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08 Feb 2022
Adalberto Flores, Founder/CEO of Kueski - Tequila, Mariachis, & Technology
In this Fintech Leaders edition, I sit down with Adalberto Flores, Founder and CEO of Kueski, a Guadalajara-based “buy now, pay later” and online consumer lender, and one of LatAm’s Fintech OGs.
Since inception in 2012, Kueski has issued more than 5 million loans online and has raised over $300 million from Altos Ventures, Core Ventures Group, Angel Ventures, Cathay Innovation, and many more.
In this episode, we discuss:
Challenges and lessons for founders in tough raising environments and emerging markets, and how Adal managed to raise Seed capital back in 2012.
Importance of culture-building and how you can use your company culture to attract high quality talent
State of BNPL in Mexico and how Kueski is using this product to enable the 60% unbanked population of the country to access the financial system and start building credit
Why Guadalajara is known for Tequila, Mariachis, and Technology and how it became the Silicon Valley of Mexico… 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 30,000+ 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.
Alto CEO/Founder, Eric Satz – Strengthening Your Portfolio with Crypto & Alternative Assets, Balancing Hyper-Growth Amidst a Pandemic, and Building a Distributed World Class Team
Miguel Armaza sits down with Eric Satz, Founder/CEO of Alto Solutions, a Nashville-based company offering a self-directed IRA platform that gives people in the US access to invest in alternative assets using their retirement funds in assets like crypto, private funds, and collectibles.
Founded in 2015, Alto now administers over $1B and has raised over $60M from Advance Venture Partners, Unusual Ventures, Acrew Capital, Foundation Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and many more.
In this episode, we discuss:
The importance of diversifying your retirement portfolio with alternative assets and why crypto and digital assets are an increasingly meaningful part of Alto’s product.
Lessons from other countries around the world and what could be done to help people in the US strengthen their retirement savings.
Hypergrowth during the pandemic and how Eric has managed to expand his team from 20 to 140 since the start of COVID
And just like we’ve heard from other leaders from around the world, Eric reminds us that the only way to beat your competition is to surround yourself with great people!
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 30,000+ 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.
Greg Krasnov, Founder/CEO at Tonik & Ukrainian Serial Entrepreneur – Lessons from 20+ Years of Building Fintechs & Staying innovative in a Remote World
In this Fintech Leaders edition, I sit down with the great Greg Krasnov, Founder & CEO at Tonik, the first and largest neobank in the Philippines, which officially started operating in 2021 and has since reached almost $150M in consumer deposits and is backed by Mizuho, Sequoia, Point72, Insignia, and many more.
It’s worth mentioning Greg is a Ukrainian serial entrepreneur and about a decade ago he built Platinum bank in Ukraine and sold it once it became the third-largest consumer bank in the nation.
We recorded this episode on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2022 – roughly 24 hours before Russia invaded Ukraine. Today Ukraine is under attack and during these horrific and difficult times for Greg’s country, my heart goes out to him, Tonik’s Ukrainian team, and their families. They are a resilient nation with incredibly talented people, and Greg and Tonik represent these values.
If you are looking for ways to provide any type of support to the Ukrainian people, I’ve included a couple of vetted links below.
What Greg learned in over two decades of building banks and fintech businesses
Tonik’s approach to credit risk and how they are using their customer’s digital footprint and predictive analytics to expand access to the financial system
Staying innovative in a remote environment and how companies can balance internal cooperation and conflict to stay innovative
Why it’s crucial for fintech founders to pick the right investors who actually understand their 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 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.
Paulo Passoni, SoftBank Latin America Managing Partner – Investing $8 Billion in 3 years, Navigating a Bear Market, & What SoftBank Looks for in Founding Teams
Miguel Armaza sits down with the outstanding Paulo Passoni, Managing Partner at SoftBank Latin America, the largest venture capital fund in LatAm that’s invested almost eight billion dollars in 80 companies like Nubank, Kavak, Creditas, Bitso, Rappi, Uala, Clip, Addi, and many many more.
In this masterclass episode, we discuss:
Navigating a bear market – Paulo shares lessons for entrepreneurs in a tough equity raising environment, where unit economics and execution are now more important than ever and why venture backed companies can’t afford not to tackle big problems.
Shared traits of the strongest founders and why being holistic and talented in multiple different areas is critical for entrepreneurs
Valuable advice for new international investors coming into Latin America, or any emerging market for that matter, and why it’s important to build a robust team and empower them with access to the global institutional knowledge of the firm.
Reflections of the best company boards and key characteristics necessary for boards to succeed and add value to the 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 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.
Soraya Darabi, Co-Founder/General Partner at TMV – Backing Purpose-Driven Unicorns, Changing the Face of VC, & Why Investors Ignoring Diverse Founders are Missing out on Huge Returns
Miguel Armaza sits down with Soraya Darabi, Co-Founder & General Partner at TMV, a Venture Capital fund with over $100 million in Assets Under Management that aims to back early-stage founders building businesses beyond the bottom line.
In this episode, we discuss:
Breaking into Tech – How Soraya found herself at the very center of the digital media and startup land almost two decades ago and how it led her down the path of entrepreneurship and investing.
Purpose-driven investing – TMV’s mission to find extraordinary returns in businesses that deeply care about the triple bottom line and the importance of backing entrepreneurs with diverse lived experiences.
Fintech startups as a driving force for financial inclusion and some examples of amazing companies building a more inclusive economy.
Fundraising lessons. Learning to love the process, reflections after raising over $75 million, and how Soraya found herself raising most of TMV’s second fund while pregnant… 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.
Renaud Laplanche, Co-Founder/CEO of Upgrade – Building Two Fintech Unicorns, The Evolution of the CEO Role, & Why your Company’s First Hires are Incredibly Important
Miguel 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 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.
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 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 unemployable
The 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.
We 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 Fund
David Green, CEO, Earnest
Alex Kostecki, Founder and COO, Clair
Alejandro 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 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 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 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.
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 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.
Jeff Tijssen, Bain Global Head of Fintech – Reimagining Financial Services for Incumbents and Fintechs & How Embedded Finance Will Transform the Industry
Miguel 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 Armaza sits down with Arjun Sethi, Co-Founder and Partner of Tribe Capital, a firm with over $1.6B in assets under management, focused on using product and data science to engineer N-of-1 companies and investments. They’ve backed some incredible and interesting fintech companies, including Kraken, FTX, Bolt, Carta, Nium, Pipe, and the list goes on.
In this episode, we discuss:
Tribe Capital’s quantitative diligence process for investing in great companies and the rationale behind their Magic 8-Ball framework.
What are N-of-1 startups and why Tribe looks for this kind of company and founder.
Arjun’s take on the state of crypto markets, and why he is paying special attention to DeFi innovations and companies that are building rails and infrastructure to make this technology accessible for all consumers.
Working with Chamath at Social Capital. What he learned during his years there and why he’s a frequent listener of the All-In Podcast… 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 Armaza sits down with Sophia Goldberg, entrepreneur and author of the recently published The Field Guide to Global Payments, a great book about the complex and multifaceted payments industry where Sophia gives a great overview of the different payments systems around the world, the players who make this space go round, as well as some of the exciting innovations driving the future of payments.
I highly recommend you pick up a copy, especially if you’re a fintech and finance operator, investor, or have aspirations of joining the industry. Every page will make you smarter and you’ll gain a deeper appreciation of the complexity of one of the most important technologies of our economy.
In this episode, we discuss:
Understanding why there’s only six dominant payment networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc) worldwide and why Square and PayPal might become the next major networks.
Real-Time Payments (RTP). Understanding the downsides and opportunities of this technology and why we probably won’t move to a world of full RTP.
The world of crypto payments and why Sophia is not ready to endorse it just yet… 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 Armaza sits down with Dan Westgarth, COO of Deel, a global payroll platform that helps businesses hire anyone, anywhere. Founded less than four years ago, Deel now serves 8,000 corporate customers in 150+ countries and has raised almost $700 million from a16z, Altimeter Capital, Y Combinator, Coatue, and a long list of great investors.
In this episode, we discuss:
Joining Revolut in London back when the company had only 10 employees and what Dan learned over the following five years.
Leaving the Revolut rocketship to join Deel, yet another 10-person startup, to power the global remote work revolution right at the start of COVID.
What it means to be COO at a fast-growing company and why it’s crucial to adapt to change and master hiring strategies.
How Deel scaled from $1M to $100M in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in less than 20 months and why it was crucial to move fast and promote proactivity instead of reactivity to get there… 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 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.
Peter Lord, CEO/Co-Founder of Codat – Raising $160M to Unlock Small Business Data, How to Plan Your International Expansion, & The Future of Open Banking
Miguel Armaza sits down with Peter Lord, CEO & Co-Founder of Codat, where they are building a universal API for small business data. Founded in 2017, Codat now has more than 200 corporate clients and has raised over $160 million from JP Morgan, Canapi Ventures, Shopify, Plaid, Tiger Global, PayPal Ventures, Index Ventures, AmEx Ventures, and more.
In this episode, we discuss:
Leaving his past employer to build Codat and solve some of the technical challenges he was encountering at his old job.
His ambitious vision for Codat to become the go-to infrastructure for the small business economy to share data and how Peter plans to get there.
International Expansion vs Industry Vertical Expansion. Since launching in 2017, Codat has expanded to several countries and is now serving many industries. Find out which one is harder and why.
The future of fraud-fighting and why real-time data can help small businesses get access to credit, especially during a challenging economy… 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 36,000+ 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 Armaza sits down with Ankur Sinha, Chief Technology Officer at Remitly, a financial services provider for immigrants and their families in 135 countries and one of the leading fintech companies in the remittance space, with offices in Seattle, London, Krakow, Manila, and Managua. Founded in 2011, Remitly went public on the Nasdaq in 2021.
We discuss:
The long and complex history of remittances and his take on whether crypto will revolutionize and transform the international payments industry
Joining Remitly after a long career at Google and Microsoft. What did Ankur learn in big tech and what are some of the key differences between these two companies?
The CTO role. What are the most important responsibilities of CTOs and what companies and business leaders should consider when hiring a Chief Technology Officer
Exciting trends in the world of Remittances and how his team plans to ride an upcoming wave of growth and innovation… 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 36,000+ 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.
Sergio Fogel & Gonzalo Strauss – Building dLocal, Datanomik, and AstroPay. What’s the Secret to Scaling a Multibillion-dollar Company with Minimal Funding?
Miguel Armaza sits down with two great Uruguayan entrepreneurs, Sergio Fogel and Gonzalo Strauss. Sergio is a fintech legend, having co-founded and bootstrapped multiple fintechs, including dLocal (NASDAQ: DLO), a company that IPOd on the Nasdaq in 2021 and is currently valued at ~$8 Billion and showing great results.
Most recently, Sergio and Gonzalo teamed up to build Datanomik, a B2B open finance enabler that aims to simplify financial data processes for companies and fintechs around the world. They are backed by a16z, Canary, Nazca, Latitud, and many more.
In this episode, we discuss:
The story of dLocal and how Sergio and team built a global, multibillion-dollar giant with minimal funding. What culture did they create and what was some of their secret sauce?
The IPO process. How do you know if a company is ready? Sergio takes us through their decision-making framework and why they listed on the Nasdaq.
Working with younger Co-founders. Sergio explains the value of building a multi-generational founding team.
Launching Datanomik. Gonzalo built an internal tool at his previous employer and then realized this could be an independent company. How did he end up partnering with Sergio?
Is Uruguay the next global tech hub? We explore some of the reasons behind the tremendous success of the country’s tech scene… 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 37,000+ 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 Armaza sits down withOded Zehavi, Co-founder & CEO at Mesh Payments, a corporate spend platform that aims to empower finance teams at every company. Founded in 2018 out of New York City and Tel Aviv, Mesh now serves almost 1,000 corporations and has raised more than $60 million dollars in venture funding.
In this episode, we discuss:
His time at PayPal and what he learned working with great people and many other future global fintech entrepreneurs
Walking the fine balance of fintech innovation, where you have to build and ship fast in a highly regulated environment
A birds-eye view of the fascinating Israeli fintech ecosystem and some factors driving its tremendous success
Oded’s vision for Mesh, where they are building a self-driving wallet for corporate CFOs… 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 37,000+ 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 Armaza sits down with Anthony Scaramucci, Founder & Managing Partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment fund with several billion dollars in assets under management. Anthony also founded SALT, one of the premier thought leadership conferences in the world of finance, technology and geopolitics.
In this episode, we discuss:
Navigating a market downturn. This is Anthony’s ninth bear market – what is different this time and how should fund managers approach their relationship with investors?
Inflation, inflation, inflation. How to deal with it and what to expect, particularly when it comes to alternative assets.
Anthony’s strong conviction in crypto and why he’s doubling down on the sector and even launching a fintech-focused venture capital fund.
The origins of the SALT Conference, main drivers fueling his energy and ambition, family… 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 37,000+ 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 Armaza sits down with Amanda Abrams, CEO of Fintech Masala, a fintech-focused investment platform and one of the pioneers and most active firms behind several fintech SPACs since 2015. Some of their SPAC transactions, include CardConnect, Payoneer, Paya, and Perella Weinberg Partners.
If filing 12 SPACs gets you the title of SPAC King, then Amanda and Fintech Masala Co-Founder, Betsy Cohen, are definitely the SPAC Queens with a total of 11 SPACs filed.
The SPAC process and why Amanda suggests CEOs should still consider this route.
The SPAC Boom of 2020/2021. What drove the mania some of the mistakes?
Key differences between a good SPAC process vs a bad one.
How do we know if a company is ready to go public?
Lessons from working with dozens of CEOs and boards, the future 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 37,000+ 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.
Mike Cagney, Founder of Figure & SoFi – Building Massive Transformational Companies, Key Founder Lessons, & How Blockchain is Revolutionizing Financial Services
Miguel Armaza sits down with fintech legend, Mike Cagney, Founder & CEO of Figure, one of the fastest growing fintech companies in the US, where they are on a mission to transform financial services through blockchain, bringing speed, efficiency and savings to both consumers and institutions.
Founded in 2018, Figure has raised almost $500M in equity from top investors, including DST Global, Ribbit, Fin Capital, RPM Ventures, Thomvest, JP Morgan, Apollo, and many more.
Prior to Figure, Mike also co-founded SoFi and built the company into a multi-billion-dollar business under his leadership as CEO.
In this episode, we discuss:
Reflections from his experience launching and building SoFi, why their original idea failed, and how they quickly iterated and found a winning formula
Importance of company culture and why the founding team at Figure spent a couple of months establishing a genuine culture that could scale before doing anything else
How Figure is already using blockchain technology to disintermediate the financial market to displace trust with truth and go after a $100 billion opportunity
Their strategy to quickly launch an impressive number of products in an empathetic way to the consumer… 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.
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Miguel 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.
Nelson Chu, CEO of Percent – Disrupting a Multi-Trillion-Dollar Market, Building a Culture of Accountability and Transparency, & Why NYC is the Global Fintech Capital
Miguel 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 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 nature
How 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-Founder
Building company culture and the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are smarter and more experienced than you are to actually execute your vision
Why bold, unpopular, and fast decisions are what drives startup growth and some examples that have been consequential at Nowports
Poncho’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 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 workforce
Why 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 ecosystem
Parallels with today’s Latin American tech scene and Silicon Valley 15 years ago, back when Julio was in the middle of Silicon Valley’s heart
Atlantico’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.
Mary Ann Azevedo, Senior Reporter at TechCrunch – The Good and Ugly Sides of Fintech, What Great Journalism Really Means, & Why Startups Represent Hope
Miguel 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 reporters
The 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 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 times
Founders: focus on your customers and stop wasting time thinking about your competitors
The power of cold outreach and how entrepreneurs should perfect and embrace networking
Company 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.
Today 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 clients
Wartime 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 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-all
In 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 category
The 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 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 one
The growing Bulgarian startup ecosystem and why it pushed them to build a global company from day one
Payhawk’s unique model for building and shipping products extremely fast, while keeping everyone at the company laser-focused
Early 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 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.
Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures – Lessons From Three Decades of Fintech Investing, What Defines Great Founders, & Embedded Finance’s Massive Potential
Miguel Armaza sits down with Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Venturesand 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 finance
What 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, 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 Armaza sits down with Patricia Kemp, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Oak HC/FT, a VC firm investing in companies driving transformation in healthcare and fintech around the world. Founded in 2014, the firm has over $5 billion in AUM and has back fintech companies like Blend, Ocrolus, ClearCo, Rapyd, Pagaya, Aplazo and many more.
In this episode, we discuss:
Spotting and identifying fintech trends
How to think about the future of the industry
State of crypto and why Tricia believes stronger regulatory frameworks would be beneficial and help foster innovation in the crypto industry
Buy vs Build. 2023 might bring a big wave of Fintech M&A activity for three important reasons.
Building a team of investors – when bringing on new talent, Oak looks at three core requirements.
Importance of over-communicating… 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 Armaza interviews Katlego Maphai, CEO & Co-Founder of Yoco, a South African payments company that processes billions of dollars annually, and serves hundreds of thousands of small businesses every day. Founded in 2013, the company has raised $100+ million from great investors, including Quona, Dragoneer, Partech, HOF Capital, and many more.
In this episode, we discuss:
The evolution of fintech in South Africa
Overcoming massive challenges since 2013
Drawing inspiration from companies like Square, but adapting your product to the local market
Yoco’s unique relationship with their customers
Empowering hundreds of thousands of SMBs and helping most of them digitize for the very first time
Advice for international investors backing African startups
Lessons for company founders
Building company 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 48,000+ 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 Armaza interviews Ben Gleason, Co-Founder of Kamino, a financial hub that powers the operations and growth of Brazilian startups and scale-ups with integrated finance products, services and software. Kamino is backed by Inspired Capital, GFC, Picus, Flourish, QED, and Gilgamesh Ventures among others.
We discuss:
The remarkable positive impact that FinTech in Brazil has had in terms of financial inclusion and customer service, and why there's still a massive opportunity in the region
Ben started building his first startup, GuiaBolso, back in 2012. The Brazilian ecosystem was nascent, and he encountered some crazy challenges, including a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court. How did they persevere?
The inspiration for Kamino and how they're helping entrepreneurs hit the ground running and start building much faster than ever before
Advice for entrepreneurs navigating a down market
Why he is so passionate to help female and underrepresented founders... 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 48,000+ 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 Armaza sits down live at Money2020 Las Vegas, with Amit Parikh, EVP of BaaS at Green Dot, and Ginger Baker, Head of Financial Access at Plaid.
They discuss:
The evolution of consumer data tech in fintech
Importance of providing transparency to customers around privacy and data-sharing practices
Key technologies that will be absolutely critical to support the growth of fintech into 2023 and beyond
How fintech companies can actually help consumers navigate challenging economic times with expanded access to information and novel financial services
The future of partnerships between fintechs, incumbent banks, and big tech… 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 48,000+ 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.
My guest today is Medha Agarwal, Partner at Redpoint Ventures, a VC with a strong track record in fintech, including portfolio companies like Stripe, Nubank, Ramp, and many more.
In addition, Medha is not only a thoughtful fintech investor, but she’s also a content creator consistently putting out great original content through her newsletter, Make Cents, or Redpoint’s website.
In this episode, we discuss:
The CFO tech stack. How fintech companies are helping the office of the CFO with modern tools and whether a true ‘self-driving’ corporate wallet is possible.
Bundling and Unbundling. The last decade has been about unbundling bank services, but we’ve started to see a shift in the opposite direction – what does this mean for the industry?
What the crypto winter means for Web3 founders and why Redpoint will continue to invest in the category.
Redpoint’s original content strategy, how they became the most popular VC on TikTok (shout out Rashad Assir)… 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 48,000+ 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.
In this episode, Miguel Armaza heads to sunny Miami for a conversation with Steve McLaughlin, Founder of FT Partners, an investment bank focused exclusively on the financial technology sector, launched from Steve’s San Francisco apartment back in 2001.
If you’re in fintech, you definitely know FT Partners and, chances are, you’ve worked with them or have been to one of their amazing Money2020 events over the years.
We discuss:
Making sense of the current fintech market – what was it that led us here?
Steve’s expectations for 2023. Will it be an active year for financing rounds, M&A, and IPO activity?
What the next decade of fintech might look like and some of the trends that could power the future of our industry around the world… 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 49,000+ 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.
In this episode, Miguel Armaza brings you a curated selection from the best lessons, reflections, and secrets on how to build and manage an amazing board of directors. Whether you’re a CEO managing a board, an investor who sits on several, an independent board director, or you just want to learn, we hope you find it helpful.
Over the last of last 12 months, one of the common themes across many episodes, has been to learn about the best practices of corporate board management. Several of our guests have sat or currently sit on the board of some of the most incredible firms in the world and they had a lot to say about it.
Collectively, they sit or have sat on the boards of Nubank, Alibaba, Lending Club, dLocal, XP, Upgrade, Incode, VTEX, Affirm, Quinto Andar, Billtrust, Justworks, Creditas, Finix, Acorns, Konfio, and many more.
They discuss three main topics:
Importance of Diversity in The Board Room
Most of the Work is Done Outside the Board Meeting
Build Your Board Early and Make Sure It Feels Like Any Other Great Team at the Company
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 49,000+ 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 Armaza sits down with Latif Peracha, General Partner at M13, a venture capital firm with over $900M of Assets Under Management, focused on enabling technologies that power the future of consumer behavior.
Latif is in charge of the investing strategy for M13 and leads the Web3 and fintech verticals, with investments in companies like Rho, Lightning Labs, Solana, Nori, Delphia and many more.
He was previously a Managing Director at Virgin Group where he led investing in the Americas and worked directly with Richard Branson.
We discuss:
Investing in the future of money and how companies at the intersection of financial services and web3 are modernizing established markets, while building industries of the future
How M13 analyzes the long-term potential of a business and looks for visionary leaders in industries with significant tailwinds when making investment decisions
M13 remains bullish on crypto, but it’s gonna take courage for investors to continue backing companies in the category through uncertainty and volatility
What Latif learned working with Richard Branson and whether every entrepreneur should aspire to be like Richard… 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 50,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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 Armaza heads down to sunny Miami for the Fintech Nexus LatAm Conference, to sit down with Aron Schwarzkopf, CEO & Co-Founder of Kushki, one of the largest digital payments companies in Latin America that’s helping businesses across the region digitize their payments under a single integration.
Founded in 2017, Kushki now operates across most of Spanish-speaking Latin America, was last valued at $1.5 billion, and has raised almost $200 million in equity capital from Kaszek, Softbank, Clocktower, DILA, and more.
We discuss:
Societal benefits of a digitized economy, and how digital payments can reduce corruption and increase the velocity of a market
Working with financial regulators across the region and why he sees evidence that regulators understand the benefits of fintech and is optimistic for the future of the industry
Growing Kushki from zero to 1,000 people and some of the biggest lessons learned along the way
What it means to be the first Ecuadorian unicorn and why he hopes to inspire more entrepreneurs to follow his path… 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 50,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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 Armaza sits down with the very genuine Rob Petrozzo, Co-Founder and CPO of Rally, an alternative investing platform for blue-chip and digital collectibles, including classic cars, sports memorabilia, watches, and NFTs, totaling over 400 assets in 19+ different categories.
Founded back in 2016, Rally has grown to half a million users, actively finds, manages, and fractionalizes some of the most important collectibles and museum-grade items in the world, including vintage wine and dinosaur fossils. Although I recorded the interview from Rally’s offices, unfortunately, I could NOT taste some of those top wines! They’re backed by Alexis Ohanian, Anthemis, Porche Ventures, Social Leverage, Upfront and many more.
We discuss:
The fascinating world of collectibles. How does Rally find and secure some of the most incredible items in the world?
Power of community and how Rally actively incorporates client feedback into product design and company strategy
The intersection between collectibles and digital assets like NFTs
Funder mistakes from the early days of Rally… 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 50,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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 Armaza sits down with Bar Geron, CEO & Co-Founder of Balance, a B2B eCommerce payments company offering an online checkout experience built for businesses.
Launched just two years ago in February 2021, Balance now supports hundreds of B2B merchants and marketplaces, and has partnered with large platforms like Shopify, Salesforce, Magento, and BigCommerce. They raised almost $90 million from Forerunner, Ribbit, Lightspeed, Salesforce, and many more.
We discuss:
Learnings from his days at PayPal and why some of the best payments companies and fintech founders have a strong background in fraud management
How Balance aims to transform the Trade Finance space for US and Canadian businesses
The future of B2B marketplaces and what the industry has learned from the B2C World
Founder Advice for aspiring 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 50,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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 Armaza sits down with Peter Hazlehurst, CEO & Co-Founder of Synctera, a Banking as a Service platform powering accounts, cards, payments, lending, and more.
Launched back in 2020, Synctera has raised ~$50 million from FinVC, Lightspeed, Portage, Mastercard, Max Levchin, Alexa von Tobel, and a long list of great fintech minds.
Peter has also built and sold several fintech companies over the past 30 years and also held leadership roles at Uber, Google, and Yodlee.
We discuss:
Banking as a Service: past, present, and future. Where the industry is going and why close attention to compliance is more important than ever.
Lessons for fintech builders. Peter launched his first fintech company in the early 90s and has seen it all.
What company leaders should know when building a client onboarding and sales process for fast-growing companies.
Fraud management, fundraising reflections… 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 50,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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 Armaza sits down with Prajit Nanu, CEO & Co-Founder of Nium, a billion-dollar fintech building global payments infrastructure supporting 100 currencies across 190+ countries.
Founded almost seven years ago in Singapore, Nium has raised ~$300 million from top fintech investors including Riverwood, GFC, Temasek, and Visa amongst others.
We discuss:
Advantages of outsiders. Prior to Nium, Prajit was not a payments guy, so how did his non-payments background actually become a source of strength?
Lessons from hiring 100s of people. What have they learned about startup recruiting over the last several years?
Why it’s crucial to narrow your focus and double down on your strengths as a company.
Building and scaling a B2B Sales organization, board management lessons… 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 51,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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 Armaza sits down with Denise Thomas, CEO & Co-Founder of ApplePie Capital, a company that offers franchise financing, enabling franchisees to efficiently obtain financing to start or expand their franchise business, while also enabling investors to earn fixed-income returns.
Launched in 2015, ApplePie partners with 60 franchise brands and has facilitated the funding of billions in franchise loans. They’ve also raised capital from QED, Fifth Third Capital, Story Ventures, and more.
In this episode, we discuss:
History of franchising and the main differences between running and financing an independent business vs running a franchise
Why your company strategy should always match your possibilities
How ApplePie has learned to partner with strong franchise brands and their franchisees and leverage their relationship to reduce Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)
Learnings from some of the most significant challenges ApplePie has faced over the last several years… 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 51,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! 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 Armaza sits down with the legendary Bruno Balduccini, Partner at Pinheiro Neto, the leading law firm in Brazil where he spearheads the Financial Institutions group and advises domestic and international clients.
If you’ve ever worked in the Brazilian financial and fintech ecosystem, you’ve probably crossed paths with Bruno, since he has worked on the majority of major transactions involving financial incumbents, startups and payment institutions. He’s also actively participated in the drafting and improvement of the rules for the Brazilian financial industry.
We discuss:
A brief history of Brazilian fintech and why Brazil’s Central Bank has been an extraordinary partner to fintech startups
Interesting trends entrepreneurs and investors should be paying attention to, and what Central Banks around the world can learn from Brazil
Why the fintech opportunity in Brazil is so large and special, but why it’s also not a market for beginners
Working with multibillion-dollar companies like Nubank, Stone & PagSeguro from day one
Common traits of successful 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Suni Lobo, Chief HR/People Officer at Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ), a publicly-traded fintech that helps companies issue cards with flexibility, control, and scale with an open API platform.
Founded in 2010, Marqeta has now issued hundreds of millions of cards across 36 countries and works with customers like Square, Klarna, Uber, Coinbase, and JP Morgan.
We discuss:
Company Culture in a remote world. Has remote work made it easier or harder to build community, increase productivity, and level the playing field?
How to build a culture of innovation and purpose, and why compensation is almost never the main reason people leave companies.
Why is it that at startups the role is called Head of People, but at large companies, we call it Head of Human Resources?
Reflections and lessons for leaders building culture in fast-growing companies… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Zach Noorani, Partner at Foundation Capital, a 28-year venture capital firm with $3 billion in assets under management, currently investing out of its 10th flagship fund. Foundation has previously backed great companies like Stripe, Solana, Lending Club, Envestnet, Alto, and many more.
In this episode, we discuss:
What Zach learned after spending almost a decade at Capital One and why there’s such a strong fintech alumni network coming out of the bank
Differences and similarities between US-based founders and Latin American entrepreneurs
The importance of specializing in financial services and fintech and how it’s allowed Zach to distinguish fairytales from reality
Transitioning from operator to investor, best practices for board management… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with the great Adam Nash, Co-Founder and CEO of Daffy, a not-for-profit fintech community built around a new, modern platform to teach, help, and encourage charitable giving. In fact, visit Fintech Leaders and sign-up today to get an extra $25 for charity when you join Daffy. Thanks Adam.
In this episode, I sit down with Adam Nash, Co-Founder and CEO of Daffy, a not-for-profit fintech community built around a new, modern platform to teach, help, and encourage charitable giving. Sign-up today to get an extra $25 for charity when you join Daffy. Claim your $25 here! http://bit.ly/42rB5d2 (Thanks Adam)
Adam also sits on the board of Acorns, and in the past was CEO of Wealthfront and held leadership roles at Dropbox, LinkedIn, eBay, and Apple.
In this episode, we discuss:
Adam’s journey at Silicon Valley and what it was like to work with Steve Jobs at Next & Apple
Building the first fully functioning donor-advised fund in the app store and how Daffy is helping people give more to charity
Lessons from the role of the CEO and why it’s the only role that truly understands how a company’s pieces are going to fit together
Why Adam remains excited and bullish on consumer-focused fintech businesses, the importance of building a great team… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with 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 world
The 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 Fintech
Lessons for emerging VCs
Lightspeed’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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Alex Prot, CEO & Co-Founder of Qonto, one of the largest fintechs in Europe that helps SMBs simplify their everyday banking and offers a wide range of digital financial services.
