What if the biggest threat to your firm's next capital call isn't a hacker — it's a nation-state intelligence operation running enterprise-grade AI?

On this episode of the 6 x 6lock Podcast, Mike Langford and Peter Steppe are joined by Vivek Ahuja, Director of FinTech & Financial Institution Partnerships at Persona — the identity verification platform that powers 6lock's KYC, KYB, and fraud prevention infrastructure.

Vivek's path to this conversation is unlike anyone else's in the space. He started as a nuclear submarine officer, went on to co-found a payments company in Southeast Asia, built fraud systems at Affirm when buy-now-pay-later had no rulebook, worked inside Marqeta, and led revenue at SentiLink — one of the country's most respected synthetic identity fraud detection companies. What he learned along the way: fraud has first principles, and most private equity firms are violating all of them.

In this episode:

• Why every new payment method creates a new fraud vector — and why AI is accelerating that cycle faster than ever
• The first principles of fraud that nobody teaches in school (because there's no PhD program for this)
• Why private equity sits at the most dangerous intersection in all of financial services: high dollar, high frequency, high urgency — and critically under-protected
• How 6lock and Persona work together to tie identity to every transaction before a dollar moves
• The shift from fooling humans to fooling the humans' AI — and what that means for agentic commerce
• Why the adversary targeting your firm isn't a teenager in a basement — it's an organized, state-sponsored operation thinking in ROI and probability of capture

Mike also references a recent episode with Stanton Ray of Columbia Threadneedle on the operational realities of moving billions in private credit — worth a listen if you haven't caught it yet.

And if you've ever been tempted to mess with a scammer who's texting you, Vivek has a word of warning. Mike references the legendary James Veitch TED Talk — funny as it is, Vivek explains exactly why engaging with bad actors, even sarcastically, is handing them data they'll use against you.

Connect with our guests: Vivek Ahuja on LinkedIn | Persona Peter Steppe on LinkedIn | 6lock

Have a question or a topic suggestion? Email us at podcast@6lock.com

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction

02:30 - From Nuclear Submarines to The Fraud Lab

07:49 - First Principles of Fraud Protection

15:53 - Why Private Equity Firms Are Prime Targets for Fraud

20:17 - Identity Is the Infrastructure: How 6lock and Persona Work Together

25:10 - Are We Moving from Fooling the Human to Fooling the Human's AI?

34:24 - Nation-State Threats Are Private Equity's Problem Too

Alex Du dropped out of Stanford GSB five months before graduation to become employee #1 at Column. Six years later, he's COO of a nationally chartered bank that's rebuilding banking infrastructure from scratch.

In this episode, Alex and Todd Sorrel (CEO of 6lock) dive deep into what it takes to build a championship culture in an industry that's never been known for it. From owning 100% of your infrastructure stack to understanding why that 0.001% of edge case payments creates 90% of the value, this conversation is essential listening for anyone building in fintech or serving private markets.

Topics covered:

• Why Alex left Stanford 5 months before graduation
• The TAM + Team + Problem framework for early-stage companies
• How Column bought a bank and rebuilt the core from scratch
• Building championship culture: "Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner"
• The 0.001% game — why edge cases create all the value in payments
• Column's approach to AI in banking infrastructure

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction

02:50 - The Stanford Dropout Story: When Plaid's Co-Founder Calls, You Show Up

09:44 - No One Likes Their Banking Partner And That's a Huge Opportunity 12:51 - Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

32:29 - Why Column Had to Own the Entire Stack

42:16 - The 0.001% Game: Why All the Value in Payments Lives in the Edge Cases

48:57 - How is Column Approaching AI?

What is finance, really? Britt Harris gave an unforgettable answer on the Scholars of Finance podcast — finance isn’t the most important industry, but it is the lifeblood of every other one. That idea kicks off one of the most wide-ranging, wisdom-packed conversations in 6 × 6lock Podcast history.

Britt Harris is the founder of On Eagles Wings Advisors and a 6lock advisor. He is the only investor in the world to have served as CIO or CEO for a top-5 fund in all four major investment categories: endowments (UTIMCO, $68B), public funds (Teacher Retirement System of Texas, $155B), private/hedge funds (Bridgewater Associates), and corporate funds (Verizon Investment Management). He has mentored 1,100+ students through his Titans of Investing program at Texas A&M and UT Austin, collectively launching 43 companies worth $6 billion.

In this episode, Britt, host Mike Langford, and 6lock CEO Todd Sorrel cover:

• Why the trust culture of private markets has quietly become its biggest security vulnerability

• Why money movement is still stuck in the telegraph era — and what it will take to change it

• What LPs of the future are going to demand from their GPs

• The “Success to Significance” framework: why the second half of a career is more important than the first

• The Three Cheeseburger Life Plan — Britt’s surprisingly practical framework for a full life

• Why Britt — after 40 years in the industry — put his name behind 6lock

Britt also shares the story directly from his time running UTIMCO: capital calls were arriving at 10x, even 100x, the expected amounts — and the industry had no reliable way to verify where the money was actually going. That unsolvable problem is exactly why 6lock exists.

The lifeblood quote that opened this episode came from Britt’s appearance on the Scholars of Finance podcast with @scholarsoffinance911. Watch that episode to hear more of Britt’s perspective on the purpose of finance.

CHAPTERS

00:00 — Intro & Teaser

02:28 — The Ethos of Finance Being: The Lifeblood of All Industries

10:49 — The Handshake Economy: How Trust Became a Risk for Private Markets

18:24 — Money Movement in Private Markets Is Stuck in the Telegraph Era

28:19 — What the LP of the Future Is Going to Demand from Their GPs

36:13 — Success to Significance: What the Second Half of a Career Is Really For

42:17 — The Three Cheeseburger Life Plan

48:15 — BONUS: A Principled Approach to Business

CONNECT & LEARN MORE

🔗 Learn more about 6lock: 6lock.com

💼 Learn more about On Eagles Wings Advisors: oewadvisors.com

📧 Questions or suggestions for the show: podcast@6lock.com

🎬 Britt on the Scholars of Finance podcast: Watch here