Tearsheet Podcast: Exploring Financial Services Together

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Today’s guest is Zack Gipson, who runs Charles Schwab’s digital investor solutions. We talked in depth about Schwab’s Stock Slices, the firm’s fractional share product. Together with a new investor starter kit, the incumbent is reaching a new investor base, younger and earlier in their journeys. Zack shares how the product is being received and where the firm is headed in the future. Zack Gipson is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the first episode of Power of Payments, Tearsheet’s new bi-weekly podcast. Host Ismail Umar takes you through the recent developments in the world of payments and their wider implications for the industry. In the inaugural episode, we talk about the changing relationship between BNPL and credit scores, cryptocurrency payroll, Apple’s new Tap to Pay feature, and ‘Save Now, Pay Later’ -- a new alternative to BNPL. This episode of Tearsheet’s Payments Podcast is sponsored by Quavo. With their flagship offering, QFD, Quavo has created a chargeback management solution for issuers of all sizes.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. We’re at an inflection point right now when it comes to blockchain technology. There are a handful of technology partners that, instead of bypassing the traditional financial industry, are working together with it. Anchorage is one of those firms. As the sole digital asset firm with a national banking license, it works with FIs to provide crypto custody, trading, staking, governance and more. At the end of 2021, it raised a $350 million round, valuing the firm at $3.5 billion. It’s just getting started, as banking slowly opens up to what appears to be the future for the industry, clients, and the world, frankly. Anchorage co-founder and president Diogo Mónica joins me on the podcast to review where we are at this moment in time regarding Web3 and its connection to the incumbent financial industry. Diogo shares some milestones that Anchorage and the industry have hit and then looks toward the future for a snapshot of what it may look like for his institution, for banking in general, and for all kinds of customers. Diogo Mónica is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Many of the firms we cover are moving towards becoming a one-stop-shop for their customers. Looking to deeply service their constituency, they’re converging on becoming banks – whether or not they actually have a license. At least, they look and smell like banks. Fundbox, a provider of financial services to small businesses, isn’t necessarily going that route. It’s staying particularly focused on serving its clients’ cash flow needs with working capital – so it goes beyond what a traditional lender might do. But it’s not taking the plunge fully into banking. The firm’s CEO Prashant Fuloria joins me on the podcast to talk about how SMBs are coping with the pandemic’s challenges and how Fundbox has evolved to serve them. We also catch up on where the firm is in its own growth cycle. Fundbox has grown – it surpassed a $100 million run rate last year and raised $100 million in a Series D round, valuing the company over a billion dollars. Lastly, we look out into the future to see what Fundbox is cooking up. Here’s my conversation with Fundbox CEO, Prashant Fuloria.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. I like to say that it takes a village to raise a fintech firm. You can really see the power of the ecosystem when it comes to successful companies in our space like Square and Plaid. Lloyed Lobo has seen first hand the power of having an audience. Launched in a spare bedroom with pizza nights, the community he co-founded, Traction, now numbers 100,000 people building companies. Lloyed’s company, Boast AI, has seen the fruits of this community. It helps companies apply for R&D tax credits. With a newly formed fund of $100 million, it also helps tech firms finance their credits. We talk about the power of community and how it can help find early fans and customers for a novel concept. Lloyed shares his experience building Boast and how smaller firms are now able to tap these credits that previously were accessible by some of the largest tech companies. Boast uses a hybrid tech and human delivery model – Lloyed talks about that, too. Lloyed Lobo is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

In this episode of The Challengers, Josh Liggett and Zack Miller explore Sofi's move to get a bank charter and what it may mean for the company, as well as for its platform business, Galileo. Josh and Zack talk about N26's recent admission that in a push to globalize, it missed the move to crypto. . Lastly, your hosts discuss the UK's Starling Bank and its move to become a platform. Josh and Zack discuss how good unit economics enable challenger banks -- particularly ones focused on B2C -- to turn into software plays, supporting banking products and services for other fintechs.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Some of the largest banks in the US have active venture investing arms. They may differ in how they’re structured but for firms like Truist, their fintech portfolios are about getting a seat at the table with innovative firms. Partnerships are important, as well as insights into their portfolio companies’ product development cycles. And of course, these funds are looking for eventual ROI on their venture investments. Truist Venture’s Venessa Vreeland and Christina Russ join me on the podcast to talk about the composition of their fintech investment portfolio as well as trends that underlie some of their investment theses. Lastly, we look outward, as my guests discuss opportunities they see to invest in today’s market. Vanessa Vreeland and Christina Russ are my guests today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. If you want to understand just how imperative it is for banks – particularly community banks – to move to digital, you’re going to want to listen to Dan O’Malley. Dan’s a co-founder and CEO of Numerated, a firm that digitizes the loan experience. He’s working with over 100 FIs who he believes are finally getting the gospel on the need to digitize. For smaller banks that have differentiated on service, the next step is to automate with technology. And if they can’t or don’t do it fast enough, Dan actually believes it’s an existential issue for thousands of financial institutions in the U.S. Dan O’Malley is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with small business lender BlueVine to produce a four part series on creating financial solutions serving historically underserved small businesses. In this episode, Tearsheet editor in chief Zack Miller spoke with Herman Man, CPO of BlueVine, about the importance of customer-product fit, and what’s next for digital-first banking solutions and the fintech ecosystem.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. 2022 is here and I’m beginning to meet and talk to a growing number of embedded finance platforms that may be new brands but have deeper, longer roots in the space. Tern is one of those companies. Brion Bonkowski is the founder and CEO of Tern. Tern’s a low code/no code embedded finance platform that provides onboarding, issuing, and payouts solutions. Tern was created to acquire another firm – US Unlocked – which issues virtual cards for people living overseas to buy stuff in the U.S. Tern works with firms like PTOGenius to embed payments and money movement either as an API or used as a white label solution. Brion discusses the growing no-code/low code trend and where he’s seeing growth in that space. We talk about how Tern competes and differentiates itself in a growing field and what Brion and Co have in store for 2022. Brion Bonkowski is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.