Founded in 2017, Qonto serves 350,000 clients across France, Italy, Spain and Germany, and has over 1,000 employees. The company has also raised close to $700 million from Valar, DST, Hedosophia, Insight, KKR, and angels like Taavet Hinrikus, Co-Founder of Wise and Guillaume Pousaz, CEO & Founder of Checkout.com.
We discuss:
Three key focus areas that unlocked Qonto’s success
Challenges of scaling Qonto to over 1,000 employees and 350k customers
How they plan to reach a million clients
Growing through product-led growth
The power of having a strong Co-Founder
Fundraising lessons for entrepreneurs
Europe’s fascinating fintech opportunity… 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.
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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 Armaza stops by Public.com’s TriBeCa headquarters for a conversation with Leif Abraham, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Public.com, an investing platform for equities, fixed income, and alternative assets.
Founded in 2019, Public now serves 3+ million customers and has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from Greycroft, Accel, Lake, Star, Tiger Global, and many more.
They discuss:
How Leif launched his first internet company as a teenager from his room in Hamburg, Germany
Importance of building a customer fan base and the concept of emotional retention
International expansion and why bonds are definitely back
Building Public’s app as a mainstream window to the markets
Startup founder advice… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Nilan Peiris, Chief Product Officer at Wise (WISE.L), a global fintech that helps clients move money around the world. Founded in 2011 by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, Wise went public on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 and has a current market cap of £6 billion, has served 16 million people and businesses, and processes £9 billion in monthly cross-border transactions across 170 countries in 50 currencies.
We discuss:
Building through a mission-driven approach and why it’s crucial for companies to have very clear missions
How Wise turned a consumer product into a B2B offering and an infrastructure business, essentially building three companies inside a single firm.
Building customer trust through transparency and how this can lead to high customer satisfaction and strong referrals
Turning regulatory challenges into opportunities… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Jane Alexander, Chief Marketing Officer at Carta, a platform that helps people and companies manage equity, build businesses, and invest in private companies.
Launched in 2012 by Henry Ward, Carta is used by nearly 30,000 companies and over half a million employees to manage cap tables, compensation, and valuations. Carta also works with over 4,500 funds representing over $92B in assets under administration.
They have raised over a billion dollars from a very long list of investors, including Union Square Ventures, Tribe Capital, Spark Capital, Silver Lake, Lightspeed, a16z, Insight, and many more.
We discuss:
The power of content creation and why it’s been an incredible source for organic growth at Carta
The role of a CMO at companies and how generative AI tools are transforming the job
Navigating the pressures of a more competitive and challenging business environment
Time management and productivity hacks
Importance of customer feedback… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Itai Damti, CEO & Co-Founder of Unit, one of the leading banking-as-a-service and embedded finance providers in the US. Launched in 2019, Unit is backed by Accel, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Insight, Flourish Ventures, and many more.
Itai is also a serial entrepreneur, having previously co-founded two companies in the financial industry back in Tel Aviv and Hong Kong.
We discuss:
Learning from successes and failures of building companies around the world
Embracing "atomic" problem-solving and why this is incredibly important in product and company management
What fintech founders should keep in mind when partnering with banks and financial institutions
Fundraising lessons and why you should not ignore investor feedback… 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.
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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.
Based in NYC, David focuses exclusively on investing in global fintech. Before a16z, he founded Bond Street, a NY fintech that aimed to transform small business lending in the US. Bond Street was eventually acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2017.
We discuss:
Company building lessons from his experience at Bond Street and why he always looks for people with “humble confidence”
The power of storytelling and why David believes effective storytelling is crucial for entrepreneurs and investors
The future of fintech
Key qualities of a good venture capital investor
A look inside a16z and the vision of Mark and Ben for the 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Daniel Cohen, Co-Founder of Cohen Circle, an investment firm; Cohen & Company, an asset manager with $2.2+ billion AUM; and The Bancorp, a bank specialized in fintech as a service and payments. Notably, Daniel has had a successful career in banking, along with his co-founder and Mother, Betsy Cohen.
We discuss:
Turmoil of US regional banks in 2023 and what it means for the industry
Impact of some of the biggest changes in banking and financial services over the last decades
Why bankers should never overestimate the loyalty of their customers
Opportunities for banks to work closely with fintechs … 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 54,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!
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 Armaza heads to Mexico City for a conversation with Jorge Combe, CEO & Co-Founder of DD360 and DD3 Capital Partners, one of the leading PropTech and real estate financing groups in Latin America.
Prior to launching the firm, Jorge and his Co-Founder, Martin Werner, were co-heads of Goldman Sachs Mexico and Latin America. They left Goldman six years ago and bootstrapped DD360 into a $91 million Series A in 2022.
We discuss:
Bootstrapping lessons and benefits, and why they set out to build a profitable company from day one
Biggest mistakes since his transition from Goldman to building a scrappy startup
How they built a B2B business and then expanded it into a B2C division
The incredible potential and opportunities Latin America… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Luvleen Sidhu, CEO & Founder of BM Technologies (NYSE American: BMTX) a US Banking-as-a-Service platform that provides access to multiple financial services. The company currently serves over two million account-holders and provides disbursement services at approximately 725 colleges and universities.
We discuss:
How they successfully pivoted BM Technologies from a consumer to a B2B model
Building a Banking as a Service company and navigating a highly regulated environment
Pros and cons of going public through a SPAC in 2021 as a profitable company
Putting yourself in the client’s shoes, Leadership lessons… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Tidjane Deme, General Partner of Partech Africa, one of the largest Africa-focused venture capital funds with close to $500 million in assets under management. Some of their investments include TradeDepot, Wave, Yoco, Reliance, and Nomba.
We discuss:
A deep dive into the African Fintech landscape and what he’s learned from the most innovative companies and markets in the continent
Fundraising lessons from building one of the first and largest dedicated African VC funds
Important differences between VC investing in Africa vs US/Euope
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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Trisha Kothari, CEO/Co-Founder of Unit21, a company at the forefront of the fight against financial crimes. Founded in 2018, Unit21 has raised close to $100M from Google, ICONIQ Capital, Tiger Global, Core Innovation, and a number of great angel investors.
We discuss:
Finding Unit21’s initial design partners and how they eventually landed Coinbase and Intuit as their first and second customers
Founder-led sales and common mistakes on building an enterprise sales team
What she learned about fraud and company building as a young engineer and product manager at Max Levchin’s Affirm
How financial fraudsters are creative, coordinated, and quick… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Tommy Nicholas, CEO/Co-Founder at Alloy, a company that gives fintechs and banks a command center to control their fraud-fighting, credit, compliance, risk, and identity-decisioning needs. Founded in 2015, Alloy has raised around $200M from Bessemer, Avenir, Clocktower, Flourish, Lightspeed, Primary, Techstars, and a long list of great fintech investors.
We discuss:
Early days of Alloy and how they overcame several tough years and finally hit their stride
A deep-dive into the complex world of fraud and how Alloy aggregates multiple anti-fraud solutions into their platform
Several company-building lessons in the context of a tough raising environment
And... a reminder from Tommy to tech founders that it’s OK to raise a down round or give the money back
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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Soups Ranjan, CEO/Co-Founder of Sardine, a fraud-prevention company that’s on a mission to make payments instant and risk-free. Sardine enables companies to improve risk management through a single API for fraud detection and compliance within financial services.
