Wharton FinTech Podcast

"We're in the YOLO era of fintech...it will lower CAC, but also LTV" The always entertaining and insightful Jon Zanoff joins Ryan Zauk on today's fun episode. Jon Zanoff is the Former Mayor of Fintech, founding Empire Startups, an 18,000+ person strong fintech community. Jon now runs Stella Ventures, an early-stage Fintech VC focused on the US & Canada. Jon will join the Wharton Fintech Conference on April 22-23, leading a panel called “Building a Fintech, Lessons Learned” featuring Finch, Pando, Intrinio, Public.com, and MassChallenge Fintech. The conference will include numerous industry CEOs, VCs, founders, and more. Check out the star-studded panel here! whartonfintechconference.com For more Fintech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Ryan's Twitter: twitter.com/RyanZauk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/

On today's episode, Ryan Zauk sits down with Jane Tran, Head of Solutions at Unqork, one of New York’s newest tech unicorns. Unqork is a completely visual, no-code application platform that helps enterprises build complex + custom software faster, with higher quality, and lower costs, all without a single line of code. Backed by companies like Blackrock, Goldman Sachs, and Google, Unqork is serving some of the world’s top financial institutions as well as numerous healthcare firms, governments, and more. As Head of Solutions, Jane is the youngest member of Unqork’s executive team and has helped supercharge Unqork from nascent platform to billion-dollar company. In today’s episode, they discuss: - The amazing problems Unqork solves for large enterprises - Unqork's most powerful use cases - Their amazing projects during the pandemic with NYC and Washington DC - How she thrives as a young, female exec (and beats imposter syndrome) - And much more. For more fintech insights, check us out below! WFT Conf: whartonfintechconference.com/ For more Fintech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Ryan's Twitter: twitter.com/RyanZauk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/

Miguel Armaza sits down with Tosin Eniolorunda, Founder and CEO of TeamApt, a financial software company focused on building solutions and running infrastructure for African banks, businesses and people to manage their money. In this episode, we discuss: - Tosin’s background, his journey as an entrepreneur, and why he decided to bootstrap the company for several years before raising any venture dollars. - TeamApt’s impressive growth - Building the company and how they develop the biggest non-bank, mobile money platform in the market. - The amazing Nigerian opportunity and the state of FinTech and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa - And a whole lot more! About TeamApt TeamApt is a financial technology company focused on developing Digital Banking, Digital Business solutions and Payments Infrastructure by rethinking the needs of consumers, businesses and the financial industry. Beginning operations in 2015, TeamApt was borne from a desire to create financial happiness, building solutions and tools for businesses and individuals to happily manage money. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Substack: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Miguel Armaza sits down with none other than Anthony Scaramucci, Managing Partner & Founder of SkyBridge, a $10 billion global alternative investments firm specializing in a wide array of investment strategies, including fund of hedge funds products, hedge fund advisory solutions, and a bitcoin-dedicated fund. Prior to SkyBridge, Mr. Scaramucci co-founded Oscar Capital Management, which he later sold to Neuberger Berman in 2001. In this entertaining episode, we discuss - Anthony’s trajectory and entrepreneurial spirit - why he decided to leave big finance to launch his own firm Founder Lessons: 1. The importance of showing up and putting all your time and energy into your business as a founder 2. Resourcefulness and flexibility, why these are some of the most important traits necessary for an entrepreneurial career - All things Bitcoin and why he’s so bullish on it and decided to launch a dedicated Bitcoin fund and strategy at SkyBridge - Reflections on his short stint at the White House as Communications Director under President Trump, and what he learned from this experience - Advice for the younger generation - And a lot more! Anthony Scaramucci Anthony Scaramucci is the Founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital. He is the author of four books: The Little Book of Hedge Funds, Goodbye Gordon Gekko, Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole (a 2016 Wall Street Journal best seller), and Trump: The Blue-Collar President. Prior to founding SkyBridge in 2005, Scaramucci co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman, LLC in 2001. Earlier, he was a vice president in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs & Co. In 2016, Scaramucci was ranked #85 in Worth Magazine’s Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance. In 2011, he received Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year – New York” Award in the Financial Services category. Anthony is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), vice chair of the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board, a board member of both The Brain Tumor Foundation and Business Executives for National Security (BENS), and a Trustee of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation. He was a member of the New York City Financial Services Advisory Committee from 2007 to 2012. In November 2016, he was named to President-Elect Trump’s 16-person Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee. In June 2017, he was named the Chief Strategy Officer of the EXIM Bank. He served as the White House Communications Director for a period in July 2017. Scaramucci, a native of Long Island, New York, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. About SkyBridge SkyBridge is a global alternative investment manager that provides a range of investment solutions to individuals and institutions. Addressing every type of market participant, SkyBridge's investment offerings include commingled funds of hedge funds products, customized separate account portfolios, hedge fund advisory services, and an Opportunity Zone focused non-traded REIT. The firm is headquartered in New York. For more information, visit: www.skybridge.com. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Substack: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

