Fintech Impact

In this 145th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Sam Bakken, the Senior Product Marketing Manager at OneSpan. OneSpan is a cybersecurity technology company that works to improve customer experience by improving security systems using things such as biometrics. Sam is here to talk about biometrics and the role that it will play in the future of technological security!

Episode Highlights:

• 0:36 – Sam introduces OneSpan and the services that it provides.
• 1:40 – Diving into the history of OneSpan and how Sam got involved.
• 3:41 – Sam defines biometrics and how they are built.
• 4:59 – Where does Sam see biometrics going in the future?
• 7:15 – How much of a challenge is it for security-minded companies competing with the likes of Apple?
• 10:28 – In what fashion are we using biometrics today without knowing?
• 12:55 – Sam breaks down the multitude of biometrics information that comes together in technological security systems.
• 14:20 – Mike and Sam discuss the outdated practice of giving a written signature and how COVID has affected that.
• 17:20 – How does Sam see the gamut of biometrics evolving concerning how we want to interface with our tech?
• 23:57 – What is the craziest use of biometrics that Sam has seen?
• 25:31 – What are the reactions of financial institutions to new biometrics-based technology?
• 30:42 – What is the one thing that Sam would change in his industry?
• 32:08 – What has been the biggest challenge with taking biometrics-based technology to market?
• 34:10 – What excites Sam the most about what he is working on right now?

3 Key Points

1. Biometrics are the biological traits that can be used to identify humans, such as fingerprint, facial recognition, etc., and are being used more and more in technological security today.
2. People have come a long way from being reluctant to put their information out on the internet to trusting technology enough to store personal information on their phones.
3. Financial institutions are reluctant to adopt new biometrics-based technology due to cases of bias in the systems and also because a lot of tech allows multiple registered identities.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Solving the problem, selling the security controls that can help solve those weaknesses that are identified, that really appealed to me at OneSpan.” – Sam Bakken
• “It’s always a balance between convenience and security.” – Sam Bakken
• “You can’t always deliver a consistent user experience across all devices...but there are options to still offer those biometrics across devices in a consistent manner.” – Sam Bakken
• “A good user experience is a secure one.” – Sam Bakken
• “I just know that a lot of people are reporting on digital fraud, so to start to dive a little bit deeper into web vs. mobile I think would be helpful...so that we can take mobile-app security a little more seriously.” – Sam Bakken

Resources Mentioned:

• Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook
• LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn
• FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact
• JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter
• onespan.com/ – Website for OneSpan
• LinkedIn – Sam Bakken’s LinkedIn

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In this 144th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Michael Kane, co-founder of Hydrogen Platform, a fintech company working to build seamless financial platforms in an attempt to digitize the world financial system. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 0:38 – Michael Kane introduces Hydrogen Platform. 

● 1:22 – How did Hydrogen come to be? 

● 3:22 – What is it like for Michael running a company with his twin brother? 

● 4:55 – Michael breaks down the different fintech solutions that Hydrogen Platform offers to end-users. 

● 12:20 – Explain the concept of high-code, low-code, and no-code programming. 

● 18:03 – How does Michael see the end-vision for other brands and companies leveraging Hydrogen Platform and other platforms like it? 

● 24:44 – Collaboration between the financial and tech industries will only grow in the future. 

● 27:43 – Michael believes that pricing is far too high in his industry. 

● 29:52 – What has been the biggest challenge for Hydrogen Platform to get where it is today? 

● 32:00 – What excites Michael the most about what he is doing right now? 

3 Key Points 

1. Hydrogen Platform has made financial-technology integration easy by layering no-code and low-code applications on top of it. 

2. Most vendors usually stick to their specialty silo and that’s where Hydrogen comes in, putting together all the pieces in an open banking platform. 

3. In the future, companies all over the world will be integrating the different financial platforms that can be found with Hydrogen Platform. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “Why can’t we just take our expertise, put it into a platform and then allow all these companies to use the technology that we had built in a more B2B enterprise application layer?” – Michael Kane 

● “Applying for loans, it’s very painful. What if you could pull that in without any integration work...so the end user doesn’t know that they’re using Hydrogen.” – Michael Kane 

● “You can’t necessarily go to one vendor to do some of these things...a vendor that does payments or cards or banking may not offer KYC.” – Michael Kane 

● “The speed at which some of the development I’m seeing get done now is just neck-breaking compared to what it used to be.” – Jason Pereira

● “It’s a challenge when you’re doing something new and getting people aligned with what you’re doing, but so far we’ve been successful.” – Michael Kane 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook 

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn 

● FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact 

● JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter 

● Hydrogen Platform - Website 

● LinkedIn - Michael Kane’s LinkedIn

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In this 143rd episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Heinrich Zetlmayer, the Founder and CEO of Blockchain Valley Ventures, a Swiss venture firm that focuses on industry-leading blockchain businesses.

Episode Highlights:

• 0:32 – Heinrich introduces Blockchain Valley Ventures.
• 1:48 – Heinrich left IBM in 2008 to enter the venture capital industry.
• 2:55 – Investments in the blockchain space needed to be separated from the business.
• 4:26 – Blockchain Valley Ventures helps entrepreneurs by taking care of their problems.
• 5:48 – Switzerland is a hotspot in the crypto world because of its unique regulations.
• 7:07 – BVV invests in only two types of sectors.
• 8:18 – With all the remote working brought on by COVID, Keyless has been brought to the forefront.
• 9:32 – Heinrich discusses the multiple clusters in the supply chain management industry.
• 12:03 – How are consumers finding product-market fit right now?
• 17:49 – What excites Heinrich about the blockchain industry in the near future?
• 20:09 – How will gaming play a part in the future of blockchain?
• 21:40 – Coin Source is developing a system of crypto ATMs.
• 24:20 – Why do people fear the volatility of the bitcoin market?
• 26:10 – If Heinrich could change one thing about the blockchain sector, what would it be? 
• 26:44 – What is the biggest challenge in Heinrich’s company today?
• 27:49 – Heinrich discusses what excites him the most about his career.

3 Key Points

1. Blockchain Valley Ventures provides value to entrepreneurs by helping them with their problems.
2. Blockchain is just moving out of its infancy as an industry.
3. People struggle with blockchain because of the volatility of bitcoin, but in reality, world currency is just as volatile.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “We’re fully dedicated to the impact of blockchain technology and blockchain innovation...because it is such a fundamental innovation. It’s so complex in itself as it combines legal, technology, innovation.” - Heinrich Zetlmayer
• “If you want to be relevant in the blockchain space and deliver value, you cannot be just an investor. You need to add value.” - Heinrich Zetlmayer
• “The whole industry is moving out of an early-stage industry. It’s moving from proofs-of-concept into pilate projects and rollouts.” - Heinrich Zetlmayer
• “Value is not in a physical object; it can be abstracted. Just for the sake of convenience, it’s going to continue to grow around the world.” Jason Pereira

Resources Mentioned:

• Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook
• LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn
• FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact
• JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter
• LinkedIn – Heinrich Zetlmayer’s LinkedIn
• Bvventures.ch – Blockchain Valley Ventures Website

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In this 142nd episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Matthew Bogart, Vice President of Marketing at NexJ Systems, a financial-specific CRM and data analytics tool. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:27 – Matthew Bogart introduces himself and NexJ Systems. 

● 01:35 – What is the history of NexJ ? 

● 02:30 – How does NexJ go beyond just basic tracking? 

● 03:48 – How has NexJ’s customer base evolved? 

● 04:42 – What do they offer financial advisors? 

● 06:12 – Matthew Bogart discusses the data points that NexJ looks at. 

● 10:27 – NexJ has been around since 2004. 

● 10:48 – What does Matthew see coming down the pipeline? 

● 19:29 – Those that engage the most with their clients drive loyalty and are also usually the higher performing firms. 

● 20:19 – What would Matthew Bogart change in his business or industry? 

● 21:04 – What have been the biggest challenges Matthew Bogart has faced? 

● 23:41 – What keeps Matthew Bogart excited each day about his work? 

3 Key Points 

1. NexJ looks at about 44 points of data. 

2. Machine learning is when the systems analyzes pieces of data, looks for common patterns, and uses that to take action. 

3. Exporting data is becoming a greater priority than it has ever been. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “NexJ delivers intelligent customer management solutions to the financial industry, focused specifically on wealth management.” – Matthew Bogart 

● “Who would have thought back in the year 2000 that a firm like Shopify would be designated as a CRM vendor?” – Matthew Bogart 

● (NexJ) “Having thi very vertical-specific product that focuses on really the sales, service, and marketing elements that a financial advisor would need.” – Matthew Bogart 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn 

● FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact 

● JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter 

● Linkedin – Matthew Bogart’s Linkedin 

● nexj.com – Website for NexJ

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In this 141st episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Ned Phillips, Founder and CEO of Bambu. Bambu is a digital platform that helps businesses deploy robo advisor solutions quickly, fast, and customized. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:56 – Ned Phillips introduces himself and Bambu. 

● 02:48 – What led to the creation of Bambu? 

● 04:04 – What was it about robo advisors that they gravitated towards? 

● 05:50 – What problems did they run into with Bambu? 

● 09:15 – When customers want Bambu to build them a robo advisor, what does that experience look like? 

● 12:47 – What have been the responses to their robo advisors? 

● 16:11 – How far down market in terms of client size or enterprise does Ned see this going? 

● 17:48 – What does the pricing look like? 

● 22:08 – What has demand been looking like? 

● 26:04 – What would Ned Phillips change in his business or industry? 

● 27:17 – What have been the biggest challenges Ned has faced? 

● 29:32 – What keeps Ned Phillips excited each day about his work? 

3 Key Points 

1. If you build what everybody wants it becomes a random bunch of codes which isn’t a product. If you build a product and no one buys it, you are out of business. 

2. Bambu built up their initial customer base by finding out what problems businesses had that they could solve for them. 

3. Bambu can typically have you up and running with a robo advisor in 4-8 weeks if they are willing to go with their fixed version with the front end customized to the client. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “We design, build, and integrate robo advisors. So the simplest way I can describe it is that financial institutions say to us, ‘I want a betterment. I want a wealth front. I want my own robo-advisor. We are a pure technology company.” – Ned Phillips 

● “We are technology guys, 4-years-old. Yes, we are based in Singapore. But we have been pretty global. We have been really lucky. We have clients in the U.S. We have clients in Europe, and across Asia and in the Middle East.” – Ned Phillips 

● “We have built over 20 financial institutions now. Some of the biggest Franklin, Standard Chartered, HSBC.” – Ned Phillips 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook 

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn 

● FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact 

● JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter 

● Linkedin – Ned Phillips’s Linkedin 

● bambu.co – Website for Bambu

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In this 140th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Samir Vasavada the Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Vise and Runik Mehrotra the Co-Founder & Chief Investment Officer of Vise. Vise is a next generation asset measurement platform that allows for the development, tracking, monitoring, and testing of portfolios made up of individual stocks. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:30 – Samir Vasavada and Runik Mehrotra explain Vise. 

● 01:40 – What led to the origin of Vise? 

● 05:28 – What was the journey to getting Vise started? 

● 06:55 – What does the workflow look like and the core data points? 

● 08:45 – They talk about employment as a risk factor. 

● 11:52 – What does a conventional portfolio look like to them? 

● 15:57 – What are their thoughts on direct indexing? 

● 19:39 – What has the feedback for Vise been like? 

● 24:38 – What would Samir Vasavada and Runik Mehrotra change in their business or industry? 

● 27:50 – What have been the biggest challenges Samir Vasavada and Runik Mehrotra have faced? 

● 33:23 – What keeps Samir Vasavada and Runik Mehrotra excited each day about their work? 

3 Key Points 

1. Vise can customize strategies around financial advisors and explains why a portfolio is built the way it was. 

2. A portfolio can be as few as 25-30 individual stocks to 100 individual stocks. 

3. Vise helps advisers differentiate themselves, giving advisors some of their time back. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “Essentially what Vise is, is that we are using AI to automate investment management for financial advisors. The vast majority of financial advisors really struggle to differentiate. They provide their clients the same generic portfolios.” – Samir Vasavad 

● “We’ve essentially built this AI where we can analyze clients’ needs, money they have to invest, goals, networth needs, career risks, private holdings, to build a highly personalized portfolio of individual stocks, bonds, other assets. .” – Samir Vasavad 

● “The thesis behind the company is the advisor is their relationship with their client, and we do everything else in an automated yet personalized way.” – Samir Vasavad 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook 

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn 

● FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact 

● JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter 

● Linkedin – Samir Vasavada’s Linkedin 

● Linkedin – Runik Mehrotra

● vise.com – Website for Vise AI 

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In this episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Peter Misek, Founding Partner of Framework Venture Partners. Framework Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that takes a data-driven approach to investigate and benchmark companies before they even invest in them, and also provide consulting investment feedback before and after the engagement process. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:39 – Peter Misek introduces himself and Framework Venture Partners.

● 01:35 – What is the history of Framework? 

● 04:04 – How does being data-driven benefit startups? 

● 08:08 – What does Framework Venture Partners come back to a startup with after scoring them? 

● 10:48 – What types of levels of dropping out have occurred? 

● 12:56 – Are their results leading to a more diverse group of founders?

● 18:25 – What is the next step after a company scores well? 

● 22:29 – Peter Misek describes the experience of his team. 

● 25:21 – What would Peter Misek change in his business or industry?

● 27:02 – What have been the biggest challenges Peter Misek has faced?

● 29:32 – What keeps Peter Misek excited each day about his work? 

3 Key Points 

1. Founders need advice and mentorship. 

2. Framework Venture Partners tracks 15,000-plus startups across North America, which is about 3%. 

3. Framework Venture Partners interviews with startups take 15-30 minutes with cursory consulting. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “Framework was started with the premise that data can help us both find great startups, but also help our startups know where they need to go on a journey to become a world-class company.” – Peter Misek 

● “We layer in operational expertise that we’ve developed over 20-plus years, my partner and I and the team, in very specific areas such as vertical expertise. So think financial services and artificial intelligence, and then think talent.” – Peter Misek

● “All of the levels of government across Canada, the average sales cycle...is 24 months. All of the levels of government across the United States, the average sales cycle is below 12 months.” – Peter Misek 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook 

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn 

● FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact 

● JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter 

● Linkedin – Peter Misek’s Linkedin 

● framework.vc – Website for Framework Venture Partners

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 138th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Ethan Buchman, Co-Founder of Cosmos and CEO of Informal Systems. Cosmos is one of the largest blockchains and one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies in the world, of which Ethan Buchman was an integral part of creating. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:32 – Ethan Buchman explains Cosmos. 

● 02:53 – What is Ethan Buchman’s history? 

● 09:20 – What is the differences between and proof of work and proof of stake? 

● 10:10 – Which countries consumed less power than bitcoin? 

● 11:09 – Where else can you go besides bitcoin to maximize options? 

● 12:00 – They discuss public and private blockchains. 

● 16:06 – Where are the limitations with authurium? 

● 25:24 – What does Informal Systems do? 

● 35:01 – What would Ethan Buchman change in his business or industry? 

● 35:49 – What have been the biggest challenges Ethan has faced? 

● 36:50 – What keeps Ethan Buchman excited each day about his work? 

3 Key Points 

1. Blockchain is the evolution of automating human processes, moving from personal computers, to the cloud, and now to the multi-stakeholder operation. 

2. In 2019, bitcoin consumed more power than Switzerland. 

3. Reducing compliance is an important use case in the blockchain world. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “We want to make it as easy as possible for people to build their own blockchains, launch their own blockchains, structure them in the ways that they need to that fit their needs and fit their values, and the values of their community.” – Ethan Buchman 

● “In 2013 I programmed my first bitcoin transaction from scratch, which is almost like a religious experience to be able to do that.” – Ethan Buchman 

● “The public blockchain becomes this source of truth that you can audit against without necessarily revealing all the information to the whole world. The boutry between public and private becomes significantly blurred .” – Ethan Buchman 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook 

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn 

● FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact 

● JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter 

● Linkedin – Ethan Buchman

● cosmos.network – Website for Cosmos 

● informal.systems – Website for Informal Systems

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 137th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews John Bromley, Founder and CEO of Charitable Impact and Mike Todd, Director of Charitable Investment Programs at Charitable Impact. Charitable Impact is a fintech online platform that enables charitable donations through donor-advised funds. John Bromley and Mike Todd talk about how they are able to get this done and what a donor-advised fund is. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:38 – What is Charitable Impact? 

● 01:30 – What was the impetus for Charitable Impact getting started? 

● 03:44 – What is a donor-advised fund and why do they get used? 

● 13:26 – How many people come directly and how many people come from other sources? 

● 14:44 – Charitable Impact works with close to 100 investment managers across various firms. 

● 16:58 – How does the technology work? 

● 23:48 – What would John Bromley and Michael Todd change in their business or industry? 

● 32:21 – What have been the biggest challenges John Bromley and Michael Todd has faced? 

● 36:52 – What keeps John Bromley and Michael Todd excited each day about their work? 

3 Key Points 

1. The questions that pushed John Brimley to start Charitable Impact are: Where do you go to get advice in the charitable giving world? How can charitable giving be made possible and fluidly during any translation on a cost-effective basis?

 2. There are over 85,000 charities in Canada. 

3. Donor-advised funds are like having a bank account for charitable giving. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “Charitable Impact asks the questions, who is really there to support the donor who is looking to participate, or who is participating in charitable giving? .” – John Bromley 

● “We give people their own individual giving account, it is what is referred to as a donor-advised fund and they take on that account, they can put their charitable donations into it.” – John Bromley 

● “We have higher net worth donor, and generally the majority of those people we meet through financial advisors. The majority of our donors, however, are everyday Canadians, I would refer to as grassroots donors.” – John Bromley 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook 

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn 

● FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact 

● JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter 

● charitableimpact.com – Website for Charitable Impact 

● Linkedin – John Bromley 

● Linkedin – Michael Todd’s Linkedin

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 136th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Garima Shah, President of Biller Genie, a SaaS company that helps companies get paid faster on their accounts payable. Garima Shah explains how Biller Genie got started, how it works for clients, and the benefits of their value proposition. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:29 – Garima Shah explains Biller Genie and the origin of the company. 

● 02:57 – Which accounting systems does she commonly encounter? 

● 05:28 – What was the journey to getting Biller Genie started? 

● 06:55 – How does the billing model work for Biller Genie? 

● 09:09 – Garima Shah takes us through the Biller Genie process? 

● 11:52 – What has been the general feedback they have been getting from most companies? 

● 22:06 – They talk about accounts payable automation efficiency. 

● 27:04 – What would Garima Shah change in her business or industry? 

● 30:39 – What have been the biggest challenges Garima Shah has faced? 

● 32:17 – What keeps Garima excited each day about her work? 

3 Key Points 

1. 90% of businesses in the world handle accounts receivable manually. 

2. Biller Genie charges a monthly fee plus a percentage only when they collect on invoices. 

3. On average, Biler Genie gets businesses paid 15 days faster, collecting 60% of their outstanding balances no matter what within the first 30 days ,and saves them between 15-20 hours a week in manual labor. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “Biller Genie is an automated account receivable software, which is a whole lot of words that don’t mean a lot to most people.” – Garima Shah 

● “Our average client does between $70,000-$100,000 a month in revenue or invoicing, and a client that does $100,000 a month would only pay $550 for Biller Genie in the entire month.” – Garima Shah 

● “The average cost for an invoice, according to the Wall Street Journal, is between $16-$38 to process a single invoice manually.” – Garima Shah 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook 

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn 

● FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact 

● JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter 

● Linkedin – Garima Shah

● billergenie.com – Website 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.