Fintech Brainfood 🧠 cover art

Fintech Brainfood 🧠

By: Simon Taylor
  • Summary

  • A podcast about and for the people building the future of financial services. The Fintech CEOs, Nerds, VCs and founders who believe that by making finance better, you can make *everything* better.
    2024 - Fintech Brainfood
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Episodes
  • Mercury CEO Why Fintech is more complex than software businesses
    Jun 12 2024

    Unlike Ramp or Brex, Mercury started with the account and built the ultimate dashboard for early-stage and growth companies.

    Immad is the founder’s founder, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor, with over 300+ angel investments in his name (including Airtable, Substack, and Rappi).

    If anyone got the challenges growth companies have trying to operate a business while relying on traditional banking solutions, Immad is that founder.

    Where once startups could get an account, they had to pick between a specialist bank with a poor digital experience (like Silicon Valley Bank or First Republic) or a large one-size-fits-nobody larger bank.

    The choice was between the stability of a big bank or the expertise of a local specialist, and regardless of your choice, the digital user experience was horrendous.

    Mercury flipped the model and pioneered an entirely different Go To Market. Taking the best of what SVB and FRB did - like access to debt capital markets, VCs, and partners and helping balance that with more FDIC coverage and a single dashboard to manage and automate everything.

    Today Mercury is a BEAST. Recently announcing, 8 quarters of profitability with more money on the balance sheet than ever raised (>$163m), 200k customers and 640 staff.

    Despite some challenges like the banking crisis and now the BaaS crisis, Mercury continues shipping new products like financial workflows powered by the bank account and personal accounts for founders.

    So what makes Mercury special?

    And what’s under the hood of one of Fintech’s fastest-growing companies?

    Find out in this Fintech Brainfood Interview.

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    51 mins
  • Arc CEO on Compliance as a Competitive Advantage
    Jun 5 2024

    In the crowded world of B2B Fintech Neobanks and platforms, did the world need one more? In 2021 the peak of Fintech mania Arc launched and on the surface risked looking like just another B2B Fintech.

    Since then, their product velocity, growth and trajectory has made them stand out.

    Their approach is unique. In the post-Silicon Valley Bank world, they have the advantage of arriving late and fixing the things others missed. Their core offering is a dashboard for startups for treasuries, operations and reserve accounts. This is a big bank like proposition, but with all of the features modern startups offer, in one place.

    What caught my eye is their moves into lending.

    Yes, they offer revenue finance and working capital, but they're pushing the boundaries with venture debt, asset-backed loans, and now, even helping their clients access third-party lending.

    This is a curated white glove and full suite.

    Can such a small company pull that off? Especially given their well funded, capable competitors who have a head start and traction?

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    44 mins
  • Brex Co-CEO How Being Vertically Integrated Unlocks Global Scale
    May 29 2024

    Brex created a category. Life before Brex was terrible for founders and growth businesses. The least worst option was Silicon Valley Bank which would offer a veneer of founder friendliness but with a terrible digital UX.

    Brex turned this on its head with corporate cards that just worked and removed the personal guarantee. It’s hard to understate the revolution this created in experience and the step change in productivity for businesses. Today a Series A company might have a finance team of 1, and maybe 2 by Series B.

    Today there are many competitors to Brex, but this is a multi-billion dollar valued juggernaut with a substantial lead in deposits and float.

    Brex started as the corporate card for startups, but today they’re expanding—with expense management, travel, business accounts, and bill pay. Can they win the race for the finance operating system of digital companies, and if so how?

    What makes Perdro tick? And how are they building an enduring business?

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    50 mins

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