Fintech Leaders

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Matan Bar, CEO & Co-Founder of Melio, a B2B payments platform for small businesses. The company has raised over $500 million from a who’s who of fintech investors, including Accel, Coatue, Bessemer, General Catalyst, Thrive, Tiger Global, and more.In this episode, we discuss:Understanding your customer. Prior to writing a single line of code, the Melio team setup an old-school bookkeeping business in Manhattan to truly understand the challenges of their future clients. What did they learn?Importance of velocity to launch products and being comfortable with making mistakes (but correcting them very quickly!).Matan used to lead peer-to-peer payments at Paypal, but then built a business-to-business payments company. What led him down this path?Why his biggest mistake was optimizing new hires for skills and not for culture… 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 47,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Hristo Borisov, CEO and Co-Founder of Payhawk, the first-ever Bulgarian unicorn where they’ve built an all-in-one finance platform serving businesses across 32+ countries in Europe and the US.Founded just four years ago, Payhawk now enjoys unicorn status and has raised equity from Greenoaks, QED, Lightspeed, Endevor, Hubstpot, and many more.In this episode, we discuss:Scaling to unicorn status – Hristo shares hacks and techniques that helped them scale from zero to oneThe growing Bulgarian startup ecosystem and why it pushed them to build a global company from day onePayhawk’s unique model for building and shipping products extremely fast, while keeping everyone at the company laser-focusedEarly mistakes and challenges as a fintech founder and why you should always overinvest in talent… 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 46,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Stephanie Choo, Partner at Portage Ventures, a global fintech-focused VC that traces its roots back to Canada. The firm focuses on fintech companies and currently manages over $3 billion in AUM.We discuss:The fintech opportunity in Canada and why most fintech verticals in the country are winner-take-allIn light of a looming recession, what are some of the counter-cyclical fintech themes Steph is investing in these days?Portage’s take on crypto and why they remain very bullish on the categoryThe future of fintech partnerships and why a lot of the growth from the industry will be driven through collaboration between fintechs, big tech, and incumbent banks… 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 46,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp

Send us a textToday we have a special episode, as we bring you the recording from the Vamos Latam Summit organized by Latitud in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where Miguel Armaza sat down in front of a packed audience of 1,000+ people for a conversation with Sergio Fogel, Co-Founder of dLocal and Sergio Furio, Founder/CEO of Creditas – two of Latin America’s largest companies. They discussed:Providing new and innovative products and services to consumers vs corporate clientsWartime or a peacetime CEO – is there such a thing as a peacetime CEO in Latin America?How to deal with challenges like international expansion, currency fluctuations, and even going public And what makes fintech in Latin America unique compared to the rest of the world.Special thanks to Brian and the entire Latitud team for the invitation.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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 45,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Immad Akhund, CEO and Founder of Mercury, a US-based neobank built for the next generation of startups. Founded almost five years ago, Mercury now enjoys unicorn status and has raised equity from great investors including CRV, Coatue, a16z, and Clocktower.In this episode, we discuss:Why he’s short term pessimistic and how startups should prepare for winter and some tough timesFounders: focus on your customers and stop wasting time thinking about your competitorsThe power of cold outreach and how entrepreneurs should perfect and embrace networkingCompany formation and interesting startup trends he’s seeing from Mercury’s clients… 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 45,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with the talented Mary Ann Azevedo, Senior Reporter at TechCrunch, where she’s responsible for covering all things Fintech, co-hosts the Friday episode of the Equity Podcast, and recently launched the newsletter The Interchange.In this episode, we discuss:Why she loves covering the startup world and some tips on how to pitch your story to tech reportersThe summer slowdown and fall bounce back. Deal activity during the summer was definitely slower, but according to Mary Ann she’s now as busy as ever, yet some things have changed.2022 has been a hard year for fintech and Mary Ann has found herself writing some tough stories. What has she learned in the process?The future of tech media, what good journalism really means… 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 45,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Julio Vasconcellos, Managing Partner and Founder of Atlantico, one of the largest Venture Capital firms in Latin America that looks to invest in a better future for the region and beyond. Julio is also a seasoned tech entrepreneur and investor, having been Facebook’s first country lead for Brazil, co-founded Peixe Urbano which scaled to 1,200 people and raised hundreds of millions of dollars, and then joining Benchmark as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR).In this episode, we discuss:Scaling his company, Peixe Urbano, to 1,200 people and then having to cut 2/3 of the company's workforceWhy Brazil is one of the most attractive Fintech markets, not just in Latin America, but around the world and how the Central Bank played a key role in developing this thriving ecosystemParallels with today’s Latin American tech scene and Silicon Valley 15 years ago, back when Julio was in the middle of Silicon Valley’s heartAtlantico’s Latin America Digital Transformation Report. This episode is being published the same day as Atlantico’s annual report on the tech trends of LatAm. What were the highlights of 2022?The incredible fintech and tech opportunity to empower SMBs and unlock a lot of value for small enterprises and build massive tech companies in the process… 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 44,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Alfonso (Poncho) De los Rios, CEO/Co-Founder of Nowports, the biggest digital freight forwarder in LatAm, that combines logistics with financial and technological tools to ship cargo around the world. Founded in 2018, Nowports is not only a Latin American company but is quickly becoming a global powerhouse. Nowports has also raised almost $250 million in equity from SoftBank, Tiger Global, Foundation Capital, Monashees, Soma Capital, Broadhaven Ventures, Mouro Capital, Tencent, YC, and more.In this episode, we discuss:Poncho’s background, why he’s an entrepreneur at heart, and how his family played a big role in shaping and encouraging his adventurous natureHow the decision to drop out of university during his first semester led him to Silicon Valley and to eventually cross paths with Max Casal, now his Nowports Co-FounderBuilding company culture and the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are smarter and more experienced than you are to actually execute your visionWhy bold, unpopular, and fast decisions are what drives startup growth and some examples that have been consequential at NowportsPoncho’s vision to build a global company, instead of a local or regional firm… 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 44,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Nelson Chu, CEO/Co-Founder of Percent, a global leader in financial infrastructure solutions that brings transparency and efficiency to lenders and credit transactions. Founded in 2018, Percent has powered almost $1 billion in transaction volume and has raised equity capital from B Capital, Coinbase, 10x Capital, and many more.In this episode, we discuss:How Percent aims to transform private credit markets and we explore their strategy to gain market share by expanding through adjacencies.The strength of private credit in the face of a market downturn and why the asset class is very recession-resilient.Nelson is a repeat founder and he shares lessons on how to build a culture of accountability and transparency that drives employee retention.Steps Percent is taking to bridge DeFi and traditional finance, why New York City is the best city in the world to build a fintech company… 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 43,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Laura Merling, Chief Transformation and Operations Officer at Arvest Bank, a community-based bank with $26 billion in assets, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Arvest traces its roots back to 1961, when its predecessor bank was acquired by Sam Walton, also the founder of Walmart.In this episode, we discuss:The digitization of small and medium-sized banks. There are almost 5,000 banks in the US – how are they modernizing and riding the fintech wave?Bank-Fintech Partnerships. What should fintech companies partnering with community banks keep in mind? Laura shares some best practices and common mistakes.Pros and cons of building in-house vs partnering with technology providers. What path should your firm take? ... and a whole 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 43,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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/3jWIpqp