
Fintech Leaders
Learn from today’s global leaders building the organizations that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.
Latest episodes

Apr 2, 2024 • 49min
Alberto Dalmasso, CEO of Satispay – Building Italy's Everyday Fintech App, Serving 4M Users & 330k Merchants, Early Failures and Successes
Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Alberto Dalmasso, CEO & Co-Founder of Satispay, the largest fintech in Italy and one largest fintechs in Europe. Founded in 2013, Satispay has 4 million consumers and 330,000 merchants active on the platform. Started as a payments network, they’ve now evolved to a wider financial services ecosystem and super-app. Satispay has raised $500 million from Block, Greyhound, Addition, Coatue, Banca Sella, Endeavor, and many more.We discuss:Strategies and key metrics on building one of the largest payment networks in Europe, bypassing Visa and MastercardBalancing aggressive growth and a culture of efficiencyLearning through small mistakesEvolving into a wider super-app for consumersLeadership lessons on handling pressureSpreading confidence instead of fear… lots 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 65,000+ 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

Mar 26, 2024 • 41min
Nick Peddy, CTO of Clear - The Future of Digital Identity, Why AI WILL NOT Take Our Jobs, & Secrets to Great Management
Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Nick Peddy, CTO of Clear (YOU:NYSE), a publicly traded company with over 20 million members that’s built one of the largest identity platforms in the world. If you’ve ever travelled through an airport in the US, you’ve definitely seen them. Most recently, Clear expanded into financial services by launching its first reusable KYC solution.In this episode, we discuss:The future of digital identity and why re-usability is crucialLessons and secrets to great managementWhat it takes to run a great technology organizationWhy AI will not take our jobs anytime soon… 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 65,000+ 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

Mar 19, 2024 • 38min
Lauren Kolodny, Co-Founder of Acrew Capital - The Case for Consumer FinTech, Lean into Your Strengths, Traits of Rising Star VCs
Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Lauren Kolodny, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Acrew Capital, a multi-stage venture capital fund with over a billion dollars in assets under management. Some of their fintech investments include Chime, Gusto, Coinbase, Bilt, Vanta, and Klar.We discussed:Lessons from over a decade of investing in technology and fintechA bullish case for consumer fintechLauren’s philosophy on developing talent from withinHow Acrew covers multiple industries and keeps their ear to the ground… 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 65,000+ 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

Mar 12, 2024 • 47min
Eric Poirier, CEO of Addepar – Powering $5 Trillion of Assets, Modernizing Investment Management, From Engineer to CEO & The Power of Bold Bets
Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with I sit down with Eric Poirier, CEO of Addepar, a global tech and data company with over $5 trillion in client assets managed on the platform and clients in more than 45 countries. Founded in 2009 by Joe Lonsdale and Jason Mirra, Addepar has raised half a billion dollars from a long list of great investors.Eric has been CEO of Addepar since 2013 and prior to that, he was amongst the first 20 employees at Palantir.We discuss:Lessons for entrepreneurs on the importance of making bold technology bets early on, despite its risksHow AI and machine learning are helping solve problems in the investment management worldTransitioning from software engineer to company CEO, and overcoming a big mindset shiftAddepar's go-to-market strategyLessons learned from working with Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale… 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 65,000+ 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

Mar 5, 2024 • 29min
What Makes a Great Investor? Strategy Masterclass from 10 VCs with $160B in Collective AUM
Send us a textIn this special episode, Miguel Armaza brings you a compilation of the best insights and actionable learnings on what it takes to be a great VC investor from 10 amazing interviews recorded over the last two years with early and late-stage investors.The Partners and leaders featured in this podcast, represent firms with a combined $160 billion AUM from funds including General Atlantic, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, Bain Capital, and more.If you want to dig deeper and listen to any of the complete episodes, you can find the links in our Substack newsletter. You’ll hear from 10 investors:1. David Haber, General Partner at a16z2. Rana Yared, General Partner at Balderton Capital3. Howard Morgan, Chair and General Partner at B Capital & Co-Founder of First Round Capital4. Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures5. Mercedes Bent, Partner at Lightspeed Ventures6. Latif Peracha, General Partner at M137. Dan Rosen, Founder of Commerce Ventures8. Martin Escobari, Co-President of General Atlantic9. Emmalyn Shaw, Managing Partner at Flourish Ventures10. Tidjane Deme, General Partner at PartechWant 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 65,000+ 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

