Fintech One•On•One

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) continue to gain momentum around the world. While we are not exactly leading the way in this country there is important work being done already, work that will help shape how a CBDC will function here.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Daniel Gorfine, the co-founder of the Digital Dollar Project. This organization is doing incredibly important work, combining the efforts of all the existing research that is out there, and helping to create real-world pilots. A U.S. CBDC is most likely coming, and in this interview, you can discover what it will look like and how it will work.In this podcast you will learn:What the Digital Dollar Project is and how it got off the ground.The people and organizations that are involved.How they work with existing CBDC projects such as Project Hamilton.Details of pilots they are involved with right now.What they are learning from the CBDCs of other countries.How a CBDC could work with a bank-issued stablecoin.What the programmable element of digital money could mean.Where we are at in Washington when it comes to CBDCs.What is the end game for the Digital Dollar Project.How a Digital Dollar will actually work and Daniel's best guess on a timeline.Connect with Daniel on LinkedInConnect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

The card space (both debit and credit) has seen tremendous innovation over the last decade. Use cases that were inconceivable 10 years ago are now commonplace due to the steady march of fintech innovation. The company that has been at the very center of these developments is Marqeta. They have basically invented a new category of fintech, what they call "modern card issuing".My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Randy Kern, the CTO of Marqeta. He has had a career in enterprise tech, outside of finance, so he brings a fresh perspective to fintech. We delve deeply into the technology that is behind one of the most innovative companies in all of fintech.In this podcast you will learn:What attracted Randy to the CTO position at Marqeta.How he describes modern card issuing.Some of the use cases of their card technology.Their role in the Uber ProCard that was recently announced.How Randy's background in enterprise tech helps him at Marqeta.A great analogy on the growth of embedded finance.How Marqeta thinks of embedded finance.How the growth of digital wallets is being fueled by Marqeta.Why tokenization of cards is the key to better security.How they are helping small business lenders today.How open APIs help speed the development of fintech products.The challenges of running a tech company across multiple geographies.What Randy is excited about for the future of Marqeta and fintech in general.Connect with Randy on LinkedInConnect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

The most interesting use cases for DeFi are still being discovered. But tokenization of real world assets, or anything that has an income stream associated with it, is starting to take shape. And there are blockchains being built today with digitization and tokenization of assets as their core use case.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is John Wu, the President of Ava Labs, the organization behind the Avalanche blockchain. John has a deep knowledge of technology as an investor and was early in bitcoin. Now, he is leading Ava Labs and the Avalanche blockchain into becoming a major force in a multi-chain world.In this podcast you will learn:The founding story of Ava Labs and the Avalanche blockchain.Why Emin Gün Sirer is so well respected in the crypto space.What makes the Avalanche blockchain unique.How Ava Labs is working with traditional financial institutions.The two core benefits of tokenization.What assets lend themselves best to tokenization.The interesting use cases for tokenization getting traction now.The benefits of Avalanche over private blockchains.What it will take for tokenization to become mainstream.How programmable money fits into the Avalanche vision.How fintech and TradFi should think about web3 disruption.How the downturn in crypto has affected Ava Labs (or not).What John would like the TradFi world to understand about DeFi.The role of Ava Labs in the future of crypto.Connect with John via LinkedInConnect with John via TwitterConnect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

The rise of Chinese fintech in the 2010s is one of the most exciting and intriguing stories in all of fintech. This has been followed in this decade by a government crackdown on fintech and technology more broadly. But everyone should understand the innovations that led China to become the most advanced country in the world when it comes to fintech.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Martin Chorzempa who I got to know in 2014 when I started visiting China. He is now at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and he has written a very important book on Chinese fintech called "The Cashless Revolution: China's Reinvention of Money and the End of America's Domination of Finance and Technology." This is a must-read for anyone in fintech, not just for those people who follow China, as there are lessons here for us all.In this podcast you will learn:How Martin found his way to work at a Chinese think tank, CF40.The work he did at CF40.What he is focused on today at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.How he was able to become fluent in Mandarin.The state of financial technology when Martin arrived in China in 2012.How Tencent and Ant Financial became critically important fintech companies.Why the rise of the Super App was the key to the rise of these two companies.How the Chinese government enabled this rise.What propelled the growth of peer-to-peer lending in China.The amazing rise of Sesame Credit, Ant Financial's official credit bureau.The government's approach to the huge amounts of data these companies generated.The stunning fall of the peer-to-peer lending platform Ezubao.How Ant's money market fund, Huabao, became the largest in the world.How one speech from Jack Ma become the “The Costliest Speech in History”.The lessons the U.S. and the West can take from the rise and fall of fintech in China.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Small business data is heterogenous and typically stored in silos that are not connected to each other. While some level of integration is starting to happen, getting the big picture of a small business from all these silos is challenging. But that is also changing.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One is Pete Lord, the CEO and Co-Founder of Codat. His company's mission is to bring all that data together to make life easier for small businesses. Codat's clients are able to access the data they need seamlessly to help them get a complete picture of each small business.In this podcast you will learn:The problem Codat was created to solve.What they mean by the "universal API for small business data".Some of the companies where they have an API connection.An example of how this data access actually works.The state of play of open banking in the UK and the US.Their geographic footprint and the challenges of working internationally.Some of the 42 different use cases for Codat.Why they started with lending and how SMBs are getting more access to credit.How they connect with bank data.What they actually return to their clients when it comes to data.How Codat's clients are using climate data.Details of their $100 million Series C fundraise closed in Q2.The size of their team today.Pete's vision for a connected world when it comes to business data.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

