Small business data is heterogenous and typically stored in silos that are not connected to each other. While some level of integration is starting to happen, getting the big picture of a small business from all these silos is challenging. But that is also changing.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One is Pete Lord, the CEO and Co-Founder of Codat. His company's mission is to bring all that data together to make life easier for small businesses. Codat's clients are able to access the data they need seamlessly to help them get a complete picture of each small business.

In this podcast you will learn:

• The problem Codat was created to solve.
• What they mean by the "universal API for small business data".
• Some of the companies where they have an API connection.
• An example of how this data access actually works.
• The state of play of open banking in the UK and the US.
• Their geographic footprint and the challenges of working internationally.
• Some of the 42 different use cases for Codat.
• Why they started with lending and how SMBs are getting more access to credit.
• How they connect with bank data.
• What they actually return to their clients when it comes to data.
• How Codat's clients are using climate data.
• Details of their $100 million Series C fundraise closed in Q2.
• The size of their team today.
• Pete's vision for a connected world when it comes to business data.

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A decade ago, to say the Latin American fintech industry was nascent would have been an overstatement. While there were a handful of enterprising startups, no one had achieved much scale and there was very little funding available to help. And yet, these bootstrapping entrepreneurs were at the forefront at what would soon be a thriving industry.

Today, Latin American fintech is hot, although like the rest of the fintech world it has cooled down somewhat in 2022. My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Christine Kenna, a partner at IGNIA, a Mexican VC firm, where she has spent more than a decade. During that time, she has witnessed and participated in the explosive growth of the fintech industry.

In this podcast you will learn:

• How Christine came to Mexico and to IGNIA.
• What it was like being an investor in Mexico a decade ago.
• When they first started paying attention to fintech.
• How IGNIA has responded to the changing investing environment.
• What it means to entrepreneurs to have big name American VCs in the region now.
• The different environments for early stage and later stage investment.
• The most interesting areas of fintech today in Latin America.
• Why cash is still so prevalent in Mexico today.
• Why Christine is bullish on crypto long term.
• Why LatAm entrepreneurs are always looking cross border.
• The stage of companies IGNIA focuses on.
• The quality of the entrepreneurs approaching her today.
• What Christine is most excited about for the future of LatAm fintech.

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Despite the early successes of some of the robo-advice platforms, good financial advice is still something that is difficult to scale. The wealthy often work with professional advisors and the rest of us manage it ourselves where there is limited advice and often the accumulated assets just sit in retirement accounts being ignored. But that could be able to change.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Mike Sha, the CEO and Co-Founder of SigFig. They are on a mission to deliver quality advice at scale and are working with some of the largest financial institutions in the country. But even Mike agrees much more needs to be done and they are looking at advice beyond wealth management to provide a more holistic approach.

In this podcast you will learn:

• How Mike's time at Amazon helped shape his thoughts on customer experience.
• The founding story of SigFig and what preceded it.
• How their first commercial product, a portfolio tracking tool, was developed.
• The behavior patterns of the two types of investors.
• The opportunity provided by the coming massive transfer of wealth from baby boomers.
• How they work with banks and wealth management firms.
• Some of the bigger clients they serve.
• Why people hire financial advisors today.
• How SigFig has expanded beyond investments.
• How their new platform called Engage grew out of the pandemic.
• Mike's view on the UBS-Wealthfront acquisition/breakup saga this year.
• How he thinks about the direct-to-consumer robo-advisor model and why they chose b2b.
• What's next for SigFig.

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Being a small business owner has many challenges. Deal with finances is one of the major stresses for any small business and fintech is really starting to make a difference here. But what if we could take the financial component of any small business and take it from a cost center to a profit center, or at least make it cost-neutral?

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Eliot Buchanan, the CEO and Co-Founder of Plastiq. They help small businesses with flexibility on both how they pay and accept payments, offering a full suite of innovative offerings.

In this podcast you will learn:

• The problem Eliot had that led to the founding of Plastiq.
• Why they evolved from a consumer business to focus on small business.
• Details of their flagship product, Plastiq Pay.
• The three other products they now offer.
• Why they created an embedded finance product for small business platforms.
• How Plastiq is turning credit card acceptance on its head.
• The types of businesses that are using Plastiq.
• How financing through Plastiq is even cheaper than bank capital.
• Why they decided to go public via SPAC in 2022.
• How they are making this move with their eyes wide open.
• What they are planning to do with a new war chest of capital.
• How a Main Street business should view Plastiq.
• Eliot's vision for Plastiq.

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• Tweet me @PeterRenton
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On the news show today we discussed big fintech news from FSOC, the White House (blueprint for AI bill of rights), U.S. Congress, Customers Bank, Cogent Bank, Western Alliance Bank, Afterpay, bank fees, KServicing, Kim Kardashian and more.

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On the news show yesterday we discussed big fintech news from Celsius, Square, SWIFT, Chainlink Labs, JPMorgan Chase & Co., FTX, Nova Credit, HSBC, Caitlin Long, Do Kwon, Upstart and more.

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Consumer BNPL has become an entrenched part of the modern payments flow for a large number of companies. But the payments flow in the business-to-business space still looks similar to the way it did a decade ago. I think that is about to change.

Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Chris Tsai, the CEO and Co-founder of Resolve.  He has thought deeply about buyer flows in b2b commerce and has created a complete system to manage the process. As he describes in this episode it is not really about BNPL, although that is a piece of what they do, it is about growing transactions into relationships.

In this podcast you will learn:

• How Max Levchin and Affirm was instrumental in the founding of Resolve.
• What the early days of Resolve were like.
• The four steps in the buying process that coincides with Resolve’s core products.
• How they perform credit checks on behalf of their clients.
• How BNPL for business is different to consumer.
• A profile of the typical Resolve customer.
• Why they often like to talk of themselves as an embedded payments platform.
• Details of their underwriting process.
• The interplay between credit insights and relationship insights.
• How their business model works.
• How Resolve customers immediately benefit once they are onboarded.
• Why they offer credit card processing as part of the interface.
• How they interface with the popular accounting software platforms.
• The scale they are at today.
• Chris’s vision for Resolve.

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The benefits of blockchain technology are yet to be realized in banking. While some large banks have commercial projects nothing has really taken off yet. Much of that is due to regulatory uncertainty but many banks are actively engaging and learning while we are in this something of a holding period.

Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Robert Morgan, the CEO of the USDF Consortium, a group of banks creating a blockchain-based system for tokenized deposits that will make banking safer, cheaper and more reliable for consumers. Rob used to be the head of innovation at the American Bankers Association (we had him on the show back in 2017) and so he has a deep understanding of banking and technology.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Why Rob decided to make the jump from the ABA to the USDF Consortium
• How he describes what USDF is exactly.
• How banks will use USDF and a description of the payments flow.
• The primary benefits of USDF and the most popular use cases.
• How the programmability of USDF can be leveraged.
• Why USDF will be complementary to Fedwire and FedNow (when it launches).
• How the USDF Consortium, the Provenance Blockchain and Figure are related.
• How they are working with the Federal regulatory agencies today.
• Details of their response to Treasury’s RFC on digital assets.
• How they view CBDCs and how it could be complementary to what they are building.
• The types of banks that are members of the consortium.
• Where they are at when it comes to USDF going live.
• The objections of banks who are not ready to join the consortium.
• What Rob thinks the next move from regulators will be when it comes to digital assets.
• What the banking system could look like in ten years time.

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One the news show yesterday we discussed big fintech stories from FTX, Stash, Voyager, Adyen, Cash App, Nasdaq, Sardine, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, Synctera and more. 

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Starting a business is an exciting time for new entrepreneurs, a time full of optimism and possibilities. That optimism can fade as reality sets in with a myriad of legal and financial steps that must be taken that have nothing to do with his or her passion. Thankfully, there are technology companies that are making it much easier today.

Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Sameer Gulati, the head of fintech for ZenBusiness, a company helping would-be entrepreneurs launch new businesses. His company realized that once a business has been created there are a myriad of financial products that the new entrepreneur will need and who better to help them than the company that guided them through the setup process.

In this podcast you will learn:

• What was the catalyst for taking this role at ZenBusiness.
• The mission of ZenBusiness and how they have evolved.
• The amazing number of new businesses that are being created today.
• Why the idea of a side hustle has been a real accelerant.
• What kinds of businesses people are starting.
• The demographic profile of these new entrepreneurs.
• How they are giving potential new business owners the confidence to take the leap.
• What ZenBusiness provides once people have made the decision to start a business.
• The financial services that ZenBusiness is going to offer their clients
• How they have approached the development of new financial products.
• The huge advantage that ZenBusiness has over other fintechs.
• How they intend to grow with their small business customers.
• The types of partners they will work with to help their faster-growing customers.
• Details of their recent $200 million fundraise.
• How they are raising awareness of the ZenBusiness brand.
• How the shift to embedded finance is making their move into fintech so much easier.

Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

• Tweet me @PeterRenton
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes