Fintech Layer Cake

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, Reggie Young sits down with Ariel Blum, Founder of Receive, to unpack the challenges of small business cash flow and why “earned revenue access” could transform how SMBs operate. 

Ariel shares his journey from watching his parents struggle with delayed payments, to working at Amex, Green Dot, and Melio, to ultimately founding Receive. They explore the future of embedded finance, fintech’s shift from “hot or not” to “essential,” and how solving cash flow timing mismatches could unlock massive opportunities for the 33 million small businesses in the U.S. and beyond.

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young sits down with Will Lawrence, Co-Founder and CEO of Greenlite AI, to explore how AI is transforming background checks and employment verification.

Will shares how his team is building a platform that makes identity verification faster, smarter, and more reliable, from parsing unstructured data to detecting fraud in real time. Along the way, they discuss the challenges of scaling AI in high-stakes industries, the balance between automation and human oversight, and what it takes to turn raw data into trusted decisions.

Whether you’re in fintech, HR tech, or just curious about the future of verification, this conversation delivers practical insights you can use today.

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young sits down with Lee Easton, founder and president of iDENTIFY, to unpack one of fintech’s least understood layers: bank transaction data. Lee breaks down why raw bank data is so unreliable out of the box, and what it actually takes to clean, enrich, and classify it so that it's usable for real-time fraud detection, underwriting, and customer engagement.

From manual tagging nightmares to building classification models across 1.2 billion transactions, this conversation is a practical deep-dive into what “decision-ready” data really means.

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, Reggie Young sits down with Max Eber, Co-Founder of Taktile, to explore how modern fintechs are rethinking risk infrastructure. Max shares insights from building a flexible decision engine used by leading lenders and fintechs around the world. They dive into what it really takes to customize underwriting, how Taktile is approaching AI and LLMs in production, and why success often hinges on enabling teams, not just engineers, to iterate faster.

Whether you're navigating credit models, fraud risk, or just curious about what LLMs can actually do in a fintech setting, this episode delivers a practical, high-level crash course on decisioning infrastructure at scale.

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young speaks with Maik Wehmeyer, co-founder and CEO of Taktile, an AI-powered risk decisioning platform redefining how fintechs, banks, and even telcos approach mission-critical decisions.

Maik shares the multi-year journey from MLOps tooling to a hyper-flexible decisioning platform, and how Taktile now powers over 150 institutions. They discuss the evolution of embedded finance, overlooked AI opportunities, and why enterprise deals are where the real money is. This episode is a masterclass on product-market fit, infrastructure innovation, and building a culture that attracts the top 1%.

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young speaks with Matt Brown, early-stage investor at Matrix Partners and former product leader at Afterpay.

Matt dives into the evolving landscape of vertical SaaS, why embedded fintech still has massive untapped potential, and how PE and VC are converging to create new opportunities. He also shares lessons from founding Bonsai, including counterintuitive insights about customer feedback and learning rate. They cover founder-investor dynamics, the future of BNPL, and Matt’s writing process behind his popular “X topic in 1,000 words” series.

If you're building in fintech, SaaS, or just want to understand the deeper trends shaping both, this is a must-listen.

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young speaks with Michele Alt, Co-Founder of Klaros Group, about new opportunities in fintech bank charters.

They unpack the recent SmartBiz approval, what it signals for the industry, and the realities of the charter process—from regulatory hurdles to risk management. Michele also shares why now might be the best time in years to act—and why ILC charters could be the next big thing.

If you're thinking about chartering, partnering, or future-proofing your fintech, this episode is a must-listen.

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young welcomes back Simon Taylor—fintech thought leader, writer of Fintech Brainfood, and Head of Strategy & Content at Sardine.

They explore the rapidly emerging world of agentic payments and what Visa’s new tokenization framework means for AI-driven commerce. Simon also unpacks real-world use cases, from “vibe shopping” to automated business purchasing, and what hurdles—like consumer trust and fraud—still stand in the way.

The conversation then shifts to Sardine’s groundbreaking Agentic Oversight Framework, which shows how AI agents can safely handle complex compliance tasks like KYC.

Whether you’re building AI tools, working in compliance, or just curious about the next frontier in payments—this is an essential listen.

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, Reggie and Ali are joined by Braulio Lam, Senior Director of Engineering at EQ Bank, to unpack the essential ingredients of selecting and integrating a card processor. 

With experience across multiple processors and fintech startups, Braulio breaks down what to look for in API documentation, how to assess a processor’s operational and customer support readiness, and what a real-world integration looks like. 

From technical deep dives to agile banking transformation, Braulio offers practical, tactical insights for engineers, product leaders, and anyone navigating the complexities of payments infrastructure.

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young speaks with Cato Pastoll (Co-founder & CEO) and Nik Nampalli (Head of Strategic Projects) of Loop—Canada’s #1 business banking platform. Loop offers multi-currency credit cards, global payment tools, and financial services that save SMBs thousands each year.

Cato and Nik break down how Loop evolved into a fintech solution for Canadian businesses with cross-border needs, why multi-currency capabilities matter, and what makes Canada’s fintech landscape uniquely challenging.

Whether you're navigating card issuing, expanding across borders, or curious about what’s next for Canadian fintech—this episode is packed with insight and inspiration.