Appetite for Disruption: The Business and Regulation of FinTech

In the second installment of AfD's discussion with Marcus, Troy and Lee examine the importance of streamlining:  making things straightforward and simple for consumers to understand.  When companies make it clear what they’re offering, consumers make better decisions and are happier with their experience.  Fortunately, streamlining doesn’t have to be hard.  In today's automated world, something as "old school" as a human being answering the phone can be disruption.

You order a slice of pizza. Just as the waiter is handing it to you, he takes a bite and claims it’s his “fee.” Naturally, you’re indignant. Does this tell us anything about banking? Goldman Sachs’ consumer lending arm, Marcus, thinks it does. In this episode of Appetite for Disruption, Troy and Lee talk with Omer Ismail (Marcus Chief Commercial Officer) and Dustin Cohn (Head of Brand Management for Marcus) about Marcus’ approach to putting the consumer first.

Blockchain is about more than technology. It's about human interaction. Even more than that, blockchain challenges how we think about "community." In the second installment of our discussion with Chronicled co-founder Samantha Radocchia, Troy and Lee look beyond technology to examine how blockchain is changing social and economic dynamics as more-and-more occurs anonymously.

Blockchain is about much more than Bitcoin. Blockchain not only makes cryptocurrencies possible. Blockchain also makes it possible to move priceless artwork from one owner to another, securely deliver collectible sneakers from sellers to buyers, and monitor prescription pharmaceuticals as they're shipped around the country. And that's just the beginning for blockchain.

In the most recent episode of Appetite for Disruption, Samantha Radocchia, co-founder of Chronicled and a Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2017, joins Troy and Lee to discus how blockchain will affect our lives.

In part 2 of our discussion with Rubicoin founders Emmet Savage and John Tyrrell, Troy and Lee explore the importance of the customer experience when investing and how to empower new investors to take the plunge.

Should you use both sides of the brain – left (logic) and right (creative/artistic) – when investing?  Does how you feel about a company matter, in addition to reasoning through its financial statements and other quantifiable metrics?  In the most recent installment of Appetite for Disruption, Troy and Lee explore with Rubicoin founders Emmet Savage and John Tyrrell the influence of both quantitative analysis and emotional intuition when evaluating a company. 

We live in a “Moore’s Law” kind of world.  The rate of technological change is extremely rapid and groundbreaking.  Even something that has been part of commerce forever – namely, getting money from point A to point B – has changed dramatically. 

In Part 2 of the discussion with Amex and InAuth, Troy and Lee cover the “big idea” of why instantaneous access to money is transformative for economic growth and personal satisfaction.  They also address the challenge of ensuring that laws and regulations keep pace, discussing the importance of “first principles” and “contextual regulation.”

It takes savvy to become one of The World's Most Admired Companies.  And it takes skill to avoid the kinds of data breaches that seem all-too-frequent these days.  So how can companies keep their customers – and the public at large – both safe and happy?  How much security do people want if it means more hassles and inconvenience?  

In this episode, Troy and Lee explore with guests from American Express and its InAuth subsidiary how much consumers should trust online services, how behavioral analysis promotes fraud prevention, and how the customer experience dictates a company’s success.

We continue our conversation with Mike Beller of Thesys Technologies. On this episode, we take a further exploration of the nature of big data in capital markets and how to think differently about it.

Sophisticated technology and analytics in securities trading demonstrate how big data and algorithms can transform an industry and change mindsets.