Wharton FinTech Podcast

Gretchen Howard, COO at Robinhood, shares her inspiring journey from CapitalG at Google to revolutionizing finance. She discusses the lessons learned during the GameStop trading frenzy and advocates for real-time trade settlement to enhance market stability. Gretchen highlights Robinhood's mission to democratize finance, emphasizing innovative tools like commission-free trading that empower young investors. She also reflects on her personal evolution during the pandemic, showcasing how life's challenges have sparked new passions.

Miguel Armaza is joined by Richard Sarkis, serial entrepreneur, Executive Chair, and Co-Founder of Reonomy, a commercial real estate data and analytics platform. Since inception in 2013, the company has raised over $130 million in equity from leading industry investors like Georgian Partners, Softbank, Citi Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Fintech Collective, and many more... Rich is also a proud graduate of our very own Wharton School In this episode, we discuss: - His journey as a repeat entrepreneur - Exciting stories and challenges of building Reonomy from the ground up - His views on company culture why it is extremely important - Transitioning from CEO to Executive Chairman and what this entails - State of the US commercial real estate market and the impact of COVID - Valuable founder advice and takeaways after almost two decades of entrepreneurship - And a whole lot more! Soundcloud: Spotify: Apple: Full interview --> Spotify | Soundcloud | Apple Richard Sarkis Richard Sarkis is Executive Chair and co-founder of Reonomy, a commercial real estate data and analytics platform. Since the company’s founding in 2013, Sarkis has been instrumental in raising $128 million in venture capital and led Reonomy through a successful web-platform launch in New York City, as well as the launch of a second nationwide platform in 2017. About Reonomy Reonomy leverages big data, partnerships and machine learning to connect the fragmented, disparate world of commercial real estate. By providing unparalleled access to property intelligence, Reonomy products empower individuals, teams, and companies to unlock insights and discover new opportunities.

Former podcast host, Daniel McAuley, is joined by former podcast guest, Andy Rachleff — Co-Founder & CEO of Wealthfront, the only company that integrates banking and investing to automate your savings. We discuss: - Andy’s storied and career as both an investor and entrepreneur - His experience coming out of retirement to found Wealthfront - The ride of day trading app such as Robinhood - Whether payment for order flow is good for retail investors - The current crypto bull run - Market bubbles and what investors can do in today’s environment - Self-Driving Money™ and Wealthfront’s future Andy Rachleff Andy is Wealthfront’s co-founder and CEO. He serves as a member of the board of trustees and chairman of the endowment investment committee for University of Pennsylvania and as a member of the faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he teaches courses on technology entrepreneurship. Prior to Wealthfront, Andy co-founded and was general partner of Benchmark Capital, where he was responsible for investing in a number of successful companies including Equinix, Juniper Networks, and Opsware. He also spent ten years as a general partner with Merrill, Pickard, Anderson & Eyre (MPAE). Andy earned his BS from University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. About Wealthfront Wealthfront is the only company that integrates banking and investing to automate your savings. They provide all of the financial services you need like high-interest checking that offers an ATM/debit card, low-cost investment portfolios managed for you, one-click loans and free advice and planning tools all through a five-star rated mobile app. The company recently began implementing the first of its Self-Driving Money™ services to automate your savings plan so you don’t need to worry about monitoring accounts and moving money around. To learn more please visit wealthfront.com or download the app on the App Store or Google Play.

In today's episode, Ryan Zauk sits down with Eric Shoykhet, Founder & CEO of Atom Finance. Atom Finance is the fastest-growing investment research & portfolio management platform, backed by the likes of Greycroft, General Catalyst, and FlatIron’s Zach Weinberg. Think of it as the "Bloomberg Terminal" for the retail investor and prosumer. Their DAU has grown over 300% since the pandemic. While working on Wall Street, Eric identified the massive information gap between enterprise platforms like CapIQ, and what was available to retail investors. Atom Finance was founded in 2018 to close this gap, empowering any investor with the tools typically reserved for Wall Street professionals. Eric and Ryan discuss: 3:13 - His journey from Wharton to one of the top groups on Wall Street, to investing, to starting his own venture 6:55 - Atom Finance and its key features to equip retail investors with better information 10:40 - How Eric thinks about building products for the many different types of investors 12:50 - Their "freemium" model 14:30 - The start of a 10-minute discussion on Robinhood, the dark side of PFOF, retail trader psychology, and its implications for his users 25:08 - His thoughts on Public.com's tipping model 27:00 - A rapid, rapid-fire question round 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/