A decade ago, to say the Latin American fintech industry was nascent would have been an overstatement. While there were a handful of enterprising startups, no one had achieved much scale and there was very little funding available to help. And yet, these bootstrapping entrepreneurs were at the forefront at what would soon be a thriving industry.Today, Latin American fintech is hot, although like the rest of the fintech world it has cooled down somewhat in 2022. My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Christine Kenna, a partner at IGNIA, a Mexican VC firm, where she has spent more than a decade. During that time, she has witnessed and participated in the explosive growth of the fintech industry.In this podcast you will learn:How Christine came to Mexico and to IGNIA.What it was like being an investor in Mexico a decade ago.When they first started paying attention to fintech.How IGNIA has responded to the changing investing environment.What it means to entrepreneurs to have big name American VCs in the region now.The different environments for early stage and later stage investment.The most interesting areas of fintech today in Latin America.Why cash is still so prevalent in Mexico today.Why Christine is bullish on crypto long term.Why LatAm entrepreneurs are always looking cross border.The stage of companies IGNIA focuses on.The quality of the entrepreneurs approaching her today.What Christine is most excited about for the future of LatAm fintech.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Despite the early successes of some of the robo-advice platforms, good financial advice is still something that is difficult to scale. The wealthy often work with professional advisors and the rest of us manage it ourselves where there is limited advice and often the accumulated assets just sit in retirement accounts being ignored. But that could be able to change.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Mike Sha, the CEO and Co-Founder of SigFig. They are on a mission to deliver quality advice at scale and are working with some of the largest financial institutions in the country. But even Mike agrees much more needs to be done and they are looking at advice beyond wealth management to provide a more holistic approach.In this podcast you will learn:How Mike's time at Amazon helped shape his thoughts on customer experience.The founding story of SigFig and what preceded it.How their first commercial product, a portfolio tracking tool, was developed.The behavior patterns of the two types of investors.The opportunity provided by the coming massive transfer of wealth from baby boomers.How they work with banks and wealth management firms.Some of the bigger clients they serve.Why people hire financial advisors today.How SigFig has expanded beyond investments.How their new platform called Engage grew out of the pandemic.Mike's view on the UBS-Wealthfront acquisition/breakup saga this year.How he thinks about the direct-to-consumer robo-advisor model and why they chose b2b.What's next for SigFig.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Being a small business owner has many challenges. Deal with finances is one of the major stresses for any small business and fintech is really starting to make a difference here. But what if we could take the financial component of any small business and take it from a cost center to a profit center, or at least make it cost-neutral?My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Eliot Buchanan, the CEO and Co-Founder of Plastiq. They help small businesses with flexibility on both how they pay and accept payments, offering a full suite of innovative offerings.In this podcast you will learn:The problem Eliot had that led to the founding of Plastiq.Why they evolved from a consumer business to focus on small business.Details of their flagship product, Plastiq Pay.The three other products they now offer.Why they created an embedded finance product for small business platforms.How Plastiq is turning credit card acceptance on its head.The types of businesses that are using Plastiq.How financing through Plastiq is even cheaper than bank capital.Why they decided to go public via SPAC in 2022.How they are making this move with their eyes wide open.What they are planning to do with a new war chest of capital.How a Main Street business should view Plastiq.Eliot's vision for Plastiq.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

On the news show today we discussed big fintech news from FSOC, the White House (blueprint for AI bill of rights), U.S. Congress, Customers Bank, Cogent Bank, Western Alliance Bank, Afterpay, bank fees, KServicing, Kim Kardashian and more.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Consumer BNPL has become an entrenched part of the modern payments flow for a large number of companies. But the payments flow in the business-to-business space still looks similar to the way it did a decade ago. I think that is about to change.Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Chris Tsai, the CEO and Co-founder of Resolve.  He has thought deeply about buyer flows in b2b commerce and has created a complete system to manage the process. As he describes in this episode it is not really about BNPL, although that is a piece of what they do, it is about growing transactions into relationships.In this podcast you will learn:How Max Levchin and Affirm was instrumental in the founding of Resolve.What the early days of Resolve were like.The four steps in the buying process that coincides with Resolve’s core products.How they perform credit checks on behalf of their clients.How BNPL for business is different to consumer.A profile of the typical Resolve customer.Why they often like to talk of themselves as an embedded payments platform.Details of their underwriting process.The interplay between credit insights and relationship insights.How their business model works.How Resolve customers immediately benefit once they are onboarded.Why they offer credit card processing as part of the interface.How they interface with the popular accounting software platforms.The scale they are at today.Chris’s vision for Resolve.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes