nerds picking apart the differences. Hit subscribe to make sure you never miss an episode.

  • 8 Episodes

4.9
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

A podcast about and for the people building the future of financial services. The Fintech CEOs, Nerds, VCs and founders who believe that by making finance better, you can make *everything* better.

Information

  • Creator
    Simon Taylor
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    8
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024 - Fintech Brainfood
  • Show Website
    Fintech Brainfood

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