🎙️ Trending Episode: Real Housewives of Fintech: BTS of PR, Comms, and How to Pitch 👇

Good morrow, Fam!

Y’all know I’m going to start with another annoying ask to please go subscribe to our new YouTube Channel and click that follow button on your Podcast Player of choice…pretty please 🥺 It helps us a ton and ensures you’ll be the first to know about new episodes!…not that this newsletter is in any way inconsistent 😬

On the professional side, I have just returned to the great land of iced beverages and crowds willing to laugh, the US of A. Money20/20 Amsterdam was one for the books and we broke some surprising new ground.

I had the privilege of co-hosting the most beautiful stage I’ve ever seen in my entire whole darn life with a voice based AI prototype that combined three different LLMs. It had ups and downs, but it was the most unique experience of my time on stage.

I wrote about it on LinkedIn here.

On to the real bidness, new podcast time…

#114: Kamran Ansari, Headline Ventures: Private Markets, Public Markets, IPOs, Oh My!

If you just want it in your ears…

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you cast the pods…

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by Skipify

Why are we welcoming Skipify to the family? Well, let me tell ya…👇

Skipify’s Connected Wallet is a next-gen digital wallet that connects Merchants, Shoppers, and Financial Institutions into the moment of purchase for the very first time.

Request a demo here. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on tweeter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

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🎙️ Trending Episode: Alex Johnson on Credit Scoring: Past, Present, and Hypothetical Future(s) 👇

Good morrow, Fam!

The fam is growing! No, no kidlets on the way, BUT we do have four new podcasts to share with you since our last correspondence.

If you haven’t yet, go subscribe to our new YouTube Channel and click that follow button on your Podcast Player of choice. Pretty please 🥺 It helps us a ton and ensures you’ll be the first to know about new episodes!…not that this newsletter is in any way inconsistent 😬

It’s been a whirlwind since our last email, folks. We’ve got New York Fintech Week and Money20/20 Asia in Bangkok under our belts.

Fintech Week was the best one yet. Empire Startups knocked it out of the park. Best one yet.

It was jam packed. Recorded six episodes in two days. Kristen Anderson and I were finally in the same city for the first time in what felt like a decade. You know what that means…Are You Human timeeee!

The Pic of The Week Winner was clearly this gem from the debate I moderated at Empire Startups. Sharing a stage with The Mooch was a unique experience.

After Fintech Week wrapped it was time to head off to Bangkok.

Money20/20 Asia was the single most eye opening experience I’ve had in my fintech life. I haven’t spent much time in Asia and experiencing the payments infrastructure blew my mind. Not to mention the number of real problems worth solving in the Asian Market.

Stay tuned for more on this! Two episodes live from Bangkok will be hitting the feed soon.

🎙️ Four New Episodes…now with Video 📹

#109: Itai Damti, Unit CEO: Evolving as an Industry, Company, and Leader

If you just want it in your ears…

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you cast the pods…

#110: Are You Human #5: Drew Glover, Fiat Growth

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you cast the pods…

#111: BONUS: Modern Treasury Transfer Conference Teaser

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you cast the pods…

#112: Alex Johnson on Credit Scoring: Past, Present, and Hypothetical Future(s)

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you cast the pods…

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by Skipify

Why are we welcoming Skipify to the family? Well, let me tell ya…👇

Skipify’s Connected Wallet is a next-gen digital wallet that connects Merchants, Shoppers, and Financial Institutions into the moment of purchase for the very first time.

Request a demo here. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on tweeter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

🎙️ Trending Episode: BTS of Money20/20 with Micky Tesfaye

Mi Familia, I’ve missed you. It’s been a wild time, but we’re back with a banger this week! Check out the new episode with Trevor Tanifum of FS Vector here.

I have a favor to ask. We’re on YouTube now and it would mean the world to me for you to jump on the YouTubes and subscribe, like, comment, and generally engage. Pretty please, fam :) It helps others find us and makes me less sad about the pain of starting on a new platform.

Now, let’s get into it!

It’s that time again! That magical time of year when thousands of fintech’s funnest, if not finest, descend upon New York to celebrate the Fintech Solstice. Or something like that.

It’s going to be a FULL week! Here are some key events you want to be sure not to miss…

Empire Startups

THE flagship event for NYFW. It isn’t to be missed and tickets are still available. I’ll be moderating the debate that will undoubtedly end all Bitcoin price prognostication for good (yup, that guy on the left is the Mooch). Ryth Martin, CEO of Skipify will be speaking as well. Come say hey!

Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit

After four sold out live events, Nicole and team are hosting the first Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit. The Summit is kicking off the week on Monday at Rise New York. Tickets are selling out fast so grab them here!

Chainalysis LINKS

This is THE digital assets event where the public and private sectors meet! The Agenda looks like a banger. Yeah, I said it. Banger. Also, I saw the CEO of Chainalysis in a picture with Taylor Swift a while back so who knows who might just show up…

Check out the full list of events here on Empire’s Website.

🎙️ New Episode…Now with Video 📹

#108: Trevor Tanifum, FS Vector: Banking as a Service & What Really Matters in Fintech

Watch the full episode and clips on YouTube. Please give us a thumbs up and a subscribe - it helps the algorithm know that we’re wonderful humans putting out top quality content 😊

If you just want it in your ears…

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you cast the pods…

Today I’m joined by Trevor Tanifum, Principal at a long-time friend of the show: FS Vector. Trevor guides financial technology companies through regulatory, risk management, and strategic challenges. We talk about Trevor’s journey to FS Vector, what the heck he does there, AI’s impact on the industry, what folks should be focusing on in Fintech, and whether or not the industry itself is bi-partisan.

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by Skipify

Why are we welcoming Skipify to the family? Well, let me tell ya…👇

Skipify’s Connected Wallet is a next-gen digital wallet that connects Merchants, Shoppers, and Financial Institutions into the moment of purchase for the very first time.

