Tearsheet Podcast: The Business Of Finance

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with consulting firm Ulysses Partners to create a four-part series on identity proofing and the importance of user experience in its emerging landscape. The series is based on our co-created guide, The Identity Proofing Guide: A practical hands-on review of user experience in leading solutions (https://bit.ly/3EUU3NR). https://tearsheet.co/sponsored/the-identity-proofing-guide-a-practical-hands-on-review-of-user-experience-in-leading-solutions/ In this session we’re joined by David Milligan, managing partner at Ulysses Partners, and Ashim Banerjee, founder and CEO of IDMission. We’ll be talking about the role of identity proofing in financial services at this moment, how an FI can measure success when it comes to identity proofing, and where identity verification fits in the payments space. Read it on our site: https://bit.ly/39ec1iB

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. We’ve been talking a lot about Buy Now, Pay Later and its role in payments, lending, and banking. Today we’re going behind the scenes in BNPL to see how the sausage is made. I’m joined by Affirm’s head of risk, Karthik Ramkumar. He leads a team of dozens of people as he manages all aspects of financial risk, including consumer credit, consumer fraud, merchant credit and merchant fraud. Our discussion is pretty far reaching – from talking about the evolution of the underwriting model, to sought after skillsets to address fraud to mental health in the workplace. If you’re interested in what goes into building a world-class risk operation at one of the top firms in the space, you’re going to want to spend the next 25 minutes with us. Karthik Ramkumar is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

On today’s episode I’m speaking with Michelle Faul, VP of Global Marketing at TreviPay. TreviPay is a global fintech that offers embedded payments in the digital B2B commerce space. Fun fact: TreviPay won Best New Product – for its B2B mobile payments app – at our Embedded Awards last November at the Big Bank Theory Conference. Check out Tearsheet.co to see all the awards we’ll be giving out for brands, campaigns, and products in 2022. Today, Michelle’s here to give our listeners a little behind the scenes about TreviPay’s community playbook.

Welcome back to Power of Payments. I’m your host Ismail Umar, and for today’s episode, I’m joined by Marwan Forzley, co-founder and CEO of Veem. Veem is a San Francisco-based global payments platform built for businesses. It aims to simplify international money transfers and improve the way companies pay and get paid around the world. The company uses blockchain as a payment rail to eliminate the need for intermediary banks and reduce payment costs for SMBs. Marwan is an advocate of using blockchain technology to make cross-border payments for businesses – and that’s what he’s here to discuss with me today.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. When startups come on the podcast, we talk a lot about the need and the challenge to deliver digital financial services at scale. There’s probably no better example of that in the US market today than JPMorgan Chase. The firm has 60 million clients that access Chase products and services through digital channels. When it comes to scale, you don’t need to look solely to big tech – Chase is already there. On this episode, I’m joined by Rohan Amin, Chase’s chief product officer, and Gill Haus, Chase’s chief information officer. You’ll get a feel for the rapport between the two executives as we explore their roles and responsibilities in leading the firm forward into the future. Rohan and Gill discuss the evolving dependence consumers are building around their banking apps and the role banks play in their lives. Organizationally, Chase has adopted agile methodologies and teams. The duo discuss how product, engineering, design, and dat

On today’s episode of the Acquire Podcast I’m speaking with John Forrester, SVP of Product at Ocrolus. Ocrolus is a document automation platform that powers the digital lending ecosystem. John is here to talk to me about Ocrolus’ “try and buy” offering launched last year, allowing any size lender – and non-lenders – to upload their financial documents for free.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with consulting firm Ulysses Partners to create a four-part series on identity proofing and the importance of user experience in its emerging landscape. The series is based on our co-created guide, The Identity Proofing Guide: A practical hands-on review of user experience in leading solutions (https://bit.ly/3EUU3NR). In this session we’re joined by David Milligan, managing partner at Ulysses Partners, and Ruby Walia, advisor to fintechs and startups. We’ll be talking about identity proofing and why it matters, why we need to think about UX when it comes to identity proofing, and how financial providers can bring this technology to market. Read it on our site: https://bit.ly/3vPckIb

As we continue to press on the technology throttle, core software providers like Jack Henry are changing, too. The firm recently announced a new technology strategy that would unbundle its software – essentially taking its core-system parts and making them discrete services that can be customized and rebundled alongside other fintech offerings. In our talk with CEO David Foss, he compared core software to a car chassis. Banks and other FIs have been used to buying the whole car – now, Jack Henry wants to provide its clients with options to pick and choose the components they want in their technology stack.

On today’s episode I’m speaking with Jeff Otto, VP of Marketing at Marqeta. Marqeta is a card issuance and payments solution provider, and without a doubt a major player in the space. Jeff is here to talk to me about their new campaign that launched at the end of last year, bringing crypto to point of sale.

Welcome back to another episode of Power of Payments. I’m your host Ismail Umar, and this week, we talk about PayPal, tap to mobile payments, and crypto-backed cards. If you’d like to access more of our coverage on payments, subscribe to our Payments Newsletter. This episode of Tearsheet’s Payments Podcast is sponsored by Quavo. With their flagship offering, QFD, Quavo has created a chargeback management solution for issuers of all sizes.

We’ve got Digital Asset’s Shaul Kfir on the show today. Digital Asset helps power what it calls the Global Economic Network, an ecosystem of interconnected global networks across which information and value are transacted seamlessly. If the internet is the network of networks, that’s what Digital Asset is creating around financial services firms. Think of a global settlement network that includes multiple financial firms and can connect in blockchain just as well as it can an Oracle database. Shaul talks about the firm’s new rollout of its software Daml 2.0 and how its evolved over time. We also discuss the partnership Digital Asset cut with SETL on the blockchain protocol which will underpin the Regulated Liability Network. If you’re looking for a view into where the world is headed with blockchain and the incumbent financial industry, you’re going to want to pay attention.

