Zach Perret is the founder and CEO of Plaid.  Plaid helps companies build fintech solutions by creating APIs that allow people to connect their financial data to apps and services. In this conversation, we dive into Zach's philosophy on building products, how the financial system works today, how the financial system needs to be updated, and the trends Zach is seeing from the next wave of fintech companies launching on Plaid. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Zach Perret.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/39328476/perret-the-future-of-financial-services

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Show Notes

[2:00] – [First question] – The notion of Great Challenges he got from his parents

[3:34] – How it was instilled into him

[4:26] – Default Consumptive State and constantly asking questions

[5:33] – Origins of Plaid

[8:57] – An overview of the Plaid product

[11:10] – The early challenges of building Plaid and creating trust with all of the stakeholders

[15:57] – First big break for Plaid

[18:06] – Convincing Venmo to work with them

[20:12] – What helped build relationships with customers

[21:30] – How money is moved and their place in the chain

[24:34] – How convenience helps to create larger markets and opportunities

[26:39] – Usage base vs recurring revenue models

[28:03] – Maintaining their systems as the landscapes and customers shift

[29:56] – What is he seeing on the financial services frontier

[32:34] – Building relationships with developers

[35:07] – Lessons from building a business he’s learned along the way

[37:44] – Successful techniques in recruiting

[39:52] – What’s working well in this current landscape

[41:41] – Business models that interest him

[43:14] – Advice for other startup founders

[44:49] – Things he doesn’t understand today that he wishes he did

[45:46] – What he attributes Plaid’s success too

[47:55] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

[50:09] – How you know when you’ve found a great challenge