Will PayPal’s cash flow tools make capital access easier for SMBs? ft. Michelle Gill

As General Manager of PayPal’s Small Business and Financial Services Group, Michelle Gill is responsible for bringing together the products and services that help small business owners run and grow their business. She is my guest for this episode of the Tearsheet Podcast. Michelle brings deep financial expertise and experience building platforms and tools that help customers manage their finances to her role on PayPal’s Senior Leadership Team. Michelle was previously Senior Vice President of Intuit’s business money management, payment, and banking service, QuickBooks Money Platform. Prior to Intuit, Michelle successfully integrated and expanded SoFi’s lending business as General Manager and Executive Vice President of Consumer Lending and Capital Markets. Drawing on her early career experience as a Managing Director and Partner at Goldman Sachs, Michelle also served as SoFi’s Chief Financial Officer before moving into the product leadership role. Before that, Michelle spent a decade leading the U.S. Assets business for global investment firm Sixth Street Partners. Given her career and experiences, Michelle brings a broad view of fintech innovation. She focuses on user-centered solutions. At PayPal, she leads efforts to help entrepreneurs navigate the complicated web of financial tools they often depend on. “The preponderance of [small businesses] use greater than 15 tools to run their business,” she shares. “What they got into business for is the passion… and yet they end up spending more time on things that are not what they love.” Our conversation explores how PayPal is actively trying to reduce that complexity. It does so not by offering more tools, but by making the ones they already use work better together. Gill outlines the strategy behind PayPal’s cash flow-based lending model and how it fits within their open ecosystem, whether it’s digital lending, embedded finance, or leveraging open banking.