Happy International Women's Day! In today's episode, Ryan Zauk sits down with Chi Chi Wu, Attorney at The National Consumer Law Center. Since 1969, the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center has used its expertise in consumer law and energy policy to work for consumer justice and economic security for low-income and other disadvantaged people in the U.S. Chi Chi is a Harvard Law Grad who fights for consumer protections in Massachusetts, Washington DC, and around the country, with a focus on credit reporting, credit bureaus, and medical debt. In today’s episode, Chi Chi and Ryan discuss: - The Fair Credit Reporting Act's strengths and weaknesses - The Big 3 Credit Bureaus...what’s broken, and how we can fix it - Pros and cons of the new alternative data boom - COVID's devastating effects on individual credit - Her hopes for the new CFPB and administration and much more! 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/

In today's episode of the Wharton Fintech Podcast, Anchit Gupta (WG'21) is joined by Lindsay Holden, Co-Founder & CEO of Long Game. Long Game is a gamified personal finance app for Millenials that encourages saving through fun rewards and cash prizes. Before starting Long Game, Lindsay Holden co-founded the Applicant Auction, the primary auction for Top Level domain names, which held over $500M in auctions before being acquired. Before that, she helped launch Formation 8, a venture capital firm with over $1B under management. Ms. Holden holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Colorado, Boulder. In this interview, Lindsay shares: - Her motivation behind launching Long Game - The many financial planning problems faced by Americans & how Long Game is working to solve these issues - Their typical customers and how Long Game can help them - The toughest parts of being a founder and launching Long Game - The future product pipeline for the company and much more! 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 is joined by two great guests, Brooks Gibbins and Gareth Jones - Managing Partners and Co-Founders of Fintech Collective, a global early-stage venture capital firm focused on technology startups with the potential to reimagine financial services. We discuss: - Their entrepreneurial background and why they eventually decided to switch from operators to investors - Challenges of launching a Fintech focused fund in 2012 - Their decision to invest beyond the US and why they are excited about fintech in Latin America and other emerging markets - Why they are particularly proud of their weekly newsletter - Their investment strategy and what gets them excited to invest in a startup - And a nice story of how they helped our very own Wharton Fintech Club just as we were getting started almost seven years ago Brooks Gibbins Brooks is a co-founder and Managing Partner of FinTech Collective. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Brooks had a successful career as an entrepreneur and global operating executive in capital markets, payments, and enterprise tech. He was a key executive and officer at New York-based Multex, which successfully IPO’d and exited to Reuters; London-based Serverside, which successfully exited to Gemalto; and Oslo-based FAST, which successfully exited to Microsoft for over $1b. Brooks began his career as an enterprise software developer. Brooks completed Harvard Business School’s program for Management Development and graduated from Williams College with distinction. Gareth Jones Gareth is co-founder and Managing Partner of FinTech Collective. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Gareth was a successful entrepreneur and business leader, who helped build and sell three category-leading fintech companies. These included Multex, which IPO’d and then successfully sold to Reuters; Serverside, which successfully sold to Gemalto, a European digital security company; and CardLab, which was successfully acquired by Blackhawk Networks, a global leader in prepaid gift, reward and incentive technologies and solutions. Prior to starting his career in fintech, Gareth spent three years ‘double handing’ a 36ft sailing boat 33,000 nautical miles from the UK to the Antarctic circle. Gareth has completed Columbia Business School’s Senior Executive Program and graduated from the University of the West of England with a BSc. Honours Degree. About Fintech Collective FinTech Collective is a global early-stage venture capital firm focused on technology startups with the potential to reimagine financial services. The firm, founded in 2012, has deep experience investing across capital markets, wealth management, banking, lending, payments, insurance, and crypto/blockchain. The managing partners of FinTech Collective met in their mid 20’s and then helped build, scale and sell four fintech businesses generating over $1.5 billion of shareholder value. Backed primarily by institutional investors and a small handful of tier-one financial institutions from around the world, FinTech Collective has invested in 43 portfolio companies and is currently investing out of its third fund, a $150m+ early-stage fund. Some notable investments include Anyfin (Stockholm), Axoni (NYC), Flutterwave (Africa), IMMO Capital (London), Minka (Latin America), MoneyLion (NYC), NYDIG (NYC), Ocrolus (NYC), Quovo (NYC, acquired by Plaid) and Vestwell (NYC).

