Fintech Leaders

Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Jeff Tijssen, Partner and Head of the Global Fintech Practice at Bain & Company, where he advises incumbent players, large fintechs, and some of the top venture capital funds in the world on helping them build products, strategy, and figuring out what’s next in fintech.In this episode, we discuss:Opportunites and challenges of neobanks and how some of the largest players are adapting to a world where capital is a lot more expensive, profitability is imperative to build a sustainable business, but their opportunities for disruption are as big as ever.Tech strategy for incumbents and how some of the largest banks in the world are modernizing by partnering with modern fintechs, while also transforming their organizations from within.Why embedded finance is one of the topics Jeff is most excited about how this will bring a fundamental shift to the industry… 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  34,000+ readers 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 Abby Levy, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Primetime Partners, an early-stage venture capital fund with $50+ million in AUM that backs companies and entrepreneurs transforming the quality of living for older adults. Abby co-founded Primetime in 2020 along with legendary investor, Alan Patricof.Prior to Primetime, Abby was the Founding President of Thrive Global, alongside Arianna Huffington, and spent time at McKinsey, Tech for America, and Soulcycle.In this episode, we discuss:The incredible opportunity to build and invest in businesses focused on people’s second chapter of life and why means a lot more than just servicing seniors.Why Primetime’s portfolio sits at the intersection of fintech and healthcare and how some of their portfolio companies are addressing a national retirement planning crisis.Lessons and tactics she’s learned over the years, working closely with business legends like Arianna Huffington and Alan Patricof… and a lot more!Hope you enjoy this great conversation with Abby Levy from Primetime. Special thank you to Alan Patricof for making this a reality!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  32,000+ readers 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 Jimmy Soni, writer and best-selling author of The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.If you’ve talked to me over the last month, chances are I’ve recommended you read Jimmy’s book. In fact, I think every early-stage fintech founder, operator, and investor should pick up a copy of The Founders, where Jimmy does a brilliant job at detailing some of the most interesting years of PayPal. From day zero in 1998, down to the 2002 eBay acquisition.This book will transport you to the days when Elon Musk, Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, David Sacks, Roelof Botha, Reid Hoffman, and a long list of PayPal Mafia characters fought day in and day out to build one of the most influential fintech companies in the world. Some of my favorite highlights include finding product-market fit, pioneering fraud-fighting techniques that are still widely used in the industry to this day, fiercely competing against eBay, and – especially relevant these days - fundraising in the midst of the dot-com bubble. Enjoy!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  33,000+ readers 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 David Nangle, Managing Partner at VEF (STO: VEFAB), one of the few publicly listed venture capital firms that exclusively invests in fintech across emerging markets, with a portfolio of $750 million of Net Asset Value covering  Brazil, Mexico, India, Pakistan, Zambia, and many more interesting countries. Some of the companies they’ve backed include Creditas, Konfio, Tinkoff, Jumo, and Minu.In this episode, we discuss:Benefits and challenges of a permanent capital structure and why being a publicly listed firm, better prepares VEF to invest in emerging markets with a very long-term lens.The opportunity of fintech in emerging markets and why Dave considers Brazil to be one of the most attractive fintech markets around the world.Navigating this bear market. How growth and pre-IPO companies should be adapting to this reality and why it could help all entrepreneurs to adopt an ‘emerging market mindset’.Dave’s advice for new incoming emerging market investors… 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  32,000+ readers 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 Shmulik Fishman, Co-Founder and CEO at Argyle, a company building a user-consent-based platform for employment data, helping people avoid situations where their personal information is sold or used without their consent or knowledge.Founded in 2018 as a remote-first company, Argyle’s product now covers over half a million US employers, almost 100% of gig workers, and 170+ million US workers. They’ve also raised a total of $80 million from SignalFire, Bain Capital Ventures, Bedrock, Checkr, amongst others.In this episode, we discuss:What does it mean to be CEO? Shmulik is a second time founder, but a first-time CEO. What changed and what has he learned in the process?Importance of user-permissioned services. Why it’s good for business to ask users for data-sharing consent and how the world is moving in this direction across every single vertical.Building a remote company. Why they decided to build Argyle remotely since inception in 2018, what they’ve learned in the process, and why they would not be able to replicate their success with an in-office culture.Why it’s crucial to ‘Lead with Laughter’ and the only way to get through challenging jobs is by building a culture where you can smile, laugh, joke, and make fun of each other. 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  32,000+ readers 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 Alexa von Tobel, Co-Founder / Managing Partner at Inspired Capital, an early-stage VC based in New York City, with over $500M in Assets Under Management. The firm was founded by Alexa and Penny Pritzker, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and has backed some outstanding fintech companies, including Finix, Rho, Habi, Orum, Public, and Kamino.In this episode, we discuss:Alexa’s background & entrepreneurial adventures and why she dropped out of Harvard Business School to build LearnVest, which she then sold for $375 million. Lessons learned in the last three years since launching Inspired and their process to look for an find exceptional founders with relentless determination.The reasons why Alexa is excited about the impact of fintech internationally, especially in places like Latin America.And why she loves hosting her own podcast, Inc. Founders Project, where she’s interviewed 150+ incredible founders and what she’s learned from them.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  32,000+ readers 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 textWe bring you a recording of Miguel Armaza's live panel discussion at the MIT Fintech Conference, a Sloan student-run event, where Miguel sat down with an eclectic group of fintech leaders, including:Paulo Passoni, Managing Partner SoftBank Latin America FundDavid Green, CEO, EarnestAlex Kostecki, Founder and COO, ClairAlejandro Correa, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer at Rappi We discuss:The promise of fintech. How is the industry doing on democratizing credit access for the underbanked?Avoiding biases. Challenges of building biased AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) algorithms and how companies are fixing this problem.The future of credit scoring. Interesting approaches and experimentation being done on this front and some ideas about the future of consumer credit scoring.Virtues and flaws of Buy Now Pay Later… 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  32,000+ readers 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 Kurt Lin, Co-Founder & CEO of Pinwheel, a cutting-edge payroll data connectivity platform helping fintechs and financial institutions access data from 1,400+ payroll providers in the US.Founded just a few years ago, Pinwheel now executes 4.6M+ processes per month and has raised $80 million from GGV, First Round, Coatue, Primary, AmEx, Jackie Reses, and many more top industry investors.We discuss:Kurt’s serial entrepreneurship and why he considers himself constitutionally unemployableThe power of consumer payroll data and why Kurt is convinced payroll systems are one of the major frontiers of innovation in the fintech industry today.Scaling a remote team. Pinwheel went from four employees pre-pandemic to almost 90 today. What did he learn in the process?Lessons from years of fundraising and how a challenging equity raising environment could look like for entrepreneurs… 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  32,000+ readers 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 two iconic fintech leaders: Jackie Reses and Lauren Weinberg. Jackie is a fintech entrepreneur, former Head of Square Capital, and serves on the boards of Nubank, Endeavor, NYDIG, and Affirm. Lauren is the Chief Marketing Officer of Square, where she leads global Marketing and Communications, and has earned several distinctions and accolades for her work. In short, they are some of the most impressive executives in the industry.Lauren and Jackie are also the Co-Authors of SELF-MADE BOSS: Advice, Hacks, And Lessons from Small Business Owners, a fascinating book that provides first-hand accounts of small business owners who have built their companies from the ground up.The book is the result of their many years working together at Square, where they realized and experienced the struggles and needs of micro-entrepreneurs. Despite small businesses being the backbone of the economy, Jackie and Lauren learned that this community is completely underserved for information and SELF-MADE BOSS aims to provide much-needed support in building small businesses, including obtaining start-up capital, hiring staff, planning for growth, and coping with the daily stresses of being your own boss.Packed with incredible stories of grit and perseverance, SELF-MADE BOSS is not only an excellent guide for current and aspiring small business owners, but it’s also a must-read for any professional or fintech operator, focused on serving small businesses. It will help you empathize with your customers and understand their daily problems. I certainly recommend it!Hope you enjoy this great conversation with Jackie Reses and Lauren Weinberg.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  31,000+ readers 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 Renaud Laplanche, Co-Founder & CEO of Upgrade, one of the leading neobanks in the US that was ranked by the Financial Times as the fastest-growing US company in 2021.Founded in 2016, Upgrade has issued over $10 billion in credit to consumers and has raised more than $600 million in equity from DST, Union Square Ventures, Ribbit, Coatue, and many more.In this episode, we discuss:Leadership lessons – Renaud is a serial entrepreneur and fintech OG, who previously founded Lending Club, one of the first fintech companies that went public in 2014 on the NYSE. He shares what he learned from that experience, including the impact of recurring revenue, people management reflections, fundraising strategies, and a lot more.Stakeholder capitalism – why optimizing the bottom line isn't enough for companies and CEOs need to pay attention to multiple stakeholders and demonstrate a positive impact on society.Renaud’s take on current investor sentiment for publicly traded fintech companies and why despite the latest downturn, he’s seeing high enthusiasm from investors for the fintech sector.Launching crypto-driven products and how Upgrade is helping mainstream consumers dip their toe into crypto… 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  31,000+ readers 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