Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Abdon Nacif, Co-Founder of Nexu, the leading auto financing and dealership software platform in Mexico and one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in the Americas.Nexu is growing fast, approaching $50 million in net annual revenue, and has been profitable for nearly two years. They have raised just over $30 million in equity and over $150 million in debt from Altos Ventures, Valor, HSBC, Wollef, Y Combinator, Fintech Collective, Clocktower, FJ Labs, and Gilgamesh Ventures.I’m a big fan of Abdon and I love getting a shot of inspiration after every conversation with him. Not only have I known Abdon for over a decade, but at Gilgamesh Ventures we have been investors in Nexu for the past three years, with a front row seat into their incredible story.In this episode, we discuss:Developing mental toughness as an entrepreneurThe principles and discipline that led them to build a profitable business at a very early stageNear-death experiences and a pivotal decision that resulted in a shift in business modelAbdon's leadership philosophy and focus on authentic, selfless leadership… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

In this conversation, Rujul Zaparde, CEO and Co-Founder of Zip, shares insights on building a $1.5 billion SaaS and fintech platform. He discusses the rigorous validation process for big business ideas and emphasizes the need for speed, learning, and iteration in entrepreneurship. Rujul also highlights the significance of nurturing talent within the company and effective strategies for navigating complex procurement challenges. The episode wraps up with a look at future-proofing tech businesses through continuous improvement and leveraging AI innovations.

Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Michael Tannenbaum, CEO of Figure, one of the largest US fintech platforms building infrastructure and embedded products. Founded in 2018 by Mike Cagney, also the founder of SoFi and past guest of the show, Figure is now the largest non-bank originator of Home Equity Lines of Credit in the US having done $11 billion in AAA securitizations.Every time I talk to Michael I’m impressed by his clarity of thought and his skill in sharing valuable insights. He was previously COO of Brex and you can check out our 2023 Fintech Leaders episode for an in-depth conversation about his time there.We discuss:Bringing fresh energy and founder mode, even as a non-founder CEOThe importance of organizational design and aligned priorities for a company’s successHow Blockchain helps Figure provide “Truth over Trust” to reduce transaction and origination costsWhy standardization is crucial to enable embedded finance services at scale… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Diya Jolly, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Xero (XRO.AX), a $22Bn tech giant that offers accounting and CFO management services for small businesses worldwide.Xero is one of the largest fintechs in the world. Their latest total annual revenue was $1.6Bn and they’ve doubled in size over the last three years.Prior to Xero, Diya was the Chief Product Officer at Okta and before that she held multiple leadership product roles at Google. She’s extremely thoughtful and this conversation is a delightful masterclass on building a tech and software business.We discuss:The tensions of product managers and how to navigate themIs cannibalizing your own product ever a good idea?How AI is revolutionizing accounting.Frameworks to make good decisions with incomplete information… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Raimundo Morales, CEO of Yape, the dominant fintech app in Peru and certainly one of the biggest consumer fintechs in the world. Yape has 16 million users in Peru, which represents 80% of the country’s total population. On average, they process 550+ million payments a month and are doubling in volume on a yearly basis. They are big and extremely important for the country. If Latin America runs on WhatsApp, it’s fair to say Peru runs on Yape.In this episode, we discuss:The strategy to led them to onboard 65% of Peru’s adult population as daily active users in just eight yearsYape was built within Credicorp, a $14Bn company traded on the NYSE. How were they able to build a fintech disruptor within a large corporation?The road to building a super-appWhy you should always set irrational goals, winning the war on cash… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Darian Shirazi, General Partner at Gradient Ventures, an early-stage venture fund focused on AI and data-rich companies, with Google as its major LP.Prior to Gradient, Darian founded and sold Radius, a B2B Customer Data Platform. He is also an early investor in companies including Lyft, Udemy, Carbon Health, Palantir, and Niva. Fun fact, he was Facebook’s first intern back when the company had only 10 people.We discuss:Joining Facebook as its first intern and working directly for Mark Zuckerberg. Why is Mark such a special tech leader?Gradient’s three different strategies to invest in AIWhy the evolution of AI will be exponential and not linearThe incredible story of how Darian’s family had to escape Iran and rebuilt itself into one of the strongest tech families in the US… and a lot more! Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a textIn this episode, I sit down with Andrew Endicott, who’s my co-founder at Gilgamesh Ventures and who also previously built Petal, a New York fintech company.Andrew and I discussed a research report we recently published in collaboration with the Wharton School of Business. We examined the incredible impact that 15 leading fintech companies are having on the broader fintech ecosystem by helping train the next generation of founders in fintech and tech in the Americas.Some of our interesting findings, include:These 15 companies have spawned almost 2,600 founders in the Americas, 12% of which left to build fintech companies, while others are building in AI, SaaS, HealthTech, and beyond.The founders building in fintech have raised $4.3Bn collectively. With Square, Zillow, and SoFi alumni representing 60% of this total.Product and engineering leaders represent 50% of all fintech founders.And 48% of the founders we studied launched their fintech companies in 2022 and 2023.For more details, please visit our website or the Fintech Leaders newsletter.Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza brings you a deep dive into one of the most pressing issues facing the financial industry today: consumer fraud prevention and identity verification.Over the last couple of years, Miguel has interviewed some of the top leaders in identity management and fraud-fighting, and in this episode you’ll hear a summary of the most interesting takeaways from five of the most extraordinary industry leaders:1. Blake Hall, CEO of ID.me2. Nick Peddy, CTO of Clear3. Soups Ranjan, CEO of Sardine4. Trisha Kothari, CEO of Unit215. Tommy Nicholas, CEO of AlloyIn this episode, you'll learn about:The current state of financial and identity fraud and the creative tactics used by fraudstersAdvancements in anti-fraud measures and identity verificationThe delicate balance between security and user experienceInnovative products from each of these companies to prevent fraud… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a text[Original air date, March 28, 2023] Miguel Armaza interviews Mercedes Bent, Partner at Lightspeed, a global venture capital firm founded in the year 2000. Over the last 23 years, they have secured over $18 billion in committed capital and backed over 500 companies, including Snap, Affirm, Faire, Grubhub, Carta, Blend, and a long list of great firms.In this episode, we discuss:Investing in marketplaces or credit-driven businesses and what founders and investors should keep in mind when looking at these verticals.Benefits of having a global investment team how Lightspeed often invests in similar trends and businesses around the worldThe Latin American fintech opportunity. Mercedes leads the LatAm practice at Lightspeed – what are some of the biggest ideas taking place in Brazil, Mexico, and beyond?Potential AI applications in FintechLessons for emerging VCsLightspeed’s portfolio construction strategy… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Alex Konrad, Senior Editor at Forbes, where he covers venture capital and startups. Alex also edits and curates the famous Midas List and The Forbes 30 Under 30 VC category. He is a central figure in the world of Venture Capital, Tech, and Fintech and I suspect you’ll enjoy hearing what he has to say.We discuss:A behind-the-scenes look of the Forbes Midas List and the growing influence of FinTech in itThe Impact and adoption of AI in the financial industryEvolution and future of the VC industryThe role of media in tech, curating the 30 Under 30… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp