Explore every episode of the podcast Fintech Leaders
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David Fortunato, CEO of Wealthfront - $70Bn AUM & Climbing, From Engineer to CEO, Relentless Focus on Automation, The Future of Wealth Management
Miguel Armaza travels to San Francisco for an interview with David Fortunato, CEO of Wealthfront, an asset management giant with $70+ billion in assets under management and over a million clients.
Founded by Andy Rachleff almost 15 years ago, Wealthfront is now one of the most defining financial brands for millennials and Gen Zers. David joined the company in 2009 as a junior software engineer and became CEO almost four years ago.
In this episode, we discuss:
Building a culture of engineers and automation
Product expansion strategies
A sustainable business model that looks a lot more like SaaS and not a financial institution
Buy, Build, or Partner, and what it takes to successfully build most of your tech in-house… 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 ~70,000+ 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 interviews Abdon Nacif, Co-Founder of Nexu, the leading auto financing and dealership software platform in Mexico and one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in the Americas.
Nexu is growing fast, approaching $50 million in net annual revenue, and has been profitable for nearly two years. They have raised just over $30 million in equity and over $150 million in debt from Altos Ventures, Valor, HSBC, Wollef, Y Combinator, Fintech Collective, Clocktower, FJ Labs, and Gilgamesh Ventures.
I’m a big fan of Abdon and I love getting a shot of inspiration after every conversation with him. Not only have I known Abdon for over a decade, but at Gilgamesh Ventures we have been investors in Nexu for the past three years, with a front row seat into their incredible story.
In this episode, we discuss:
Developing mental toughness as an entrepreneur
The principles and discipline that led them to build a profitable business at a very early stage
Near-death experiences and a pivotal decision that resulted in a shift in business model
Abdon's leadership philosophy and focus on authentic, selfless leadership… 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 ~70,000+ 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 interviews Alex Konrad, Senior Editor at Forbes, where he covers venture capital and startups. Alex also edits and curates the famous Midas List and The Forbes 30 Under 30 VC category. He is a central figure in the world of Venture Capital, Tech, and Fintech and I suspect you’ll enjoy hearing what he has to say.
We discuss:
A behind-the-scenes look of the Forbes Midas List and the growing influence of FinTech in it
The Impact and adoption of AI in the financial industry
Evolution and future of the VC industry
The role of media in tech, curating the 30 Under 30… 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 ~70,000+ 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 Matan Bar, CEO & Co-Founder of Melio, a B2B payments platform for small businesses. The company has raised over $500 million from a who’s who of fintech investors, including Accel, Coatue, Bessemer, General Catalyst, Thrive, Tiger Global, and more.
In this episode, we discuss:
Understanding your customer. Prior to writing a single line of code, the Melio team setup an old-school bookkeeping business in Manhattan to truly understand the challenges of their future clients. What did they learn?
Importance of velocity to launch products and being comfortable with making mistakes (but correcting them very quickly!).
Matan used to lead peer-to-peer payments at Paypal, but then built a business-to-business payments company. What led him down this path?
Why his biggest mistake was optimizing new hires for skills and not for culture… and a lot more!
Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.
Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 47,000+ readers and listeners around the world! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Miguel 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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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 Laura Merling, Chief Transformation and Operations Officer at Arvest Bank, a community-based bank with $26 billion in assets, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Arvest traces its roots back to 1961, when its predecessor bank was acquired by Sam Walton, also the founder of Walmart.
In this episode, we discuss:
The digitization of small and medium-sized banks. There are almost 5,000 banks in the US – how are they modernizing and riding the fintech wave?
Bank-Fintech Partnerships. What should fintech companies partnering with community banks keep in mind? Laura shares some best practices and common mistakes.
Pros and cons of building in-house vs partnering with technology providers. What path should your firm take? ... and a whole lot more!
Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.
Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 43,000+ readers and listeners around the world! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Miguel Armaza interviews Melissa Guzy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Arbor Ventures, a global fintech-focused fund with offices across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US. Founded in 2012, some of their portfolio companies include Tabby, TrueAccord, Grab, and Fundbox.
We discuss:
Melissa’s early days as a VC investor at VantagePoint Capital where they navigated the dot com crash and later invested in Tesla’s Series A
Building Arbor Ventures and pioneering fintech investing in China, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East
How Arbor has successfully generated liquidity from fintech investing in emerging markets
Why real-time payment networks have the potential to transform fintech… and a lot more!
Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.
Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ 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.
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.
Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 41,000+ 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.
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 Oded 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
[Original air date, May 9, 2023] Miguel Armaza sits down with David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the largest Venture Capital funds in the world, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
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.
Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ 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.
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 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.
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 David Nangle, Managing Partner at VEF (STO: VEFAB), one of the few publicly listed venture capital firms that exclusively invests in fintech across emerging markets, with a portfolio of $750 million of Net Asset Value covering Brazil, Mexico, India, Pakistan, Zambia, and many more interesting countries. Some of the companies they’ve backed include Creditas, Konfio, Tinkoff, Jumo, and Minu.
In this episode, we discuss:
Benefits and challenges of a permanent capital structure and why being a publicly listed firm, better prepares VEF to invest in emerging markets with a very long-term lens.
The opportunity of fintech in emerging markets and why Dave considers Brazil to be one of the most attractive fintech markets around the world.
Navigating this bear market. How growth and pre-IPO companies should be adapting to this reality and why it could help all entrepreneurs to adopt an ‘emerging market mindset’.
Dave’s advice for new incoming emerging market investors… and a lot more!
Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 32,000+ readers around the world! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Miguel 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 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.
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 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.
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.
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 interviews Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, Managing Partner at Team8, a global Venture-Creation and VC Fund with over a 1 billion dollars in AUM, that creates and invests in companies focusing on Fintech, Cybersecurity, Data & AI, and Digital Health. Since launching in 2014, Team8 has built 20 companies and achieved over two billion dollars in exits.
Prior to Team8, Rakefet was the CEO of Bank Leumi, which she drove to become the largest company by market cap in all of Israel.
We discuss:
Team8’s process behind incubating and launching massive companies
Transforming and building a company’s culture
How great talent is the most important ingredient behind achieving great results
Why embedded fintech will drive the future of financial services… 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 ~70,000+ 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dave Co-Founder/CEO, Jason Wilk – Going Public on Nasdaq via SPAC, Lessons for Overlooked Startups, & Why you Should Always Listen to Customer Feedback
In this Fintech Leaders edition, Miguel Armaza sits down with Jason Wilk, serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder/CEO of Dave, a US challenger bank that was able to reach 10 million clients in just four years.
Founded in 2017, Dave went public in January 2022 via SPAC and currently has a market cap of close to $4 billion. As a private company, Dave raised almost $200 million and attracted top investors like Mark Cuban, Norwest Venture Partners, Financial Solutions Lab, and even Diplo.
In this episode, we discuss:
How losing a round of golf sparked his curiosity for international business, tech, and entrepreneurship.
Fundraising lessons. What has Jason learned from multiple roadshows of equity fundraising as a private company and then as public company?
Going public. Lessons learned from the SPAC process and why they chose this route instead of an IPO.
Launching Dave as a non-bank and why listening to customer feedback led them to expand their product set and become a challenger bank… 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.
In this Fintech Leaders edition, Miguel Armaza sits down with the amazing Rana Yared, General Partner at Balderton Capital, one of Europe's leading venture capital funds that has raised ~$4.5B across ten funds over the past 21 years, and has backed companies like Revolut, GoCardless, ComplyAdvantage and many more global fintech leaders.
In this episode, we discuss:
The State of Fintech and entrepreneurship in Europe and why the continent’s startup scene is booming like never before
Differences between European and US founders and investors and some of the advantages found in the old continent
Balderton’s Sustainable Future Goals. Their impact on the firm’s investing strategy and why being a great investor entails producing returns, while also improving the world around you.
Risks of selling a company too soon or too late for your portfolio’s IRR and some lessons and reflections every VC should consider… 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.
Gaston Irigoyen, Co-Founder/CEO of Pomelo – Fundraising Frameworks, Lessons for Emerging Markets Entrepreneurs, & How Pomelo is Building Modern Fintech Infrastructure
In this Fintech Leaders edition, Miguel Armaza sits down with Gaston Irigoyen, CEO & Co-Founder of Pomelo, a company building and modernizing the fintech infrastructure of Latin America.
Since inception, Pomelo has raised over $45 million from an impressive roster of backers including Tiger Global, Monashees, Sequoia, Insight Partners, Index Ventures, QED, and Gilgamesh Ventures. As well Jackie Reses, Max Levchin, Biz Stone, Angela Strange, Eric Glyman, and other impressive angels.
We discuss:
Modernizing LatAm’s financial infrastructure and how Pomelo is refreshing legacy tech that was built decades ago.
Fundraising lessons – is it an art or a science? Gaston shares frameworks and best practices that have worked for him throughout his entrepreneurial journey and why it’s critical to also bring strategic angels and industry operators onboard.
Gaston’s optimism for the next decade of entrepreneurship in the region and why the next wave of fintech will probably be led by B2B companies.
Reflections for emerging markets entrepreneurs and what he learned from living in Dublin, Ireland… plus 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.
In this Fintech Leaders edition, Miguel Armaza chats with Brad Levy, CEO of Symphony, a global communications platform that securely connects markets, organizations and individuals in the financial sector.
Founded in 2014 by David Gurle, the company now powers over 170 million monthly messages and has raised over half a billion dollars from top industry investors, including Goldman, Google, Blackrock, Citi, and most of the major global banks in the world.
We discuss:
Symphony’s ambitious roadmap for the coming year and how Brad plans to pursue and find value at a very granular industry level
Growth by M&A. Why this will be a foundational part of their strategy, plus lessons on how to successfully execute an acquisition and integration. Hint: make sure the people and cultures can fit together.