Welcome to Acquire, Tearsheet’s Marketing Podcast. I’m your host, Rebecca Alma Cohen, Head of Tearsheet Studios. And this is our very first episode. The Acquire Podcast is all about exploring marketing campaigns for new brands, products and services in the financial industry. I’ll be talking to marketing and creative leaders across the space to give our listeners a behind the scenes look into the secret sauce (well, as secretive as we can get with marketing folks) that goes into launching the campaigns, from strategy to execution. On today’s episode, I spoke to Mary Ellen Dugan, chief marketing officer at Envestnet. Envestnet provides technology solutions and intelligence that help financial advisors help their clients manage their financial lives and build financial wellness. She’s here to talk about Envestnet's recent major campaign, and company rebrand at large, “Fully Vested”.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with small business lender BlueVine to produce a four part series on creating financial solutions serving historically underserved small businesses. In this episode, Tearsheet editor in chief Zack Miller spoke with Steve Allocca, COO of BlueVine, about the challenges and opportunities of building and scaling a customer-centric small business.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Today’s guest is Zack Gipson, who runs Charles Schwab’s digital investor solutions. We talked in depth about Schwab’s Stock Slices, the firm’s fractional share product. Together with a new investor starter kit, the incumbent is reaching a new investor base, younger and earlier in their journeys. Zack shares how the product is being received and where the firm is headed in the future. Zack Gipson is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the first episode of Power of Payments, Tearsheet’s new bi-weekly podcast. Host Ismail Umar takes you through the recent developments in the world of payments and their wider implications for the industry. In the inaugural episode, we talk about the changing relationship between BNPL and credit scores, cryptocurrency payroll, Apple’s new Tap to Pay feature, and ‘Save Now, Pay Later’ -- a new alternative to BNPL. This episode of Tearsheet’s Payments Podcast is sponsored by Quavo. With their flagship offering, QFD, Quavo has created a chargeback management solution for issuers of all sizes.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. We’re at an inflection point right now when it comes to blockchain technology. There are a handful of technology partners that, instead of bypassing the traditional financial industry, are working together with it. Anchorage is one of those firms. As the sole digital asset firm with a national banking license, it works with FIs to provide crypto custody, trading, staking, governance and more. At the end of 2021, it raised a $350 million round, valuing the firm at $3.5 billion. It’s just getting started, as banking slowly opens up to what appears to be the future for the industry, clients, and the world, frankly. Anchorage co-founder and president Diogo Mónica joins me on the podcast to review where we are at this moment in time regarding Web3 and its connection to the incumbent financial industry. Diogo shares some milestones that Anchorage and the industry have hit and then looks toward the future for a snapshot of what it may lo

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Many of the firms we cover are moving towards becoming a one-stop-shop for their customers. Looking to deeply service their constituency, they’re converging on becoming banks – whether or not they actually have a license. At least, they look and smell like banks. Fundbox, a provider of financial services to small businesses, isn’t necessarily going that route. It’s staying particularly focused on serving its clients’ cash flow needs with working capital – so it goes beyond what a traditional lender might do. But it’s not taking the plunge fully into banking. The firm’s CEO Prashant Fuloria joins me on the podcast to talk about how SMBs are coping with the pandemic’s challenges and how Fundbox has evolved to serve them. We also catch up on where the firm is in its own growth cycle. Fundbox has grown – it surpassed a $100 million run rate last year and raised $100 million in a Series D round, valuing the company over a billion dol

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. I like to say that it takes a village to raise a fintech firm. You can really see the power of the ecosystem when it comes to successful companies in our space like Square and Plaid. Lloyed Lobo has seen first hand the power of having an audience. Launched in a spare bedroom with pizza nights, the community he co-founded, Traction, now numbers 100,000 people building companies. Lloyed’s company, Boast AI, has seen the fruits of this community. It helps companies apply for R&D tax credits. With a newly formed fund of $100 million, it also helps tech firms finance their credits. We talk about the power of community and how it can help find early fans and customers for a novel concept. Lloyed shares his experience building Boast and how smaller firms are now able to tap these credits that previously were accessible by some of the largest tech companies. Boast uses a hybrid tech and human delivery model – Lloyed talks about that, to

In this episode of The Challengers, Josh Liggett and Zack Miller explore Sofi's move to get a bank charter and what it may mean for the company, as well as for its platform business, Galileo. Josh and Zack talk about N26's recent admission that in a push to globalize, it missed the move to crypto. . Lastly, your hosts discuss the UK's Starling Bank and its move to become a platform. Josh and Zack discuss how good unit economics enable challenger banks -- particularly ones focused on B2C -- to turn into software plays, supporting banking products and services for other fintechs.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Some of the largest banks in the US have active venture investing arms. They may differ in how they’re structured but for firms like Truist, their fintech portfolios are about getting a seat at the table with innovative firms. Partnerships are important, as well as insights into their portfolio companies’ product development cycles. And of course, these funds are looking for eventual ROI on their venture investments. Truist Venture’s Venessa Vreeland and Christina Russ join me on the podcast to talk about the composition of their fintech investment portfolio as well as trends that underlie some of their investment theses. Lastly, we look outward, as my guests discuss opportunities they see to invest in today’s market. Vanessa Vreeland and Christina Russ are my guests today on the Tearsheet Podcast.