“If Robinhood exists to democratize markets, Commonstock exists to democratize information.” Ryan Zauk sits down with Commonstock Founder & CEO David Mcdonough to learn how Commonstock is creating a community that amplifies insights from top investors, backed by the performance and portfolio of their linked brokerage accounts. Community members can link their existing brokerage accounts and share their real-time portfolio, performance, and trades (by percent only - $ amount is never shared), while sharing detailed investment theses, industry takedowns, and more. The idea has attracted investors such as Social Capital, Floodgate, and WFT favorite Frank Rotman of QED. The community has exploded over the past year, with professional investors writing highly detailed memos and users heavily engaged. They discuss: - His authentic journey to founding Commonstock and why he was the 'Rudy of Private Equity' - The amazing Commonstock community, its network effects, and growth - The Robinhood and Gamestop fiasco and how learning Robinhood’s business was like seeing the green binary codes in the matrix - Plus a rapid-fire round with some of his amazing stock successes (and some misses caused by paper hands) Check out Commonstock here: https://beta.commonstock.com/login 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 is joined by the fascinating Milind Mehere, serial entrepreneur, and Founder/CEO of YieldStreet, a digital wealth management platform that aims to transform the investing landscape by enabling individual investors to invest in classes such as Real Estate, Marine Finance, Art Finance, Legal Finance, and Commercial loans. The company has raised over $180M in equity and debt from top VCs including Edison Partners, Greycroft, and Raine Ventures. They discuss: - His successful entrepreneurial journey and the path to Yieldstreet as a second-time founder - Company Culture - Challenges of building an investing platform and disrupting an industry traditionally reserved for the wealthy - Leveraging regulatory opportunities for a new asset class - The incredible impact of COVID on the business - And a lot more! Milind Mehere Milind Mehere is an award-winning entrepreneur with a track record of building large scalable businesses and creating new product categories. He is the founder and CEO of YieldStreet, a digital wealth management platform changing the way financial products are delivered and how wealth is created. Previously, Milind co-founded and scaled Yodlee (an ad-tech platform for SMBs) to $200M+ in revenue and 1,400 employees - the company was acquired by Web.com for $342M in 2016. About Yieldstreet YieldStreet is striving to become the world’s largest digital wealth management platform to change the way wealth is created. YieldStreet is accomplishing this by transforming the investing landscape, opening up access to investments for individual investors across a range of asset classes such as Real Estate, Marine Finance, Art Finance, Legal Finance and Commercial loans. Headquartered in New York City with offices in Brazil, Argentina and Greece, the company is backed with $178M in equity and debt funding from firms including Edison Partners, Greycroft and Raine Ventures. Join the movement at www.yieldstreet.com.

Aquiline’s Vincenzo La Ruffa - Driving Value Creation in Financial Services Miguel Armaza sits down with Vincenzo La Ruffa, President of Aquiline Capital Partners and head of their financial technology group. Aquiline was founded in 2005 and is a private investment firm based focused on businesses across the financial services sector with almost $6B in assets under management. Vincenzo is also a proud alum of our amazing Wharton and Penn school. We talked about - Vincenzo’s career path - Fintech trends and exciting opportunities - Their approach to partnering with entrepreneurs - Stories and case studies from some of their exciting portfolio companies - Challenges as an investor during COVID - Identifying Fintech opportunities in a fast moving and fast changing market - Private Equity as a career - And why he still loves reading physical books! Vincenzo La Ruffa Vincenzo is president of Aquiline. Vincenzo also heads the financial technology and services group and serves on the investment committees for the AFS, ATG and ACO fund families. Prior to joining Aquiline in 2014, Vincenzo was managing director of Susquehanna Growth Equity, a group he co-founded, where he invested in financial technology, healthcare IT and software companies across the US, Europe and Israel. Vincenzo currently serves on the boards of portfolio companies Ascensus and HedgeServ. He previously was on the boards of Simply Business (sold to Travelers), Togetherwork (sold to GI Partners), Fenergo (realized in 2018 recapitalization) and BISAM (sold to FactSet); his prior investments include The Logic Group (sold to Barclays), 29West (sold to Informatica) and Managed Markets Insight and Technology (sold to Welsh Carson). Vincenzo serves as a trustee of the Collegium Institute on Catholic Thought and Culture at the University of Pennsylvania, Delbarton School, the Montfort Academy, the National Catholic Bioethics Center, and the Regina Angelorum Academy. About Aquiline Capital Partners LLC Aquiline Capital Partners, founded in 2005, is a private investment firm based in New York and London investing in businesses across the financial services sector in financial technology, insurance, investment management, business services, credit and healthcare. The firm has $5.6 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2020. For more information about Aquiline, its investment professionals, and its portfolio companies, please visit aquiline.com.