Returning to the office and why he’s a big believer of a hybrid approach that brings people together often.
Corporate Leadership Lessons:
What are the three elements necessary to succeed at any stage of your career? curiosity, teamwork, and hard work.
Why generalists thrive in a world of specialists and the best managers have a breadth of skills, experience, and relationships.
... 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 of the audio form? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 30,000+ around the world! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z
Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc
Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIpqp
Maya Dadoo, Co-Founder & CEO of Worky – Benefits of a 4-Day Work Week, Why It’s Never Too Early to Hire a Head of People, & The Massive Opportunity at the Intersection of Fintech and HR Tech
For the first episode of 2022, we bring you a live recording of Miguel's keynote conversation with Maya Dadoo, on stage at LendIt Fintech Latam in Miami.
Maya is the Co-Founder and CEO of Worky, a groundbreaking all-in-one HR software and payroll platform for Latin American SMBs. Founded in 2017, Worky is backed by top investors including QED & LEAP Global Partners.
They discuss:
The incredible opportunity at the intersection of Fintech and HR Tech and some of the steps Worky is taking to launch fintech products
Worky’s roll out a 4-day work week and how the company has adapted to this new reality
Significant Importance of the HR function and why startup founders should look to hire a Head of People as early as possible
State of talent management in Latin America and why this is a massive opportunity for companies like Worky… 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 of the audio form? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 30,000+ around the world!
Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z
Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc
Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIpqp
So You Want to Raise Venture Capital? 9 Founders Who've Raised $1.8 Billion in Collective Funding Share Lessons
[Original air date, July 4, 2023] 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. The founders featured in this episode have built 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.
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.
Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~70,000+ 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.
Eric Glyman, Ramp Co-Founder/CEO – From Zero to $4 Billion in 30 Months, The Future of Business Banking, & Why you need to Double Down on your Strengths and Hire for Your Weaknesses
Miguel Armaza sits down with the very genuine Eric Glyman, Co-Founder & CEO of Ramp, a finance automation platform providing an all-in-one banking solution for businesses.
Founded less than three years ago, Ramp has scaled incredibly fast and is now the fastest growing corporate card in the US, having raised almost half a billion dollars from investors like Founders Fund, Coatue, Stripe, Goldman, and more.
Eric is a second-time fintech entrepreneur, which made this conversation especially interesting. We discussed:
Ramp’s internal process and secret sauce that has allowed them to scale extremely fast, while maintaining product quality and client satisfaction.
Leadership lessons. Why startup founders with product market fit should prioritize hiring the highest quality of people and building internal processes.
Strength of the Capital One school. Lessons learned from his time at Capital One and why most fintechs want to hire Capital One alums.
A window into Eric’s vision of the future of business banking, where most tasks will be automated and companies will spend less money and time managing their banks… 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.
Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z
Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc
Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIpqp
General Atlantic’s Martin Escobari – Three Traits of the Best Entrepreneurs, 42 years of Global Investment Lessons & How the Regret Minimization Framework Changed his Life
Miguel Armaza sits down with an absolute legend from the investing world - Martin Escobari, General Atlantic’s Co-President, Chairman of the firm’s Investment Committee, and Head of Latin America.
Founded back in 1980, General Atlantic has become one of the premier global growth equity funds and grown to ~$80 billion AUM, with a team of almost 400 employees and 169 active portfolio companies.
Over the past 41 years, the GA team has seen it all and, fortunately for all of us, Martin shared an incredible amount of knowledge and lessons, including:
Martin’s transition from entrepreneur to investor.
Importance of collaboration for young rapidly evolving industries, and what GA looks for in their co-investing partners.
Common traits of the best entrepreneurs. Martin shares the top three traits those founders have in common.
Ingredients for a successful board. Martin has been a board member of dozens of companies and has learned what a great board looks like.
The incredible performance of Latin America tech, despite its macro challenges.
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.
Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z
Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc
Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIpqp
Brian Barnes, Founder/CEO of M1 Finance – Scaling a Unicorn, How to Buy a Bank, and The Incredible Power of Compounding
Miguel Armaza sits down with Brian Barnes, Founder & CEO of M1 Finance, one of the fastest growing financial super-apps offering automated investing, borrowing, and banking products in the US.
Founded in Chicago just five years ago, M1 currently manages over $6 billion for its clients and has raised over $300 million from top names including Softbank, Coatue, Clocktower, and Left Lane.
We cover:
M1’s meteoric rise over the past couple of years and why these are the early days for the company.
The power of compounding. It took M1 18+ months to reach $100M AUM, but now they’re adding that number weekly!
The fascinating and unique story of how Brian, personally bought First National Bank of Buhl, one of the smallest banks in the US. The thought process that drove this transaction and his plans for the future of the bank.
Advice and reflections for aspiring entrepreneurs and why he enjoys mentoring up and coming founder
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.
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.