Founded in 2020, Sardine has raised around $75 million from a16z, NYCA, Activant, FJ Labs, Visa, and a long list of impressive folks.
We discuss:
What he learned about fraud in his role as Head of Risk at Coinbase, where they had to prevent attacks against the most sophisticated fraudsters and nation-state attackers
Examples the most creative fraud attacks they are seeing these days and how Sardine helps fight and prevent them
The urgent need for real-time transaction monitoring in the financial industry
Why fraud and growth are two sides of the same coin … 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.
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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.
In this special episode, Miguel Armaza brings you a curated selection of the best lessons, stories, and candid reflections about raising venture capital. You’ll hear directly from some of the strongest fintech entrepreneurs around the world spanning four continents. From the skyscrapers of New York, through the vibrant landscapes of Cape Town, up to the lively streets of Mexico City, over to the cafes of Paris, and all the way to the heart of Bogota.
The founders featured in this episode have built and continue building revolutionary companies. Many of them multi-billion-dollar enterprises. To get there, they’ve successfully raised venture capital from some of the most respected investors in the world.
In this episode, they reveal lessons they’ve learned and pass on valuable insights from their experiences. You’ll hear from nine founders, including:
Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur just starting your journey, or a seasoned founder facing new challenges, we hope you find valuable takeaways in this episode.
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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Adena Hefets, CEO/Co-Founder of Divvy Homes, one of the most innovative PropTech companies in the US that helps renters transition into homeowners with a rent-to-own model.
They are backed by great investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, GGV Capital, GIC, Tiger Global, Caffeinated Capital, and Max Levchin.
We discuss:
What’s going on in the US commercial and residential real estate markets? Adena gives a deep dive of the tough state of the market.
How Divvy’s rent-to-own model is a win-win for consumers, giving them the flexibility to be homeowners without necessarily having a mortgage.
Leadership and productivity lessons after six years in the CEO role.
Struggles from their early fundraising journey, building company 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Salman Syed, CEO of Fidel API, a global financial infrastructure platform that helps build programmable experiences at the moment a transaction occurs on any payment card. They are backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Nyca Partners, QED, Citi Ventures, and Commerce Ventures. Prior to Fidel API, Salman spent over a decade in leadership roles at Mastercard and Marqeta.
We discuss:
How Fidel API is unlocking new products and technologies by accessing and leveraging real-time transaction data
Key trends that are shaping the future of financial services
Challenges and advantages of building a global firm with employees and customers around the world… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Chris Pento, CEO/Co-Founder of Clear Street, a $2 billion modern financial infrastructure business focused on providing capital markets services including clearing, custody, execution, and prime brokerage service.
Launched just five years ago in 2018, Clear Street was recently valued at $2 billion and has raised close to $600 million in equity and debt from Prysm Capital, NextGen Venture Partners, IMC Investments, and many more.
We discuss:
A brief history of the US Securities and Capital Markets infrastructure and how Clear Street is modernizing 50-year-old technology
How Chris thinks about strategic-decision making and why they’ve been able to execute and launch so many products in just a few years
Why he believes in the concept of a value-add investor, especially in niche and regulated spaces like theirs
Transitioning from a Wall Street corner office to scrappy startup founder, competitive ping pong matches at Clear Street… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Billy Libby, CEO/Co-Founder at Upper90and Conor Witt, Vice President at Upper90. Upper90 is a hybrid fund that invests credit and equity in early-stage businesses.
Launched in 2018, Upper90 has over $1.5B in AUM and has backed fintech companies like Thras.io, Octane Lending, Mundi, and many more.
In this episode, we discuss:
Combining equity and debt underwriting and how Upper90 has built a team with two different skillsets under the same roof
What they’ve learned from working with the best credit-driven companies in the market and what great founders have in common
Venturing outside the US and why Upper90 sees a ton of opportunity in places like Latin America
How electronic and quantitative trading in Wall Street led Billy to fintech and venture capital… 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.
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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.
Alexis Pantazis, Co-Founder of Hellas Direct – A Contrarian Play That Led to $150M Annual Revenue, Mastering Product & Market Launches, The Future of Insurance
Miguel Armaza sits down with Alexis PantazisCo-Founder of Hellas Direct, a full-stack InsurTech with operations in Greece, Cyprus and Romania. Launched in Athens a decade ago, Hellas Direct now generates over $150 million in annual revenue.
The company has raised $56 million of equity and debt from Portag3, Third Point, the World Bank, Endeavor Catalyst, amongst other great investors.
We discuss:
A masterclass of what they’ve learned from launching new products and countries over the last decade
Their strategy of going after ‘Blindspot Markets’ to increase market dominance and reduce competition
Dealing with fraud with data and underwriting
Why it’s so important to modernize the insurance 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Stephany Kirkpatrick, Founder/CEO of Orum, a fintech company that’s built a single API to enable US real-time and fast payments across RTP, FedNow, Same Day ACH, Wires, and more.
Launched in 2020, Orum has raised over $80 million from great fintech investors including Inspired Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Clocktower, Acrew, Primary, and Accel.
In this episode, we discuss:
The future of real-time payments in the US and how Orum is helping increase adoption for small and mid-sized banks
Why the risks posed by new technologies should not deter technological innovation
Lessons learned from building an enterprise sales organization
Asking for help and why founders should create a personal 9-1-1 call list… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Gary Hoberman, CEO & Founder of Unqork, a revolutionary technology company that has pioneered a Codeless as a Service (CaaS) platform to help eliminate legacy code for enterprises.
Launched in 2017, Unqork’s clients include some of the world's largest banks and insurance companies. The company was last valued at $2 billion and has raised over $350 million from Google, Goldman Sachs, Aquiline, Fin Capital, Blackrock, and many more.
Prior to founding Unqork, Gary was Global CIO for MetLife, where he oversaw technology across 47 countries, and before that, he was one of the youngest Managing Directors in Citi’s history. He holds seven patents, six of which are still in use in the finance industry today.
We discuss:
The crisis in the world of enterprise software and why most of the dollars being spent are making companies worse, not better.
Why Unqork believes that launching software isn't the final goal, but instead we should focus on ensuring software improves businesses and doesn't become a legacy burden.
Challenges with the conventional approach towards cybersecurity and why most companies are not equipped to manage truly secure operations.
Persevering in the face of adversity, turning 300 no’s from Investors into a $2B 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.
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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.
Pedro Conrade, CEO/Founder of Neon – From Startup to Titan, Behind Brazil's Fintech Revolution, Mastering Your M&A Strategy and Navigating Major Crises
Miguel Armaza sits down with Pedro Conrade, CEO/Founder of Neon, one of the largest digital banks in Brazil and Latin America. We sat down on stage in Sao Paulo at the Gilgamesh Ventures Summit, an annual meeting where we gather Limited Partners, Founders, Co-Investors, and friends for a series of events and discussions about the future of financial services.
Serving almost 20 million clients, Neon is one of the largest fintech companies in the Americas and, without a doubt, Pedro is amongst the most inspiring figures I know. Every time I talk to him, I come out with a shot of motivation and positivity.
In this episode, we discuss:
How an overdraft fee infuriated Pedro and inspired him to launch Neon
Why major crises and tough moments helped build a more resilient company
Neon’s M&A strategy – insights from five company acquisitions
And many more company building lessons
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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Michael Tannenbaum, COO at Brex,a $12 billion global spend platform for finance teams and founders to manage every aspect of global spend.
Launched in 2017 Brex was last valued at $12B in January 2022 and has raised over a billion dollars from YC, Ribbit, Human Capital, GFC, DST, Dragoneer, TCV, and a very long list of fintech investors.
In this episode, we discuss:
The implications of a high-interest rate environment for tech and fintech
Michael’s time at SoFi and what he learned about promoting talent from within
Reflections from the early days at Brex and what he describes as his favorite role at the company
The future of Brex, bidding for SVB’s credit card portfolio… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Ricardo Josua, CEO/Co-Founder ofPismo, a global tech company that builds banking and cards solutions for digital banks and large financial institutions. Headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the company has operations in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the US and processes $210 billion dollars in annual transaction volume. Pismo’s investors include Redpoint Brazil, Softbank, Amazon and Accel.
Importantly, back in June 2023, Visa announced a definitive agreement to acquire Pismo for $1 billion in cash. Making it one of the largest fintech acquisitions announced this year worldwide, and certainly the largest one outside of the US. The transaction is still subject to regulatory approvals so we couldn’t talk that much about it.
In this episode, we discuss:
From Brazil to the world – the importance of having a global mindset from day one
Partnering with fintechs and large banks – how Pismo went from mostly fintech clients to selling to some of the largest banks in the world
Building a modern system while still connecting to legacy technologies
Advice for company builders and leaders to navigate both great times and choppy weathers… 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 almost 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 Armaza sits down with Colin Walsh, CEO & Co-Founder of Varo Bank, a neobank and the first consumer fintech to be granted a bank charter in the US. In a past life, Colin held leadership positions at American Express, Lloyds Banking Group, and Visa. Varo has raised close to a billion dollars and is back by Blackrock, David Rubenstein’s Declaration Partners, Warburg Pincus, and a long list of investors.
You can also learn more about Colin and Varo in his own podcast, the Varo Prosperity Podcast.
We discuss:
Finding Product Market Fit and why this process can often take years
Advantages and disadvantages of being a regulated institution and why Colin is proud that Varo secured a banking charter
Making tough decisions and how Varo redefined itself over the last couple of years
Colin’s take on the big re-bundling 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Jean-Denis Greze, CTO at Plaid, a data network and one of the foundational fintech companies that works with thousands of firms, including several Fortune 500s and some of largest banks in the world.
Founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey, Plaid’s network covers 12,000+ financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. They’ve raised over $700 million from Felicis, Homebrew, NEA, Spark Capital, Citi, Goldman, AmEx, Ribbit, and a long list of great investors.
We discuss:
How Plaid stays at the forefront of security and privacy
Thriving in a competitive market and how the only way to win is to play a different game than your competitors
The future of Open Finance in the US and some regulatory predictions
How AI LLMs are revolutionizing user interfaces… 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.
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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 Armaza sits down with Tom Callahan, CEO of Nasdaq Private Market, a secondary marketplace and liquidity provider for private company trading and transactions. NPM recently spun out of Nasdaq is now backed by a consortium of banks and financial institutions, including Nasdaq, Citi, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and others.
We discuss:
An update on the state of both primary and secondary activity in private markets
A deep dive on how private markets work and why the system is so archaic
Unintended consequences created by regulation like the US JOBS Act… 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.
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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.
NASDAQ PRIVATE MARKET, LLC IS NOT A REGISTERED EXCHANGE UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. NASDAQ PRIVATE MARKET IS OPERATIONALLY INDEPENDENT AND DISTINCT FROM THE NASDAQ STOCK MARKET LLC. SECURITIES-RELATED SERVICES ARE OFFERED THROUGH NPM SECURITIES, LLC, A MEMBER OF FINRA AND SIPC. NONE OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED REPRESENTS AN OFFER TO BUY OR SELL, OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY OR SELL, ANY SECURITY, NOR DOES IT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO PROVIDE INVESTMENT ADVICE OR SERVICE. INVESTING IN PRIVATE COMPANY SECURITIES IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS. IT IS HIGHLY SPECULATIVE AND INVOLVES A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK.
10 Oct 2023
Josh Reeves, CEO & Co-Founder of Gusto – Building a $9.6 Billion Company to Serve Small Businesses
In this 100th Fintech Leaders episode, we bring you someone extra special. Miguel Armaza sits down with Josh Reeves, CEO & Co-Founder of Gusto, one of the largest HR & Payroll companies in the US, focused on serving small and medium-sized businesses. In addition to HR, payroll, and benefits, Gusto is a strong player of embedded fintech solutions and recently announced a very large partnership with JPM Chase.
Founded in 2011, Gusto now serves over 300,000 businesses in the US and in 2022 Gusto had revenues of more than $500 million dollars. They are backed by General Catalyst, YC, Kleiner Perkins, Obvious Ventures, Felicis, Ribbit, CapitalG, Altimeter, and a very long list of fintech investors.
We discuss:
Finding Product-market fit in the highly complex SMB sector
Becoming a strategic partner and building the people platform for small businesses
Lessons from building and launching Gusto’s embedded fintech strategy
How Gusto built a structured and scalable hiring process
Insights and learnings from the evolving role of 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, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join almost 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 Armaza sits down with Ben Miller, CEO & Co-Founder of Fundrise, the largest direct-to-investor alternative asset manager in the US, that has grown from an idea to a platform with over 2 million active users and $3.3 billion in real estate private equity, private credit, and growth-stage venture capital.
We discuss:
How a product pivot cost Fundrise half their customers, but set them up for future success
Why he’s not optimistic about many tech companies worth billions and believes they will continue to struggle to turn a profit
How rapid growth impacts your culture
Why the best innovation happens at the intersection of multiple specialties
The importance of staying true to your mission… 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 almost 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.
Today we bring you a living legend. Miguel Armaza sits down with Howard Morgan, Chair and General Partner at B Capital, a global investment firm with $6.3 billion in AUM and 160+ portfolio companies.
Howard is also a true technology pioneer. He was one of the first people in history to experience the web, and had computer #50 on the ARPANET. His research also contributed to the development of the modern internet.
Howard is also a trailblazer of tech investing, having co-founded firms like Renaissance technologies with Jim Simons, and First Round Capital with Josh Kopelman.
We discuss:
Bringing the internet to Wharton and sending his first email in the early 70s
Building Renaissance Technologies, the best-performing fund of all-time
Lessons for founders and investors after 50 years of investing in tech companies, including the seed rounds of Uber, Square, and Roblox
Building a truly global investment firm at B Capital
The impact of GenAI and why every company should be leveraging enterprise AI tools today… 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 almost 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 Armaza sits down with Stuart Sopp, CEO and Co-Founder at Current, one of the largest New York fintech platforms offering financial services to US consumers.
Launched in 2015, Current serves almost four million customers and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, TQ Ventures, Avenir, Sapphire Ventures, Foundation Capital, Wellington Management, QED, and many more.
We recorded this conversation live in the heart of NYC at Barclays Rise, as part of a series of events during New York Tech Week.
We discussed:
Launching Current and why it took many iterations and two pivots to eventually land on Current present state
The importance of balancing growth and tech development in periods of hypergrowth
Why Stuart believes we’ve entered the “era of value” for fintech and what this means for founders launching companies these days
What he’s learned working with Mr. Beast and many other influencers
Why NYC is the best place to start 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 almost 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.
In this episode (originally published Jan 3, 2023), Miguel Armaza brings you a curated selection from the best lessons, reflections, and secrets on how to build and manage an amazing board of directors. Whether you’re a CEO managing a board, an investor who sits on several, an independent board director, or you just want to learn, we hope you find it helpful.
Over the last of last 12 months, one of the common themes across many episodes, has been to learn about the best practices of corporate board management. Several of our guests have sat or currently sit on the board of some of the most incredible firms in the world and they had a lot to say about it.
Collectively, they sit or have sat on the boards of Nubank, Alibaba, Lending Club, dLocal, XP, Upgrade, Incode, VTEX, Affirm, Quinto Andar, Billtrust, Justworks, Creditas, Finix, Acorns, Konfio, and many more.
They discuss three main topics:
Importance of Diversity in The Board Room
Most of the Work is Done Outside the Board Meeting
Build Your Board Early and Make Sure It Feels Like Any Other Great Team at the Company
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 almost 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 Armaza sits down with Emmalyn Shaw, Managing Partner at Flourish Ventures, a global fintech-focused fund with over $850 million in assets under management. Flourish Ventures is also a permanent capital vehicle that aims to back companies that can create systemic change and help build a more fair financial system. Some of their investments include Chime, Neon, Alloy, Flutterwave, Paga, and Kamino.
We discussed:
Lessons learned after almost 25 years in venture capital
Building a venture team
Why specialized funds can deliver big wins and returns
What it means to be a mission-driven entrepreneur and why they love investing in them
The strategy that has allowed Flourish Ventures to invest around the world… 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 almost 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 Armaza sits down with Jason Guss, CEO & Co-Founder of Octane Lending, the leading software and credit provider for purchases of powersports vehicles, RVs, and outdoor power equipment. Founded in New York City in 2014, Octane now funds over a billion dollars in annual loans and is backed by Valar Ventures, Contour, IA Ventures, Barenson, Third Prime, Fintech Collective, Upper90, and many more.
We discussed:
De-risking your business with early hires and the difference between missionary and mercenary talent
Why they were forced to build a profitable business from day one
Reflections on building a credit-driven business and dealing with capital markets
Fundraising lessons and advice on how to deal with venture capitalists… 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 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 Armaza sits down with Ohad Samet, CEO & Co-Founder of TrueML, a leading platform of fintech products to enable intelligent, digital customer communication, which in clues TrueAccord, a leading debt recovery and collections platform with a consumer-friendly digital experience. They are backed by AmEx, Arbor Ventures, BoxGroup, Felicis, Homebrew, Nyca, Max Levchin, and many more.
Ohad is also an industry veteran and previously held leadership roles at PayPal and Klarna.
We discuss:
Lessons learned at PayPal and Klarna. What drives the success of these organizations?
How TrueAccord has pioneered a humane, consumer-friendly approach to debt collection
The state of BNPL and why Ohad thinks the category is here to stay and he hopes it displaces payday loans
Advice on managing your relationship with VCs… 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 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 Armaza sits down with Sarah Hammer, Executive Director and Professor at the Wharton School. Sarah has a long history of leading multiple fintech and financial institutions at Wharton, in the private sector, and also in the public sector.
Additionally, Sarah leads the Cypher accelerator, Wharton’s fully-remote and non-dilutive accelerator program built to launch the world’s leading technology startups. So, if you’re starting to build a fintech company anywhere in the world, be sure to apply by December 17th. Some of the program mentors include Mark Cuban, Tim Draper, and Charles Birnbaum.
Wharton’s Cypher accelerator and the types of companies they are looking to support
Lessons from leading the PA Department of Banking and Securities throughout the Silicon Valley banking crisis
Potential applications, uses, and impact of GenAI in the financial world … 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 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 Armaza sits down with Luis Silva, CEO & Founder of Cloudwalk, where they are building an interplanetary payment network. Headquartered in Brazil, Cloudwalk has now expanded internationally, is profitable, and recently crossed annual revenue of $400 million. They are backed by Valor Capital, Coatue, DST, FIS, Plug and Play, The Hive, and many more.
We discuss:
Benefits of extreme long-term planning – why you should think in thousands of years, not just in quarters or decades.
An optimistic take on AI – why Luis is convinced this technology will help humans become better humans and improve society
How treating GenAI as an ally can help you massively accelerate and improve productivity
From humble beginnings in a small town in Brazil to building a global fintech giant… 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 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 Armaza sits down with Maëlle Gavet, CEO of Techstars, a premier global accelerator and one of the world's most active pre-seed investors. Techstars was founded in 2006 and has backed almost 4000 companies with a combined portfolio market cap of $105B. Some of their invested companies include Remitly, Chainalysis, DataRobot, and Alloy.
We discuss:
Trends and lessons learned at Techstars after 16 years, countless programs, and backing 9000 founders
Maelle’s criticism of the venture industry and how it could improve to better serve founders
How Techstars has been able to scale internationally and across programs with a partially decentralized approach
A deep dive into Maelle’s impressive background as a former founder and operator… 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 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.
This episode was the most popular one of 2023 - it first aired Apr 18, 2023. Enjoy and have a happy new year!
Miguel Armaza sits down with Nilan Peiris, Chief Product Officer at Wise (WISE.L), a global fintech that helps clients move money around the world. Founded in 2011 by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, Wise went public on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 and has a current market cap of £6 billion, has served 16 million people and businesses, and processes £9 billion in monthly cross-border transactions across 170 countries in 50 currencies.
We discuss:
Building through a mission-driven approach and why it’s crucial for companies to have very clear missions
How Wise turned a consumer product into a B2B offering and an infrastructure business, essentially building three companies inside a single firm.
Building customer trust through transparency and how this can lead to high customer satisfaction and strong referrals
Turning regulatory challenges into opportunities… 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 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.
In this special episode, we explore valuable company-building lessons and mistakes shared by 18 of our guests from over last 2 years. So if you’re building a business, I hope you find it helpful.
This show is divided into four categories of insights:
Organizational Culture
Product Strategy
Leadership Tactics
Sales and Marketing
Each chapter explores critical aspects of building a tech company, featuring the CEOs, Founders, and leaders of companies like Ramp, SoFi, Gusto, Lending Club, Figure, Upgrade, Melio, and Carta, amongst others.
This episode is a treasure trove of lessons learned and strategic advice for current and aspiring fintech builders. We are also including the links to each individual episode on Substack so that you can dive-in to each one of 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 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 Armaza sits down with Dan Rosen, Founder of Commerce Ventures, a fintech and retail-focused fund that’s been building an impressive portfolio since 2013. Some of their investments include Bill.com, Marqeta, Socure, Moov, MX, and many more.
We discuss:
Building a Venture fund and how their thematic strategy has evolved in the last decade
Qualities of great tech and fintech investors
The real advantage of second-time founders
Why we are starting to see signs of a comeback in the growth market… 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 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 Armaza sits down with Wayne Slavin, CEO & Founder of Sure, a leading insurtech SaaS and infrastructure company powering embedded products for some of the world’s most recognized brands and carriers. They’ve raised over $120m from Menlo Ventures, IA Capital, David Rubenstein’s Declaration Partners, Plug and Play, and many more.
We discuss:
How Sure pivoted from a direct-to-consumer model to a B2B embedded insurance provider
Why embedded insurance has the potential to revolutionize the industry
Seeking mentors strategically and learning from both good and bad managers
Why you cannot outcompete the immigrant drive and hustle mindset in business… 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 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 Armaza sits down with Bill Capuzzi, CEO of Apex, a company that’s built capital markets infrastructure to enable investing. Their customers include major global banks, Webull, eToro, SoFi, and a long list of financial institutions with $115B+ in AUM and 21 million brokerage accounts.
In 2023 the company reportedly had over $400 million in operating revenue and they confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO in December 2023. They are widely expected to go public this year in 2024.
We discuss:
The rise of retail investing and democratizing access to public markets
What you should keep in mind when building and selling enterprise-grade software
Bringing capital markets infrastructure to the 21st century
What he’s learned since joining the board of DTCC, Bill’s take on the movie dumb money… 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 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 bank
Company building lessons and the importance of good timing
The real reason why banks do not buy fintech companies too often
Why 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 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 investing
Why he is highly skeptical of the new wave of GenAI
A 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.
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