Request a demo here. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on tweeter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

🎙️ Trending Episode: Alan Patricof @ Primetime Ventures

Fam, it’s been entirely too long! Miss me? I hope soooo!

We’ve got some updates, folks!

First, we’re welcoming Skipify to the Fintech Family as a new sponsor! Why? Scroll down or check out the explainer video here.

Second, we are now live on YouTube! That’s right, we’ve accepted that it’s 2024 and added video to the pod…keep scrolling for more deets.

Third, I missed you all…and that is all! Now on to the fintech…

🎙️ New Episode…now with video 📹

#107: Behind The Scenes of Fintech's Family Reunion with Micky Tesfaye, Money20/20

Watch the full episode and clips on YouTube. Please give us a thumbs up and a subscribe - it helps the algorithm know that we’re wonderful humans putting out top quality content 😊

If you just want it in your ears…

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you cast the pods…

It’s dawned on me that while I come to you as a humble podcast host, you’re all constantly hearing me talk about this Money20/20 thing…And based on what I see in the comments you all have questions about what it’s like behind the scenes, what the job actually is, and why it matters.

So, on this episode, not only do I deep dive into what life is like in this role, but I also had a chance to get the Euro perspective from our guest, Micky Tesfaye, the Content Lead for Money20/20’s Europe show!

We give the inside scoop of what we deal with, how we manage stress, judging the success of a show, and even go in on the toll this kind of job can take on a human.

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:52) - Catching up

(00:03:52) - What the heck do we even do at Money20/20??

(00:08:54) - Experts vs. lighthouses

(00:17:08) - The call for content

(00:20:30) - Having to sit on market-moving information

(00:26:59) - Allow dumb questions

(00:28:26) - Skipify.com

(00:32:12) - The toll of the job

(00:36:12) - Mickey’s hesitation toward IV businesses, Ice & cold brew

(00:46:20) - Managing stress

(00:50:54) - Judging the success of a show

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by Skipify

Why are we welcoming Skipify to the family? Well, let me tell ya…👇

Skipify’s Connected Wallet is a next-gen digital wallet that connects Merchants, Shoppers, and Financial Institutions into the moment of purchase for the very first time.

Request a demo here. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on tweeter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

RSVP or get the recording here :)

But first…Episode #100! We did it, folks!

For the record, this was Kristen’s idea. She said, “we should interview you…” and here we are. Kristen Anderson, your co-host for the Are You Human episodes moved into the host chair alongside my friend, previous guest, thought leader and wonderful human, Alex Johnson of Fintech Takes.

We had question…am I human? Kristen brought some damn hard questions and we had some fun.

Back to this webinar situation…tldr:

• I interviewed Dan and Mary Ann in Amsterdam for Money20/20 Europe. Not only was it a damn good time, we were actually voted to come back and do another session at the end of the day. We couldn’t deny the people what they wanted.

• The Prove team had the idea of creating a virtual space for the three of us to be able to explore even deeper into the Wirecard story and whatever else us three nerds happen to decide to run after. We might not even talk about Wirecard that much, we’ll see.

• Lastly, it’ll be fun, you don’t have to be camera, just come listen and maybe you’ll learn some new thing while you multitask :)

Register Here

And boiler plate details…

Prove & Money20/20 Present: Wirecard, The Fascinating Downfall of a Fraudulent Fintech

Date & Time: Thursday, September 28 | 12pm ET

Webinar Title & Abstract: Prove & Money20/20 Present: Wirecard, The Fascinating Downfall of a Fraudulent Fintech

If you're a fan of Netflix's Emmy-nominated documentary "SKANDAL!”, prepare to be captivated by a behind-the-scenes look into the bizarre tale of Wirecard, a company hailed as the German alternative to PayPal, which turned out to be a massive money laundering scheme. Join Dan McCrum, the Financial Times investigative reporter who broke the Wirecard story; Zach Anderson Pettet, Money20/20’s US Content Director; and Mary Ann Miller, Prove’s Fraud and Cybercrime Executive Advisor to unpack this thrilling roller coaster ride of deception, and lessons that the fintech world can take away from it.

This session was initially presented on the main stage at Money20/20 Europe in June and was so wildly popular that Dan, Zach, and Mary Ann were called back to the main stage for an in-person encore. Now, Prove and Money20/20 are teaming up to present a virtual encore for everyone around the globe who were not able to attend in-person in Amsterdam. So don’t miss out! Register here to save your spot here.

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by FS VECTOR

FS Vector is The Firm For Innovative Financial Services.

Basically…you got questions - be they compliance, be they strategic, be they advisory - FS Vector has the expertise to help. I’ve experienced it myself.

Go check them out and sign up for a free consultation at fsvector.com - I promise you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know before. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on xitter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

That’s right, I’m going back to Cali for TechCrunch Disrupt this coming week. Shoot me a note, DM, xitter, scream loudly if you’re around the conference.

I’ll be talking power of partnerships with my friends at Navan, Visa, and Zip at 1:25pm pst on the Fintech Stage on Sept 19th. Come say hey 👋

🎧 This Week’s Episode: Anthony Cimino, Head of Policy at Carta

🎙️ Trending Episode: Better Mortgage SPAC with Vishal Garg, CEO at Better

⏮️ Last Week on FFH: Are You Human #3: Sasha “Whole Milk” Pilch, Principal at Fin Capital

Fam! We are officially 36 days out from our yearly family reunion at Money20/20 😬

Based on that 36 day number I will admit that things have been slightly chaotic on my end. Our weekly email cadence has slowed a tad - we’re only a few or five weeks behind here - I know, I missed you too!

I’ve decided to be honest with myself leading up to the show and sadly (or happily, or who knows how you feel, it’s not my place to say) this will be the last email from me until after Money20/20. We’ll continue shipping episodes just about every week, if not every, so that’s actual good news 🤠

We just shipped episode #98 yesterday with Anthony Cimino, Head of Policy at Carta 👇 We cover countless elements of SEC rulemaking(s), public policy, prognostication and so much more!