In today's episode, the ever-snarky Ron Shevlin, Director of Research at Cornerstone Advisors and frequent columnist at Forbes, sits down with Ryan Zauk. Cornerstone is a leading research platform focused on financial services, where Ron spends his days advising community banks, mid-size institutions, and credit unions on strategy, market research, technology, fintech, and more. He also writes the "Forbes Fintech Snark Tank." With community banks, credit unions, and small to medium financial institutions facing major crossroads over the coming years, advice is more crucial than ever. Thankfully, Ron comes on to talk about how they can fight back, what they can learn from The Grateful Dead (it's actually quite compelling), the current state of neobanks, and more. In today’s episode, they discuss: - How these institutions can “fight back,” especially through the lens of community and affinity - Why community banks need to "find their bullseye" - The tech problems facing these institutions - How Ron is thinking about the neobank space and how the top leaders will play out - and of course a rapid fire round. For more fintech insights, check us out below! WFT Conf: whartonfintechconference.com/ For more Fintech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Ryan's Twitter: twitter.com/RyanZauk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/

Miguel Armaza sits down with Shamir Karkal, Co-Founder and CEO of Sila, a banking and payments platform that aims to break open the Financial System and make it easy for any company to offer out-of-the-box financial services. Shamir is also a true FinTech pioneer and legend, having played a crucial part in building the infrastructure that would pave the way for online banking. In 2009, he co-founded Simple, the first digital bank of its kind in the US, and later headed the Open Platform group at BBVA. In this episode, we discuss - Shamir’s fascinating background and how in fact he comes from a long line of Indian bankers - The story behind Simple and the ups and downs they faced launching the first independent digital bank in the US and what led them to an eventual acquisition by BBVA - Launching Sila and his approach as a second time fintech founder - Why’s so excited about the future and is convinced these are the early days for the industry - Founder lessons - And a lot more! Shamir Karkal A true FinTech pioneer, Shamir Karkal played a crucial part in building the infrastructure that would pave the way for online banking. In 2009, he co-founded Simple, the first bank of its kind in the United States, and later headed the Open Platform at BBVA. Shamir was drawn to serve smaller companies, co-founding Sila in 2018 with the goal of empowering financial innovations. Shamir studied physics and computer science at Bangalore University and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. He lives with his family in Portland, Oregon, and enjoys jiu-jitsu, long-range target shooting, and studying history whenever possible. About Sila Sila is a banking and payment platform for software teams building the next generation of financial products & services in regulated and unregulated industries. The Sila API enables white-label ACH payment processing, money transfer, digital wallets, bank account linking, and identity verification of business and individuals. We power any web, desktop, or mobile application with built-in compliance. Sila was co-founded in 2018 in Portland, Oregon by a diverse team of fintech, legal, and financial experts. For more information visit silamoney.com. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Substack: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

In today's episode, Ryan Zauk sits down with Wade Arnold, Founder & CEO of moov. moov raised a $27M Series A from a16z in December 2020, following a $5M seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures. Moov provides developers with an elegant, simple platform that takes the complexity out of embedded payments and more. They take a developer-first approach of being built on open source, portable to cloud providers or on-premises, modular for customization, and decoupled from any single bank program. Wade is a self-described “engineers engineer,” a true nerd at heart who has built a number of technical products in fintech and beyond. Wade will be at the Wharton Fintech Conference on April 22 and 23, on a panel titled “Unpacking APIs and SaaS: how best-in-class fintechs are building from the ground up” alongside execs from Treasury Prime, Finix, OpenPayd, Railsbank, and QED. WFT Conf: https://whartonfintechconference.com/ Fintech Devcon: https://fintechdevcon.io/ For more Fintech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Ryan's Twitter: twitter.com/RyanZauk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/

Miguel Armaza sits down with Logan Allin, Founder and Managing General Partner at Fin VC, a Venture Capital firm focused on Enterprise SaaS FinTech companies in the US, UK and Europe, with a portfolio that includes 6 unicorns. In this episode, we discuss: - Logan’s background and the journey to becoming a Venture Capital entrepreneur - Transition from corporate VC under SoFi to a becoming a stand-alone firm - Why Fin VC focuses specifically on backing the fintech enablers that are building disruptive B2B-oriented businesses - Investing theses and portfolio company examples - Venturing internationally - His passion for chess - And a lot more! Logan Allin Founded in 2018, Fin VC is focused on Enterprise SaaS FinTech companies in the US, UK and Europe. Their portfolio currently has 21 companies globally, including 6 unicorns. Fin VC doesn’t just deliver with capital- it adds value through engaging with their portfolio companies at every stage. The team believes the acquisition of fintech stacks is the future of banks and big tech, and that through the integration of innovative fintech the US can outpace other geographies. An entrepreneur turned VC, prior to founding Fin VC, Logan was VP of SoFi Ventures and also worked at Light Street Capital, TMT investments and Formation Group, focused on early-expansion stage cross-border. Previously, Logan was a Senior VP in City National Bank’s wealth management division (now part of RBC). He also spent much of his career in leadership positions at Capgemini, EMC, and PwC. Logan earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in public policy and political science from Duke University and a M.S. in Management from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where he was a Sloan Fellow.

Miguel Armaza sits down with Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital, a legendary Venture Capital firm founded in 1995 that has raised nine funds, received over $3B in committed capital, has seen 28 IPOs, and over 80 acquisitions from their portfolio companies. Charles has been at Foundation since 2005, having led impressive investments like Uber, LendingClub, OnDeck and Rappi. Before Foundation, he lived the startup journey and was part of the founding team of two high-profile startups with successful exits in 97 and 2006. He is also a proud alum of our amazing Wharton School! We discuss: - Charles experience as an operator and entrepreneur through the dotcom bubble and why he eventually transitioned to the investing side - Thought process behind his investment strategy and reflections on some early mistakes as a venture capitalist - All things Fintech, including trends he’s most excited about - Foundation’s impressive track record and their secret behind this success - Why he’s particularly excited about the entrepreneurial scene in Latin America - And a lot more Charles Moldow Charles current portfolio contains fintech breakouts and emerging direct to consumer businesses. Fintech investments include StatesTitle, HealthIQ, LendingHome, Auxomoney, OneFinance, Hatch, Branch, Canopy, Agentero, Deepfraud and Decent. Direct to consumer businesses include Rappi, Rover, NextRoll and Clubhouse. Charles has seen four portfolio companies go public with Uber, LendingClub, OnDeck and Everyday Health. He has also managed nine companies through acquisition: Powerset by Microsoft, Motif by Schwab, Coverwallet by Aon, Finxera by Stonepoint Capital, Xoopit by Yahoo!, CloudOn by Dropbox, Zoomer by GrubHub, Refresh by LinkedIn and Bureau of Trade by Ebay. In 2016, CB Insights listed Charles among The Top 100 Venture Capitalists, and Forbes named Charles to the Midas List for the second time—citing among other factors his deep experience in all things marketplace lending. Charles attended the 2016 White House FinTech Summit, one year after publishing “A Trillion Dollar Market by the People, For the People,” which became the authoritative must-read on the potential of and challenges facing the marketplace lending industry. The paper has been downloaded more than 30,000 times and has frequently been cited by leading thinkers in finance and the media. Charles is an alumnus of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School. Charles moonlights as a AAA little league coach and family vacation planner. Foundation Capital Foundation Capital was founded in 1995. As an early-stage venture capital firm, Foundation has lived through the emergence of the World Wide Web, the IT war of the 90s, the dot-com bubble, Web 2.0, the mobile revolution, the Great Recession, the rise of Big Data, software’s ascension to the cloud, and the birth of blockchain. The wisdom of those experiences remains with the company, transmitted to each successive generation of partners. Two-thirds of VC firms never make it past their first fund; only 10 percent survive beyond their fourth. Foundation is 25 years and nine funds strong, with over $3B in committed capital, 28 IPOs, and 80+ acquisitions to their name. Their fintech, enterprise, and consumer investments have reinvented industries and defined new markets, with companies that include Lending Club, Sunrun, TubeMogul, Chegg, and Netflix. For a quarter of a century—through boom and bust, prosperity or calamity—Foundation Capital has endured, evolved, and thrived. Building companies is in their bones. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Substack: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Miguel Armaza sits down with Carl Wazen, Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer at Yoco, South Africa’s leading payments platform for small businesses offering a convenient way to accept card payments in-person or online. Founded in 2012, the company serves over 100,000 small businesses and has received multiple rounds of investment from industry leaders like Quona, Partech, Greyhound Capital, FMO, and many more. We covered a wide range of topics, including: - Carl’s background and his entrepreneurial journey in Cape Town, South Africa as an immigrant outsider - Stories about the early days of Yoco and how they took the company from 0 to 1 - The importance of company culture in the fast moving fintech space - Navigating COVID and Yoco’s meaningful role in helping small businesses during the pandemic - The State of the fintech industry in South Africa and the rest of the continent - Entrepreneurial advice - And a lot more! About Yoco Yoco is an African technology company that builds tools and services to help small businesses get paid, run their business better, and grow. The company believes that by opening up more possibilities for entrepreneurs to be successful, they can help create more jobs, enable people to thrive and help to drive our economy forward.