Feb 27, 2024 • 31min
Michael Blaugrund, CEO of DriveWealth – Powering 24/7 Investing Worldwide, The Next Gen of Embedded Finance, 3 Major Crises that Shaped the Industry
Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Michael Blaugrund, CEO of DriveWealth, a fintech platform and broker-dealer enabling investing products for businesses and consumers worldwide.Founded in 2012, DriveWealth works with over 100 corporations in almost all continents, including Revolut, BTG Pactual, GBM Mexico, MoneyLion and many more. They have raised over $550 million from Accel, Point72, Insight, Greyhound, and many more.Prior to DriveWealth, Michael held leadership roles at Nasdaq and NYSE, most recently serving as COO of the NYSE.We discuss:The evolving needs and expectations of modern retail investorsCrisis as a catalyst for evolution. Three critical events that shaped the capital markets technology industry over the last 15 years, including the Flash-CrashWhy digital assets will not flourish in the institutional world without clear regulatory frameworksMichael has been in the CEO role for less than a year. What does it take to succeed as CEO?… 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 60,000+ 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

Feb 20, 2024 • 44min
Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures – Lessons From Three Decades of Fintech Investing, What Defines Great Founders, & Embedded Finance’s Massive Potential
Send us a text[Original air date, Nov 8, 2022] Miguel Armaza sits down with Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures and one of the Fintech OG legends who started his investing career back in 1995 and has been working with fintech entrepreneurs throughout several cycles. Some of his investments include GoCardless, Orum, Finix, Acorns, and many more.In this episode, Miguel stops by the Bain Capital Ventures office in New York City, where they discuss:Investing through economic cycles. Matt was a fintech VC during the Dot-com bubble - what did he learn once the bubble burst and what should young VCs keep in mind today?B2B vs B2C Fintech. Matt overwhelmingly prefers backing B2B companies with little to no credit risk. Why is that?The Future of fintech and why Bain is excited about the potential of embedded financeWhat makes a great investor, how founders should think about their board, why NYC is the capital of fintech… 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 60,000+ 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

Feb 13, 2024 • 28min
Sohail Prasad, CEO of Destiny - Democratizing Private Investing in Companies like SpaceX, Stripe, and OpenAI
Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Sohail Prasad, CEO and Co-Founder of Destiny and Co-founder of Forge (NYSE: FRGE). Destiny is creating a family of exchange-traded products that will enable anyone with a brokerage account to invest in publicly traded portfolios of private technology companies.Their first and flagship product, the Destiny Tech100 (NYSE: DXYZ), will be listed on the NYSE in March 2024 – it will consist of a portfolio of some of the top venture-backed private tech companies, including SpaceX, Stripe, OpenAI, Chime, Klarna, Brex, and more.We discuss:The importance of democratizing private company investingBuilding the Destiny Tech100 and defining its rules and company inclusion criteriaLessons from building Forge and going public on the NYSE… 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 60,000+ 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

Feb 6, 2024 • 46min
David Magerman, Co-Founder of Differential Ventures - Risks of Building with GenAI, Pioneering Quant Trading, & How to Fix the Internet
Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with David Magerman, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Differential Ventures, an early-stage fund that invests in data-focused entrepreneurs building enterprise technology.In a past life, he spent 22 years in leadership roles at Renaissance Technologies (RenTech), a hedge fund with over $100 billion in AUM and probably the most successful fund in history.David is also a contrarian thinker and a non-conformist, which made our conversation even more interesting.We discuss:How David and a small group of engineers helped introduce quantitative data science to trading and public capital markets investingWhy he is highly skeptical of the new wave of GenAIA very convincing argument to introduce friction in online communication processes to restore balance and reduce its negative effects on society… 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 60,000+ 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

Jan 30, 2024 • 43min
Shamir Karkal, Co-Founder of Sila – Selling Your Company to a Large Bank, A Bullish Case for Consumer Fintech, The Hard Parts of Entrepreneurship
Send us a textMiguel Armaza sits down with Shamir Karkal, Co-Founder of Sila, a fintech company that’s raised over $20m to modernize payments. Shamir is also a true OG in fintech. He previously co-founded Simple, the first US neobank built for the smartphone era, and sold it to BBVA in 2014 for $117 million.We discuss:Selling Simple to BBVA and the post-acquisition challenges of integrating to a big bankCompany building lessons and the importance of good timingThe real reason why banks do not buy fintech companies too oftenWhy Shamir is bullish on consumer fintech making a comeback… 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 60,000+ 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
Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts
Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.