And I’m hoping you’ll enjoy the surprise we have for you for the big #100 in a couple of weeks! Stay Tuned 👀

Now, for the episodes we’ve missed catching you up on…

🎙️ Ep. 97: Better Mortgage SPAC with Vishal Garg, CEO of Better

Vishal Garg, Founder & CEO of Better.com joins us to address the public reaction to their SPAC announcement. I asked some questions, gained some opinions, and I’m curious to see what you all think. Please send me any questions or feedback on this one. I’m compiling a list for an eventual follow up interview.

🎙️ Ep. 96: Are You Human #3: Sasha “Whole Milk” Pilch, Principal at Fin Capital

We’re back with another riveting episode of Are. You. Human? This go-round we’re joined by our neighbor from the south! And by south, I mean waaaay south. 

Like, Australia south. 

Sasha Pilch is the Co-founder of NYC Fintech Women and Principal at Fin Capital. In addition to finding out if she’s human, we hear about her upbringing Down Under, her early career in Finance, what Covid was like in Australia, and the secrets of being a Delta VIP. We also talk about her learnings from working in VC, failing at adulthood and discover the meaning of life.

🎙️ Ep. 95: Drew Glover, Fiat Ventures & Growth

What’s the easiest way to explain Drew Glover? By day, he’s an operator, investor, and consultant (not the gross kind, withhold judgement until you listen).

His titles include Founder of Fiat Growth and Fiat Ventures.

Fiat Growth has partnered with some standout early-stage brands, rapidly growing tech companies, and well-established Fortune 500 teams, with Fiat helping generate over $1.6B in new revenue.

We talked about Drew’s upbringing, playing football at Cal with Aaron Rogers and Marshawn Lynch, and his early career before deep diving into Fiat. Drew talks about leveraging the scientific method in marketing, what he sees most often when working with these companies, hiring and a tone more.

Drew is one of my favorite kinds of guests. I showed up at his office, we bullshitted for an hour, and then finally hit record. Interviewing friends is always a special experience.

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by FS VECTOR

FS Vector is The Firm For Innovative Financial Services.

Basically…you got questions - be they compliance, be they strategic, be they advisory - FS Vector has the expertise to help. I’ve experienced it myself.

Go check them out and sign up for a free consultation at fsvector.com - I promise you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know before. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on tweeter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

I leave you with a fun pic from the Money20/20 World Tour in San Francisco with two of the greats: Sophia Goldberg and Dimitri Dadiomov!

🎟️ Sign up for The Money20/20 SF World Tour here!

🎙️ Trending Episode: Responding in a (Banking) Crisis with Modern Treasury

⏮️ Last Week on FFH: Are You Human #2 with Eli “HARD STOP” Wachs & Kristen Anderson 🔗 Apple & Spotify

Fam, I left you with an itsy bitsy lil hinty hint last week…something about interviewing another ZP?

Well, the Zach’s outta the bag now. Our guest this week is Zach Perret, CEO at Plaid.

As Peter Berg said, “finally, the two most commonly confused twitter handles in fintech on the same pod!”

The interview happened at the Money20/20 Offices in Times Square. It was damn fun sitting on the 27th floor in a corner office, looking out at the skyline, and having a conversation with one of the pioneers of this fintech stuff we all obsess over.

I am wildly excited to share it with you all and I hope you enjoy it and grab some real take aways from it.

Listen on Spotify here, click the embed for some Apple fun, or find it wherever you listen to them there podcasts 👇

We cover Zach’s early life and career, the early days of building Plaid, how he’s scaled himself as an individual and a leader, the Visa transaction and a ton more. Check out the show notes for a play-by-play. You can jump from subject to subject there if you’re that kind of person. I’m not judging.

Please rate, review, subscribe, and let me know if you enjoyed it 🤗

Now, onto something slightly less serious…

🎙️ Family Episodes (Previously: Are You Human)

This is more of an FYI. You can skip to the Family Episodes below.

Fintech Family Hour is taking two distinctive directions.

One direction encompasses interviewing the most fascinating minds in fintech, understanding what makes them tick, and picking their brain about the future of the industry. See the interview with Zach Perret above. Ya know, little more buttoned up. These episodes have red and black cover art.

The second direction is all about getting to know the other side of some of our favorite humans in the world of fintech, finance, and business in general. These are Family Episodes. What makes them that? Other than the format it’s all about that co-hostest with the mostest, Kristen Anderson, hopping on the mic to help me really get to the bottom of things. We were calling them Are You Human previously, but they’ll be Family Episodes going forward. These episodes have the lighter blue and white cover art.

We like growing La Familia and we’ll be “welcoming” each new guest into The Family. They also get a nickname. How good of a deal is that?

So, just in case you missed it and want to catch up on the fun, here are the first two Family Episodes we’ve done:

#1 with Alex “Fast Lane” Johnson & Kristen Anderson 🔗 Apple & Spotify

#2 with Eli “Hard Stop” Wachs & Kristen Anderson 🔗 Apple & Spotify

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by FS VECTOR

FS Vector is The Firm For Innovative Financial Services.

Basically…you got questions - be they compliance, be they strategic, be they advisory - FS Vector has the expertise to help. I’ve experienced it myself.

Go check them out and sign up for a free consultation at fsvector.com - I promise you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know before. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on tweeter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

🛩️ Upcoming Trip: I’ll be in SF the week of Aug. 7th for the Money20/20 World Tour - let’s get together! Tweet me, respond to this email, holla holla!

🎟️ Sign up for The Money20/20 SF World Tour here!

🎙️ Trending Episode: Responding in a (Banking) Crisis with Modern Treasury

⏮️ Last Week on FFH: Are You Human #1 with Alex Johnson & Kristen Anderson

Dearest Fintech Fam, we have some wildly exciting content coming up for you in the next few weeks!

Not only did I have the pleasure of recording with the magnanimous Nicole Casperson and doing another Family Episode with Kristen Anderson and Sasha Pilch this week, but we checked a BIG’N off the bucket list, fam…

Itsy bitsy lil hinty hint…I had the pleasure of interviewing someone with the same initials as me in the fintech space this week…ZP…in fintech…any guesses? 👀👀

You’ll see 😅

But first, we debuted our first ‘Are You Human’ episode with Alex last week and it’s time for Episode #2 of Are You Human, fam! Let’s get to it…

THIS WEEK’S EPISODE 🎙️

Are You Human #2 with Eli “HARD STOP” Wachs & Kristen Anderson 🔗 Apple & Spotify

We’re back with another family episode of Are You Human! This go-round Kristen and I are joined in-studio with Eli “Hard Stop” Wachs, who returns for his second appearance on the show. These are so much fun to do face to face and you’ll be able to tell we had a blast recording this for you.

Eli is the Co-Founder and CEO of Footprint as well as an avid haberdashery connoisseur.  We deep dive into Eli’s youth, his first credit card and bank, we find out if he is actually “Fintech”, we test his frugality and find out the happiest day of his life among other things. Enjoy!

Links:

Eli on Twitter

Footprint

Kristen’s PERSONAL PHONE NUMBER

Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara

ICYMI: What is “Are You Human?”

The goal is to dive in to the humanity and habits of the most fascinating people in fintech and business. How do they stay sane (are they sane…), are they frugal, and how are they at adulting in general? Ya know, the important questions!

It wouldn’t be an “Are You Human” episode without the co-hostest with the mostest, Kristen Anderson. Is this an excuse for us to hang out and have some fun? Maybe, yes.

This show is ever-evolving so PLEASE hit us up with any and all feedback you may have.

ICYMI 👇 Are You Human #1 with Alex “Fast Lane” Johnson & Kristen Anderson 🔗 Apple & Spotify

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by FS VECTOR

FS Vector is The Firm For Innovative Financial Services.

Basically…you got questions - be they compliance, be they strategic, be they advisory - FS Vector has the expertise to help. I’ve experienced it myself.

Go check them out and sign up for a free consultation at fsvector.com - I promise you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know before. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on tweeter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

Tell your friends, family, and random people on the street. Make it easy on yourself by just clicking the button below to share Fintech Family Hour👇

Share Fintech Family Hour

🎙️ (Still) Trending Episode: Vinod Khosla on Fintech Family Hour

⏮️ Last Week on FFH: Responding in a (Banking) Crisis with Modern Treasury

La Familia, this was another BIG week for us at FFH!

Last week I mentioned that I’ve been plotting and scheming a shift in format with Kristen Anderson, a core member of the fintech family.

Now we can officially welcome Kristen as an ongoing co-host :) She’s one of my favorite people in fintech and a close friend. Doing this with her is a true honor despite how much shit we give each other on the episodes. We have fun, whatch’ya gonna do…

We debuted our first ‘Are You Human’ episode with Alex this week. If you thought you knew Alex, you’ll know him much better after this episode.

I’m sitting here trying to think of how to explain the new format. We’ve always tried to focus in on the human element and now we’re taking that a step further. I guess I’d call it a deeper dive into the human side. You just have to listen. It’s a fun one :)

I really hope you all enjoy it because it was a blast to record. I can’t wait to hear what you think, fam!

THIS WEEK’S EPISODE 🎙️

Are You Human #1 with Alex Johnson & Kristen Anderson 🔗 Apple & Spotify

We tried something a little bit different this episode, and brought back some old friends of the show to ring in the newest addition to the Fintech Family Hour weekly content!

Introducing: Are You Human?

Kristen Anderson and Alex Johnson return to the Podcast to answer some of the deeper (and shallower) questions the listeners may not know about us.

I may have even committed to dunking at Money20/20 this year.

This show is ever-evolving so PLEASE hit us up with any and all feedback you may have. We answered questions like:

Fitness routines.

Are you frugal?

What Fintech apps are you using?

What’s your go-to credit card and why?

Are you the person who’s ordering food at the airport and bringing it on the plane??

Plus a ton more!

As I mentioned above, I’M A BIT HYPED UP ABOUT THIS NEW DIRECTION AND I WANT YOU ALL TO LOVE IT! Please send feedback :)

Helpful Links:

Fintech Takes

Alex Johnson on Twitter

Kristen’s PERSONAL PHONE NUMBER

Celestial Seasonings Tea Company

Digit

Taylor Swift - The Man

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by FS VECTOR

FS Vector is The Firm For Innovative Financial Services.

Basically…you got questions - be they compliance, be they strategic, be they advisory - FS Vector has the expertise to help. I’ve experienced it myself.

Go check them out and sign up for a free consultation at fsvector.com - I promise you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know before. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on tweeter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

Tell your friends, family, and random people on the street. Make it easy on yourself by just clicking the button below to share Fintech Family Hour👇

Share Fintech Family Hour

🎙️ Trending Episode: Vinod Khosla on Fintech Family Hour

⏮️ Last Week on FFH: Bar Geron, CEO at Balance

La Familia, this was a BIG week for us at FFH!

I’ve been plotting and scheming a shift in format with Kristen Anderson, a core member of the family. We recorded our first episode with this new format with the ony and only Alex Johnson this week and I absolutely cannot wait to share!

We’ve always tried to focus in on the human element and now we’re taking that a step further. I really hope you all enjoy it because it was a blast to record. I can’t wait to hear what you think, fam!

Stay tuned :)

But until then…on to this week’s episode👇

THIS WEEK’S EPISODE 🎙️

Responding in a (Banking) Crisis with Modern Treasury🔗 Apple & Spotify

It’s been four months since the madness surrounding Silicon Valley Bank. That couple of weeks was the most uncertainty I’ve seen in the financial system in my adult, professional life.

I was glued to twitter that couple of weeks. It was informative, infuriating, and I was completely obsessed. Wirecard was wild, FTX was flabbergasting, but this felt unheard of despite the warning shots fired in writing across many financial publications.

We were warned, but I certainly wasn’t listening.

It was fascinating seeing the world react. I even wrote a reaction to many of those reactions in the form of an essay called The Everything Expert.

Every company with customers impacted by the crisis were doing their absolute best to react with decorum and be helpful, but many were running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

While the financial world reeled, one company stood out, standing strong and head fully intact: Modern Treasury.

This episode features Dimitri Dadiomov, the Co-Founder & CEO, and Julie Mullins, Head of Marketing & Communications, to discuss how they were able to navigate yet another black swan situation.

Fun fact that we cover in the show: a group of Black Swans is called a Bank. Can’t make this stuff up, folks!

Seems like a group of black swans in flight should be called a bank run, no?

…too soon…?

Moving right along…

We talk about the emotions on the ground, MT’s unique access to data that allowed for the creation of a status page that created unique value for their customers and the entire industry, and the impact on their internal culture.

So much of it came down to communications from the outside. They nailed it, in my opinion.

We wrap up talking about their Transfer conference they held back in June. Watch here!

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by FS VECTOR

FS Vector is The Firm For Innovative Financial Services.

Basically…you got questions - be they compliance, be they strategic, be they advisory - FS Vector has the expertise to help. I’ve experienced it myself.

Go check them out and sign up for a free consultation at fsvector.com - I promise you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know before. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet / @FintechFamPod on tweeter

@zachmovingaround on instagram

Share Fintech Family Hour

🎙️ Trending Episode: Vinod Khosla on Fintech Family Hour

⏮️ Last Week on FFH: Adam Nash, CEO @ Daffy

Hey Fintech Fam, how the heck’s everybody doing? I’m doing…I don’t really know…good, I guess?

What a bizarre time. I know I say this all the time, but every week brings a new and somehow even stranger event(s) that convolutes things even further.

The mix of exuberance, hype, and sheer fear is simultaneously standard in so many ways and yet somehow unique in this moment.

🎙️ THIS WEEK’S EPISODE: Bar Geron, CEO at Balance 🔗 Apple & Spotify

B2B is not just a thing….it IS the economy!

Confused yet? Well, you’re in for a treat, fam. 

Bar Geron joins me on the Podcast to discuss his business, Balance. We start early with Bar’s upbringing in Israel, leveraging his Army experience into working for a Defense system company before becoming what I think might be the coolest job title ever: A Decision Scientist. We dive into what that entails before looking at his career in Fintech at PayPal and ultimately as the Co-Founder of Balance where he is building a way for businesses to pay how and when they want while getting the funds instantly and easily as card payments.

He answers things like:

• Why isn’t B2B a thing?

• Why do people buy too much shit?

• How do you operate a Tank?

• How can we fix the dumpster fire of e-commerce?

Links

• Balance

• Bar Geron on LinkedIn

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by FS VECTOR

FS Vector is The Firm for Innovative Financial Services. They provides advisory, advocacy, and training services to the ever expanding and changing the world of financial services. 

I refer founder friends to FS Vector on a regular basis if they have questions about anything relating to how to structure their product, how to think about policy impacts on their business, and generally seeing around complex financial corners…and now they’re a sponsor! Go check them out and sign up for a free consultation at fsvector.com - I promise you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know before. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

@zachpettet on tweeter

Share Fintech Family Hour

📰 Fam Breaking News: Sardine Launches Industry-Wide Consortium to Curb The Rapid Rise of Payment Fraud

Hey Fintech Fam, first off, THANK YOU ALL!

The feedback from the rebrand announcement last week warmed the cockles of my little grinch heart. Incase you missed the change last week…

For Fintech’s Sake is now Fintech Family Hour!

I was at a different stage in my life and career when I started For Fintech’s Sake in 2019. What a difference four years makes. Especially when you throw a global pandemic in the mix. As fintech grows up, this shift felt like the right thing to keep things fresh and fun for the next decade.

AND Fintech Family Hour has an exclusive sponsor - FS Vector - for 2023 making these episodes possible. Keep scrolling to learn more…

THIS WEEK’S EPISODE: Adam Nash, CEO at Daffy 🔗 Apple & Spotify

We roll out of the gates talking about Adam’s career at NASA, Fintech, and the influence of growing up in Silicon Valley before deep diving into Daffy’s mission of being generous more often. Adam breaks down Donor Advise Funds, the founding thesis for Daffy and we wrap up with discovering how to scale the concept of giving.

Links:

• Adam on Twitter

• Daffy

• Something Ventured Documentary

Fintech Family Hour is brought to you by FS VECTOR

FS Vector is The Firm for Innovative Financial Services. They provides advisory, advocacy, and training services to the ever expanding and changing the world of financial services. 

I refer founder friends to FS Vector on a regular basis if they have questions about anything relating to how to structure their product, how to think about policy impacts on their business, and generally seeing around complex financial corners…and now they’re a sponsor! Go check them out and sign up for a free consultation at fsvector.com - I promise you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know before. Tell them Zach sent you!

Stay healthy, keep your head high, and I love you all,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

Share Fintech Family Hour

First, For Fintech’s Sake is now Fintech Family Hour!

Why? Two reasons. We’ll cover that at the bottom. Keep scrolling for more because the second piece of news is too damn exciting to wait…

Second, New Episode with VINOD KHOSLA 🔗 Apple & Spotify

We are kicking this re-brand off in the best way possible by sharing a live interview with THE Vinod Khosla from Money20/20 in Vegas. We talk about his work with Sam Altman and solving proof of personhood through their Worldcoin cryptocurrency, abuse he is seeing in Crypto, how to innovate in hard times and we wrap up with Vinod issuing a challenge to the listeners! This interview was so damn fun and absolutely, completely surreal…enjoy :)

Third, FFH has a New & Exclusive Sponsor for the rest of 2023: FS VECTOR

FS Vector is The Firm for Innovative Financial Services. They provides advisory, advocacy, and training services to the ever expanding and changing the world of financial services. 

I refer founder friends to FS Vector on a regular basis if they have questions about anything relating to how to structure their product, how to think about policy impacts on their business, and generally seeing around complex financial corners…and now they’re a sponsor! Go check them out and sign up for a free consultation at fsvector.com - I promise you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know before.

Okay, so…Why Fintech Family Hour?

One, fintech is growing up. It was time to have the brand grow up along with the industry. Also, I’ve aged…

Two, we are a fintech family. Not the corporate, “we’re a family,” BS, but actually a family. Chosen family, maybe, but a family. There is a ton of love in our industry. I might seem crazy as much as I talk about love and passion in finance, but it’s what drives me. It’s what drives many of us and the goodness of fintech.

And to be honest, I just couldn’t stare at that damn green anymore.

This will only resonate with Seinfeld fans (Season 9, Episode 6), but here was the moment of inspiration…

Talk soon 👋

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

🔗 Apple & Spotify 🔗

Jon Zanoff on New York Fintech Week & Empire Startups

For Fintech’s Sake listeners get 15% off using code FFS15

I’ll be interviewing Jelena McWilliams, Former Chair of the FDIC Wednesday afternoon at Empire. Would love to have you there! Come say hi!

Money20/20 Call For Content OPEN NOW

…and I’m just going to leave this here for a couple of weeks…sorry, not sorry, I want your ideas :)

‼️ Call For Content Closes May 8th ‼️

Apply Now

We had some big happenings at Money20/20 this week! We unveiled the story for the 2023 US Show before the launch next week. Lots of conferences have themes, tracks, and all that. We’ve ditched most of that and are leaning into storytelling.

This year’s story has Four Chapters:

1. Trust & Uncertainty

2. Creative Destruction & A Technological Renaissance

3. Age of Fundamentals

4. It’s Time to Build (Utility)

📖 Read the Full Story Here

Talk soon 👋

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

🧐 Trending Essay: The Everything Expert

A Verifiable Future

This is a special episode that was initially recorded for Smart Friends with Eric Jorgenson. The conversation covered enough financial topics that it felt irresponsible not to share it here as well. Simply irresponsible. Thanks, Eric! Check out Smart Friends.

Omar ElNaggar is a hedge fund quant and data nerd. He is the founder and CEO of Weavechain. Weavechain is a platform that gives enterprise data new web3 superpowers. The concepts discussed here-in could put an end to fraud as we know it today.

Over the next few years, there will be a data gold rush as every database in the world gains two key functions: verifiability and monetization.

It could be the end of financial fraud, and the birth of a trillion-dollar global data marketplace.

This conversation was the most I had heard or spoken the term Web3 in the year of 2023. It was fun to dive into real technology with actual use-cases that will add real value in the world right now if they can find distribution.

Check out the show notes for a topic-by-topic break down if you want to skip around to specific areas.

Money20/20 Call For Content Story Unveiled

‼️ Call For Content Opens April 17th ‼️

We had some big happenings at Money20/20 this week! We unveiled the story for the 2023 US Show before the launch next week. Lots of conferences have themes, tracks, and all that. We’ve ditched most of that and are leaning into storytelling.

This year’s story has Four Chapters:

1. Trust & Uncertainty

2. Creative Destruction & A Technological Renaissance

3. Age of Fundamentals

4. It’s Time to Build (Utility)

📖 Read the Full Story Here

I leave you with the Trailer for the Call For Content. Still gets me all goosebumpy when I watch it 🤓

…fun, right?

Talk soon 👋

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

Subscribe now

Omar ElNaggar is a hedge fund quant and data nerd. He is the founder and CEO of Weavechain. Weavechain is a platform that gives enterprise data new web3 superpowers. The concepts discussed here-in could put an end to fraud as we know it today.

Connect with Zach:

ForFintechsake.com

Follow Zach on Twitter

Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

Topics:

(4:21) - Introducing Omar & Zach (nerds)

(5:30) - Why will Web3 data take 100% of the market?

(7:22) - What are data flows?

(14:40) - Does the whole world need to be on Web3 to execute your vision?

(18:02) - Is there a gamification to this whole approach?

(25:05) - Are you seeing finance being the first industry to adopt Web3 Data flows?

(34:29) - CryptoPoops.com (Finest shit on the internet)

(36:02) - Being able to verify truth at any point

(44:59) - The history of HTTPS

(47:41) - The SVB crisis, wire transfers & chainalysis

(50:09) - Can we implement something like Weavechain without replacing the skeleton of the current financial system?

(1:01:15) - Distribution in Web3/Crypto & how Weavechain works in pharma and insurance

(1:14:49) - Decentralized Science

(1:17:35) - What is the 50-year vision for Weavechain?

(1:25:42) - Who are the best people for you to talk to regarding Weavechain?

🧐 Most Recent Essay: The Everything Expert

🤓 New Kind-Of-An-Essay on the Latest Podcast…keep scrolling 👇

Evergreen Policy Lessons from Kaitlin Asrow & John Pitts

Context

This weeks episode was recorded last October in Las Vegas at Money20/20. It was my first show as Content Director and I was a bit busy so I handed the keys to the Pod to Ally McCloskey.

Ally was the Host of The Wharton Fintech Podcast while she was getting her MBA. I’m pretty sure I listened to every episode she hosted - she’s damn good as you will hear. She was moving into venture at Clocktower so I reached out to tell her not to stop podcasting and we ended up with this lovely outcome. Don’t stop podcasting, Ally!

Color me jealous on this one because she got to sit down with the two of the best Policy and Regulatory minds in the space; Kaitlin Asrow of the New York Department of Financial Services and John Pitts who leads Policy at Plaid.

It struck me as I was listening back to the MoneyPot episode how pertinent this conversation was and is to what we’re going through as an Industry right now.

In many ways it expanded beyond right now into some Mental Models that I found helpful to try to wrap my brain around today’s events.

Here’s what stood out to me…

1. Regulatory Game Theory

Incentives make the world go ‘round.

Incentives at a startup, bank, or really any standard capitalistic entity are pretty straightforward: earn a profit.

Depending on where you are in that system your personal incentives will vary, but one can assume all incentive structures in the company ladder back up to capitalist KPIs.

Easy enough.

But, are Regulators incentivized?

John Pitts explains that, “Regulators have almost an inverse incentive system. No one has ever gotten a bonus at a regulator for the success of a regulated entity under their jurisdiction…their number one mandate is to ensure that nothing goes wrong.”

It’s the same dynamic that created the trope that, “no one gets fired for buying IBM.” Fair enough. It’s not a job where you’re rewarded for taking risks, but isn’t that kind of the idea?

As much as we love to Monday morning quarterback, it’s worth remembering the incentives (or lack there-of) that are driving the different stakeholders. Many of the same people spewing the rhetoric about the actions of Regulators don’t seem to understand the job that they’re put in place to do.

2. The Job of a Regulator

Before we get to the job, let’s start with the mission. The FDIC’s mission, as a timely example is, “to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation's financial system.”

How does the FDIC accomplish that goal? They insure deposits, examine and supervise Financial Institutions, manage receiverships and generally resolve issues in the banking system. That’s overly simplistic, but it gives you an idea.

Notice, “advise on strategy,” isn’t one of the jobs to be done. The job of a Regulator is NOT picking winners and losers or telling anyone how to run their company.

It’s a tightrope walk.

Kaitlin Asrow explains that, “we have to be very deliberative in the Regulatory space. We can't move fast for a number of reasons. You think it's because of bureaucracy and layers that exist, but really that's not the driver. I spend a lot of time thinking about what is the third degree of what's gonna happen if I take action.”

The potential impacts of every action have to be calculated and calculated again.

Kaitlin continues on to explain that she, “can't put a vendor on a pedestal or that will change the market for that vendor. I can't pick business models that are going to win or lose.” That’s for the market to decide.

On top of all of that, here’s an article that gives you a sense of what the Chair of the FDIC is having to answer for. Much of it is not what we’re discussing on twitter regularly.

It’s not an easy job, especially in times like these.

3. Looking Around Corners

Regulators spend an inordinate amount of time considering all the potential outcomes of a single decision. Not just the potentially market-moving decisions - all of them.

“We (Regulators) play things out over and over again. Probably too far down the road, but it means we take a long time,” according to Asrow.

Sometimes the pace seems painfully slow, but I like to believe there’s good reason. Every Regulator I’ve ever spoken to has considered their job a mission. They’re performing a public service and they aren’t making willy nilly decisions.

The pace may be frustrating at times, but it seems like much more of a feature than a bug on the whole. Consensus has to be built, clarity must be achieved, and the plan must be clear.

It’s a political process.

4. Politics Matter

Ugh, I “hate, hate, hate…double hate…loathe entirely,” this lesson to quote the Grinch.

There are a multitude of references in this conversation about the impact of different publicly elected bodies and countless political asides that I still barely understand.

I have a rudimentary understanding, but I don’t actually grock how what happens in Washington publicly and behind closed doors directly drives outcomes in our industry. Nonetheless, we all know they do.

Politics is complicated and maybe the only place in the world with more acronyms than finance.

Despite my deep despair in hammering this point home, politics do matter. Who we vote for matters. Talking to our Representatives and Regulators matters. Engaging matters and understanding matters.

Most of all, building relationships matters.

5. Learn The Language & Build Relationships

Sometimes it seems like Regulators are speaking a language of their own, but the exact same can be said of the technologists.

In my humble opinion, both sides are so damn smart that they have a hard-time communicating what they’re actually intending to. I watch a lot of people talk past each other and wonder if either of the parties realize it.

Sometimes the most important part of bringing a new technology or business model to market is being able to communicate clearly and articulate the utility.

Kaitlin brought up another important point that might trump the former.

A lack of a shared language.

“They're saying the same thing and they're using different words for it. My team comes back and they say, “they're not responsive.” They're not responding to us? I'm like, wait, wait, wait. Like they're not not responding to you? They are saying something. What are they saying?”

The same questions need to be coming from the other side of the table. We must do our part.

We have a communication problem, but it’s important to remember where the burden lies at the end of the day.

6. The Responsibility To Communicate is On the Private Market First

Speaking of communication, it’s worth discussing where the responsibility lies for a Regulator in understanding a new technology or business model.

The answer is debatable, I suppose, but in the long-run, I think John Pitts had the right answer when he said that, “if the government doesn’t understand Plaid, that’s my fault…it is my job to transparently explain what we are doing to the Regulators to make sure they deeply understand it.”

At the end of the day, if you’re doing something novel, it is in your best interest to make sure your product is broadly understood by the Regulatory bodies that matter to you (see the Regulatory Perimeter Explainer below) and maintain an open dialogue.

John brought up that it is, however, a two-way street. “On the other side it is the Regulator's responsibility to be able to do that same outreach and say, it is our responsibility to explain our mandate and our regulations to these entities even if they are new and even if we don't fully understand what they do.”

Kaitlin chimed in with a bit on what not to do. “If you're going in for your first meeting with a Regulator, meeting with someone who might be bringing an enforcement action against you can be very scary and very intimidating, and can cause you to make what I think is the wrong strategic choice, which is, “I'm just not going to engage.””

Time and time again I’ve heard Regulators say, “I wish they had come to talk to us earlier.” Another thing John said was to “assume positive intent.” That’s not exactly in the air right now, but it’s an important reminder.

Concept Worth Understanding: Regulatory Perimeter

My basic attempt to boil down the idea of the Regulatory Perimeter is simply the umbrella under which a financial company is Regulated. The umbrella representing the different Regulatory bodies that might have some say in future enforcement actions, etc..

The broader theme to understand is that this Regulatory Perimeter is constantly shifting.

There are two major reasons why:

1. It’s ebbing and flowing as you add new regulated products and remove others. If you were offering a checking account then your Regulatory Perimeter would expand if you added stock trading, for example.

2. The Perimeter is also impacted by the outside force of Washington. If Regulations change, your company may all of a sudden bear a whole new set of Regulatory responsibilities that you did not count on.

“Assume you’re going to be regulated” - Kaitlin Asrow

“Understand that you will one day be in the regulatory perimeter.” - John Pitts

Skate to where the puck is going to be and start having those conversations. Build those relationships you need before you need them they say.

Listen to the full episode. These are high level take aways. The magic of understanding is in the nuance.

Talk soon 👋

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

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The Everything Expert

The weekend after the SVB failure was the craziest and scariest of my professional adult life. It felt like a tsunami might hit, but the warning sirens hadn’t gone off yet. 

The fear weighed on me throughout that weekend as I watched the world turn seemingly unaware. In retrospect, I was carrying around a sense of superiority with that fear I didn’t even realize.

I know banking better than most, but I don’t consider myself an expert. 

I’m writing this because I’m an expert in not knowing. I’ve made a career of asking questions because, well, I rarely know. 

My uncertainty about the severity of what could have been led me to join the rest of the fearful masses in our favorite echo chamber. You know the little birdie I’m talking about.  

We turned our fear into a competition and the loudest fear mongers seemed to think they were winning the game.

Sudden ‘banking experts’ put on airs of omniscience heretofore reserved to Deities and Fed Chairs.  

The words, “I don’t know,” were nowhere to be found.

Us overly interested and engaged nerds must be careful who we consider an expert and who we trust in times like these. 

One good heuristic of an honest expert; they’re clear on where the facts end and prognostication begins. To put it simply, they know what they don’t know.

The idea that one single person can unpack the complexities of the potential fallout of SVB, Credit Suisse, and name your other issues over the last week or two is laughable.

Lest we forget, the real experts have been calling other real experts to find the facts and take action to solve problems this week. They HAVE NOT been fighting on twitter or threading their hot takes. 

The status quo of our discourse is missing humility to a cringeworthy degree. 

Traditional schooling is often looked down on in the tech world, but the value of formal schooling in the banking system isn’t something we can undervalue.

Incalculable damage was done by the doomsayers and dingbats on twitter that have never reviewed a Regional Bank’s Balance Sheet or gone in-depth on the history of bank runs. See Ron Shevlin’s piece on the worst takes so far. 

That’s brings us to the root of the problem with all this in my humble opinion:

1The Everything Expert; A savant in all subjects with a medium-to-large social media following. The Everything Expert has the ability to download a dictionary level knowledge of any hot topic as if they have been unplugged from Matrix.

Everything Experts are everywhere and they tend to multiply as hot button nerd topics pop-up.

I have two recommendations for avoiding falling into the trap of the Everything Expert outside of the aforementioned maintenance of humility.

My first recommendation to you, the smart, engaged individual trying to understand what’s unfolding around you simply to be skeptical. 

Double check ‘facts’ and form your own point of view when possible. Ask yourself about the Everything Expert’s incentive structure. Ask why they’d say what they’re saying other than for the betterment of the world.

“Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome,” as Charlie Munger said. 

It’s a natural human desire to be in the know. Who doesn’t want to be an expert?! Who doesn’t want to be the smartest one in the room? Be honest.

I want to be the smartest one in the room, I’ll admit it. Sadly, 99.9% of the time I am not. I’m well aware of how often I’m wrong.

I bought into FTX and SBF hook, line and sinker. I was caught off guard when the SVB news hit. I didn’t even finish the second half of Everything Everywhere All At Once because I fell asleep and then they won all the Oscar’s. And on and on. 

My second recommendation is that we stop trying to impress these so-called experts with smart questions. 

The human temptation is always to ask the smart question. More accurately, to ask a question that will make one seem smart for asking it. 

These questions seem sharp if you don’t drone on and on, but they always skip over those first principles. Sometimes you feel a little dumb asking the supposedly basic question. 

Imagine asking SBF about his cash balance a year ago. You would’ve seemed nuts or stupid. 

Sometimes feeling stupid asking a question isn’t a bad thing. Some of the best questions in the world are the most obvious and seemingly least interesting. 

Not knowing something is okay.   

The Everything Expert Syndrome is out of hand. Together, we can fight this phenomenon.

We must remain vigilant regarding the general bull shit swirling around in the world. And don’t forget, let’s stay humble, maintain skepticism, and have no fear about asking the first principles questions.

Humbly,

ZAP

Some lessons are Evergreen. Our guests Kaitlin Asrow at NYDFS and John Pitts at Plaid go deep on their personal experience while providing high level lessons we can all apply today in the midst of a strange time for banking.

We also have a guest host this week, Ally McCloskey. Ally was the host of The Wharton Fintech Podcast and she's now at Clocktower. We're very aware she's better than our usual host, don't rub it in, please.

Helpful Links:

Kaitlin Asrow on LinkedIn

John Pitts on LinkedIn & Twitter

Ally McCloskey on LinkedIn & Twitter

NYDFS on Twitter

Plaid Website

Connect with Zach:

ForFintechsake.com

Follow Zach on Twitter

Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

I sat down with Kristen Anderson and Alex Johnson this morning to unpack the Fed stepping into to guarantee depositors at SVB and the rest of the craziest weekend we’ve all had in a while 👇

🎙️ Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast outlet 🎙️

Kristen weighed in with her perspective as a CEO & Founder directly impacted by SVB and Alex helped breakdown the banking nuance.

I wanted to get this in your inboxes immediately so excuse the brevity, but THINGS ARE MOVING QUICKLY FOLKS!

Stay tuned for more Non-Emergency oriented Everything Seems Like An Emergency Now content in the coming days and weeks.

Talk soon,

ZAP

Zach Anderson Pettet

Your Unqualified Host