6 × 6lock Podcast

6lock

6 × 6lock is a short-form podcast designed for senior leaders across private equity, fund administration, treasury, security, and fintech. Each episode features one guest and six tightly moderated, six-minute topics — creating a focused ~36-minute episode that respects time and delivers substance. Why We Built It Private markets leaders have insights worth sharing — but not unlimited time. 6 × 6lock removes the fluff and delivers crisp, thoughtful conversations on what actually matters right now. Conversations We Care About Private markets operations and scaleRisk, fraud, and securityTreasury and capital movementTechnology adoptionLeadership lessonsWhat’s changing (and what isn’t) Who It’s For? PE and credit firm leadersFund administratorsCFOs, COOs, Heads of TreasuryFintech and infrastructure operators serving private markets Why 6lock As the Verified Money Movement platform purpose-built for private equity, 6lock sits at the intersection of identity, security, and trust. This podcast enables conversations that extend our mission by spotlighting leaders who are shaping the future of private market value creation.

Episodes

  1. May 8

    Not a Kid in a Basement: How Nation-State Actors Are Targeting Private Equity with Vivek Ahuja from Persona

    What if the biggest threat to your firm's next capital call isn't a hacker — it's a nation-state intelligence operation running enterprise-grade AI? On this episode of the 6 x 6lock Podcast, Mike Langford and Peter Steppe are joined by Vivek Ahuja, Director of FinTech & Financial Institution Partnerships at Persona — the identity verification platform that powers 6lock's KYC, KYB, and fraud prevention infrastructure. Vivek's path to this conversation is unlike anyone else's in the space. He started as a nuclear submarine officer, went on to co-found a payments company in Southeast Asia, built fraud systems at Affirm when buy-now-pay-later had no rulebook, worked inside Marqeta, and led revenue at SentiLink — one of the country's most respected synthetic identity fraud detection companies. What he learned along the way: fraud has first principles, and most private equity firms are violating all of them. In this episode: Why every new payment method creates a new fraud vector — and why AI is accelerating that cycle faster than everThe first principles of fraud that nobody teaches in school (because there's no PhD program for this)Why private equity sits at the most dangerous intersection in all of financial services: high dollar, high frequency, high urgency — and critically under-protectedHow 6lock and Persona work together to tie identity to every transaction before a dollar movesThe shift from fooling humans to fooling the humans' AI — and what that means for agentic commerceWhy the adversary targeting your firm isn't a teenager in a basement — it's an organized, state-sponsored operation thinking in ROI and probability of capture Mike also references a recent episode with Stanton Ray of Columbia Threadneedle on the operational realities of moving billions in private credit — worth a listen if you haven't caught it yet. And if you've ever been tempted to mess with a scammer who's texting you, Vivek has a word of warning. Mike references the legendary James Veitch TED Talk — funny as it is, Vivek explains exactly why engaging with bad actors, even sarcastically, is handing them data they'll use against you. Connect with our guests: Vivek Ahuja on LinkedIn | Persona Peter Steppe on LinkedIn | 6lock Have a question or a topic suggestion? Email us at podcast@6lock.com Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:30 - From Nuclear Submarines to The Fraud Lab 07:49 - First Principles of Fraud Protection 15:53 - Why Private Equity Firms Are Prime Targets for Fraud 20:17 - Identity Is the Infrastructure: How 6lock and Persona Work Together 25:10 - Are We Moving from Fooling the Human to Fooling the Human's AI? 34:24 - Nation-State Threats Are Private Equity's Problem Too

    48 min
  2. Apr 23

    Finance Is the Lifeblood of Every Industry | Legendary Investor Britt Harris on Trust, Private Markets & Life After Success

    What is finance, really? Britt Harris gave an unforgettable answer on the Scholars of Finance podcast — finance isn’t the most important industry, but it is the lifeblood of every other one. That idea kicks off one of the most wide-ranging, wisdom-packed conversations in 6 × 6lock Podcast history. Britt Harris is the founder of On Eagles Wings Advisors and a 6lock advisor. He is the only investor in the world to have served as CIO or CEO for a top-5 fund in all four major investment categories: endowments (UTIMCO, $68B), public funds (Teacher Retirement System of Texas, $155B), private/hedge funds (Bridgewater Associates), and corporate funds (Verizon Investment Management). He has mentored 1,100+ students through his Titans of Investing program at Texas A&M and UT Austin, collectively launching 43 companies worth $6 billion. In this episode, Britt, host Mike Langford, and 6lock CEO Todd Sorrel cover: •      Why the trust culture of private markets has quietly become its biggest security vulnerability •      Why money movement is still stuck in the telegraph era — and what it will take to change it •      What LPs of the future are going to demand from their GPs •      The “Success to Significance” framework: why the second half of a career is more important than the first •      The Three Cheeseburger Life Plan — Britt’s surprisingly practical framework for a full life •      Why Britt — after 40 years in the industry — put his name behind 6lock Britt also shares the story directly from his time running UTIMCO: capital calls were arriving at 10x, even 100x, the expected amounts — and the industry had no reliable way to verify where the money was actually going. That unsolvable problem is exactly why 6lock exists. The lifeblood quote that opened this episode came from Britt’s appearance on the Scholars of Finance podcast with @scholarsoffinance911. Watch that episode to hear more of Britt’s perspective on the purpose of finance. CHAPTERS 00:00 — Intro & Teaser 02:28 — The Ethos of Finance Being: The Lifeblood of All Industries 10:49 — The Handshake Economy: How Trust Became a Risk for Private Markets 18:24 — Money Movement in Private Markets Is Stuck in the Telegraph Era 28:19 — What the LP of the Future Is Going to Demand from Their GPs 36:13 — Success to Significance: What the Second Half of a Career Is Really For 42:17 — The Three Cheeseburger Life Plan 48:15 — BONUS: A Principled Approach to Business CONNECT & LEARN MORE 🔗 Learn more about 6lock: 6lock.com 💼 Learn more about On Eagles Wings Advisors: oewadvisors.com 📧 Questions or suggestions for the show: podcast@6lock.com 🎬 Britt on the Scholars of Finance podcast: Watch here

    59 min
  3. Mar 31

    Why Private Equity's Reliance on Spreadsheets Is Causing Multi-Million Dollar Distribution Errors

    When everyone told Oliver Freigang that automating waterfall calculations was impossible, he saw an opportunity. After his employer rejected the idea, Oliver and his co-founder Gregor bet their own money that they could solve one of private markets' most complex-and most broken-problems. That bet became Qashqade, a Swiss fintech now protecting billions in fund distributions from the kind of errors that keep CFOs up at night. The shocking reality: Between 80-95% of complex Excel spreadsheets contain errors (KPMG study). When you're calculating who gets paid what from a billion-dollar fund exit, even a small error can mean millions going to the wrong people. IN THIS EPISODE: Oliver shares the origin story of building Qashqade after being told it wasn't possible, drops the stat that should make every GP and fund administrator pause, and explains why both Excel AND AI fall short when billions are on the line. We cover: Why industry giants said waterfall automation was impossible-and what happened when Oliver proved them wrongThe real $6 million error that KPMG missed (yes, a major fund administrator)Why Excel, the backbone of private markets for decades, is finally meeting its matchWhat happens when you try to hand waterfall calculations to AI (spoiler: 4% hallucination on $10 billion = $400 million in potential errors)How the finish line handshake works between Qashqade's calculations and 6lock's verified money movementOliver's vision to become the global standard for waterfall calculations CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Cold Open: The KPMG Error Rate Study 03:40 - The Qashqade Origin Story: They Said It Was Impossible 12:14 - The Problem: Excel, Error, and the Billion-Dollar Spreadsheet 24:39 - How It Works: Automated Waterfalls and Why Complexity Is Your Friend 34:11 - The AI Question: Can ChatGPT Do Your Waterfall? 46:41 - The Full Money Movement Stack: From Calculation to Secure Movement 52:36 - The Vision: Making Qashqade the Global Standard

    56 min
  4. Mar 31

    Moving Billions Manually: Inside Private Credit's Operational Infrastructure Gap

    The private credit market has exploded to over $4 trillion in assets — but the infrastructure behind it hasn't kept pace. Most firms are still moving billions of dollars using the same manual, high-risk processes that were built for a much smaller, slower market. On this episode of 6 × 6lock, hosts Mike Langford and Todd Sorrel (CEO & Co-Founder, 6lock) sit down with Stanton Ray, Head of the US Loan Platform and Senior Portfolio Manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, to explore what it actually takes to operate a $4 billion loan platform in today's private credit landscape — and why the operational infrastructure gap is both a vulnerability and an opportunity. From his early days in Gun Barrel City, Texas, to the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M (where he met Todd), to building a $2.5 billion CLO business at Carlson Capital over 22 years, Stanton brings rare insight into how private credit markets actually work behind the scenes. In this episode they cover:• The three distinct markets within private credit (high yield, syndicated loans, and true private credit) — and why they're converging fastHow CLOs revolutionized lending by solving the duration mismatch problem that nearly broke the banking system — and why they now own 65% of the loan marketWhere the smart money is flowing in the AI infrastructure boom: off-balance-sheet data center financing, utility investments, and the unexpected winners in the AI value chainWhy software company loans dropped 10 points after Claude Code launched — and what that signals about AI's market impactThe hidden operational cost of moving $4 billion manually: 300+ quarterly payments, 10-20 daily trades, all settled over the counter without modern infrastructureWhy geopolitical uncertainty freezes private market deal flow — and what that means for capital deployment in 2026 Whether you're a GP, LP, fund administrator, CFO, or treasury professional, this episode offers a rare look inside the operational realities of private credit — and why the infrastructure modernization gap is one of the most under appreciated risks in the market today. Chapters: 00:00 Cold Open: Moving Billions Manually 03:37 From Texas to Manhattan Beach — Who is Stanton Ray? 09:49 The Private Credit Landscape — Three Distinct Markets 17:41 The CLO Revolution — How Wall Street Solved the Duration Problem 23:23 The AI Infrastructure Play — Where Smart Money Flows 32:07 The Hidden Cost of Moving $4 Billion — The Operational Nightmare 36:36 Why Private Credit Markets Prefer Stability

    42 min
  5. Mar 31

    They're Not Breaking In Anymore — They're Blending In | Stacey Cameron & Peter Steppe

    The threat landscape for private markets has changed — dramatically and fast. And the firms that don't realize it yet are the ones most at risk. On this episode of 6 x 6lock, host Mike Langford and Peter Steppe, Chief Security Officer at 6lock are joined by Stacey Cameron, CISO at Halcyon — former Information Systems Security Officer at the Department of Homeland Security, founder of CyCam Strategies — for one of the most important conversations we've had on the show. Stacey and Peter pull back the curtain on how today's threat actors have evolved from breaking into systems to simply blending in — exploiting the trusted processes, familiar voices, and routine workflows that private markets firms have relied on for decades. In this episode they cover: Why perimeter defenses and one-time identity checks are no longer enoughHow AI has lowered the barrier for fraud to near zero — and what $200M+ in Q1 2025 financial fraud losses tells us about where this is headingWhy voice cloning is a far bigger threat than deepfake video — and how attackers can clone your voice from as little as three to five seconds of audioThe difference between authentication and true transactional integrity, and why it matters for every capital call and distribution eventReal-world attack patterns security professionals are seeing right now, including long-dwell reconnaissance attacks timed specifically to money movement eventsWhy security, done right, is a business accelerator — not a blocker Stacey and Peter also share the mindset shift that every private markets firm needs to make today: stop assuming your transactions are safe, and start planning as if compromise is already in the process. Read the co-authored white paper: Enhancing Transactional Security in Private Markets Chapters: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:25 Today's Threat Environment 00:12:32 Why The System Is Breaking 00:18:55 Transactional Integrity: Where Identity Meets Money 00:25:49 Deepfakes, AI, and the New Attack Surface 00:32:21 What Security Officers Are Actually Seeing 00:38:13 Putting Brakes on the Race Car to Go Faster

    48 min
  6. Mar 31

    The Billion-Dollar Blind Spot: How 6lock Is Reinventing Secure Money Movement for Private Markets

    Private equity and venture capital firms move billions of dollars every year — and most of them are doing it in ways that haven't fundamentally changed since the days of the telegraph. Wire fraud, business email compromise, and sophisticated deepfake attacks are exploiting the very trust that private markets run on. And the bad guys are winning. In this inaugural episode of the 6 × 6lock Podcast, host Mike Langford sits down with 6lock co-founders David Beisner (COO) and Todd Sorrel (CEO) to trace the origin story of a company built to solve one of private markets' most urgent and underappreciated problems: the complete absence of identity verification in high-value money movement. From a chance introduction over coffee in Austin, Texas, to building a platform that ties payments directly to verified identity, David and Todd walk us through the genesis of 6lock, explain why the timing has never been better (or more urgent), and reveal what they've learned walking into the offices of PE and VC firms to pitch a new way of thinking about secure capital movement. You'll hear about: Why the way most firms move money today is fundamentally brokenHow AI is turbocharging fraud attacks — and why 6lock sees it as a tailwindThe six security tenets behind the 6lock nameThe surprising inertia they faced selling into private marketsWhat the future of verified money movement looks like in an AI-powered world If you manage capital, move capital, or protect capital — this episode is for you. Chapters: 00:00: Introduction 01:29: The Genesis of 6lock 09:53: Why You? The Founder Question 20:42: Why '6lock'? The Story Behind the Name 24:45: Trusting the New Guys 31:50: Biggest Surprises So Far 34:34: Today's Landscape & Tomorrow's Horizon

    38 min

About

6 × 6lock is a short-form podcast designed for senior leaders across private equity, fund administration, treasury, security, and fintech. Each episode features one guest and six tightly moderated, six-minute topics — creating a focused ~36-minute episode that respects time and delivers substance. Why We Built It Private markets leaders have insights worth sharing — but not unlimited time. 6 × 6lock removes the fluff and delivers crisp, thoughtful conversations on what actually matters right now. Conversations We Care About Private markets operations and scaleRisk, fraud, and securityTreasury and capital movementTechnology adoptionLeadership lessonsWhat’s changing (and what isn’t) Who It’s For? PE and credit firm leadersFund administratorsCFOs, COOs, Heads of TreasuryFintech and infrastructure operators serving private markets Why 6lock As the Verified Money Movement platform purpose-built for private equity, 6lock sits at the intersection of identity, security, and trust. This podcast enables conversations that extend our mission by spotlighting leaders who are shaping the future of private market value creation.