AI is making products easier to build.

So what actually separates the companies that win?

In this episode of Humans of Fintech, Nicole Casperson sits down with Drew Glover, Co-Founder of Fiat Growth and General Partner at Fiat Ventures, at the Golden Gate Bridge to unpack the next phase of fintech in the AI era.

Drew argues that as software becomes easier to replicate, the strongest moats left are data, distribution, storytelling, and community.

The conversation explores why fintech may be uniquely positioned in the AI economy, why every scaled technology company eventually starts looking like a fintech company, how founder-led marketing is replacing faceless B2B brands, and why the companies sitting on decades of proprietary financial data may become some of the most important players in AI.

Nicole and Drew also go behind the scenes of FTW: San Francisco, September 29–October 1, and discuss why the next generation of fintech events should feel less like giant trade shows and more like curated rooms where executives, founders, investors, and operators can actually build together.

Because in the AI era, technology may be easier to create.

Trust, distribution, data, and community are not.

Subscribe to Humans of Fintech for more conversations with the people building the future of financial services.

In this conversation, we dive into:

00:00 What still creates a moat in the AI era?

00:54 Drew Glover returns to Humans of Fintech

01:13 Why fintech is missing from the AI narrative

01:59 Every fintech company is becoming an AI company

03:54 Why financial institutions have an AI data advantage

04:19 Build vs. partner: the legacy fintech dilemma

05:57 Is proprietary financial data the real moat?

07:11 Why fintech still struggles to look “sexy”

08:41 Drew’s unconventional path into fintech

10:48 Financial inclusion after the DEI boom

13:43 The B2B fintech storytelling problem

14:48 Why B2B brands now need mass-market storytelling

15:50 The rise of founder-led marketing

17:41 “Data and distribution are the only moats left”

18:43 Why storytelling still gets founders funded

18:53 What FTW: San Francisco is building

20:00 Big Tech × Fintech in San Francisco

21:06 Why curated rooms create better business

23:33 Fintech company Drew is watching

24:28 Why Drew joined FTW: San Francisco

24:48 Community as a moat

25:22 What’s broken about traditional conferences

27:57 Drew’s final takeaway: “I can’t do it alone”

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And for more fintech news, founder stories, and FTW updates:

Fintech Is Femme: https://www.fintechisfemme.co/

Live from New York: a special mini episode recorded at the Solo Resilience Summit

Nicole Casperson sits down with Josh Arjuna Stephens, SVP of Product at Current, for a sharp, on-the-ground conversation about what it actually takes to build financial products people trust — and use — at scale.

During this special live recording of Humans of Fintech at the Solo Resilience Summit in New York City, Josh and Nicole dig into the evolution of financial infrastructure, the role of agentic AI in product development, why trust has become part of the product itself, and what product teams are most underestimating right now.

🎧 Hit play to hear how today's builders are designing the next generation of financial products — with trust, speed, and compliance all in the same room.

Live from Las Vegas: the Fintech Penthouse is back!

Nicole Casperson sits down with guests Rina Jariwala, Chief Operations Officer at Fundbox, ​Katy Ryan, Partner at Orrick, and Sergio Cordoba, Chief Acquisition Officer at Ontop. During this special live recording of Humans of Fintech at Fintech Meetup 2026, the group discusses’ what it takes to expand past your home market and how compliance, infrastructure, and trust play a role in it.

🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

From helping launch Apple Pay at Citi to leading product across servicing, engagement, rewards, and customer experience at Bread Financial, Jyoti Menon has had a front-row seat to how financial services actually evolve.

Jyoti has spent her career building at the intersection of finance, payments, and product — long before “fintech” became the industry it is today. Nicole Casperson and Menon sit down live on the showroom floor of Fintech Meetup in the Humans of Fintech podcast booth to discuss her career path, product development strategies, and the evolving role of AI in fintech.

🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

SPONSORED BY FINTECH MEETUP

Fintech Meetup brings together leaders from banks, fintechs, credit unions, and investing firms for 50,000+ one-to-one meetings designed to drive real partnerships and real ROI.

Katy Ryan is a Partner at Orrick, a global law firm focused on serving tech companies, but she’s also a builder, an operator, and someone who’s actually sat on both sides of the table as a founder herself.

Filmed on the showroom floor of Fintech Meetup, Nicole Casperson sits down with Katy to discuss one of the most misunderstood — and most powerful — intersections in fintech: regulation and growth.

🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

SPONSORED BY FINTECH MEETUP

Fintech Meetup brings together leaders from banks, fintechs, credit unions, and investing firms for 50,000+ one-to-one meetings designed to drive real partnerships and real ROI.

Danny Friday isn’t your traditional fintech founder. Originally a software engineer, Sail was born out of necessity to create accessibility in our healthcare system’s reimbursement process.

Filmed at the Fintech Penthouse in Las Vegas during Fintech Meetup, Nicole Casperson sits down with Sail’s Founder and CEO to unpack one of the most complex, high-stakes, and misunderstood systems in our economy — and how Sail is building the infrastructure to fix it.

🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

SPONSORED BY FINTECH MEETUP

Fintech Meetup brings together leaders from banks, fintechs, credit unions, and investing firms for 50,000+ one-to-one meetings designed to drive real partnerships and real ROI.

Everyone is talking about AI in banking. But the real question isn't whether the technology works.

It's whether we can trust it to make decisions about money.

That's a harder question. And this year, it moved from theoretical to operational.

Filmed live at FIS Emerald in Orlando, Nicole Casperson goes inside the conversations, announcements, and leaders defining what AI actually looks like inside the financial system — including a backstage exclusive with FIS CEO & President Stephanie Ferris on what this moment really means for banks, for fintech, and for the infrastructure layer being built underneath the AI economy.

This is the story behind the headlines.

🎧 Hit play.

SPONSORED BY FIS

Learn more: https://www.fisglobal.com/

Hosted by Nicole Casperson

Founder & CEO, Fintech Is Femme

Creative Direction by Anton Briones

Head of Production

Luke Hezekiah Walter

Head of Digital

Aubreyne Brizette

Art Direction

Francisca Civit

Motion Graphics

Elijah Rooney

Styling for Nicole Casperson

Keltoum Mazid

Brex CFO Erica Dorfman has built her career in product, capital markets, and the core of how the business actually runs. From banking to private equity to operating roles at SoFi — she’s consistently moved closer to the decision.

Filmed live at FTW:NYC The Official New York Fintech Week Conference, Nicole Casperson sits down with Erica to unpack what it means to lead from the CFO seat in fintech today, how major decisions like this actually get made, and what the future of finance — and the future of work — really looks like from the inside.

🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

SPONSORED BY BREX

Learn more about Brex here: https://www.brex.com/lp/hp

Alyse Belavic has worked with some major players in our industry. American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Citi, Synchrony, and now Prove — operating at the intersection of identity, payments, and fraud prevention.

Filmed at the Fintech Penthouse in Las Vegas during Fintech Meetup, Nicole Casperson sits down with Alyse to unpack how payments, fraud, and consumer behavior are evolving in real time — and how building the right relationships helped shape her career.

🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

SPONSORED BY FINTECH MEETUP

Fintech Meetup brings together leaders from banks, fintechs, credit unions, and investing firms for 50,000+ one-to-one meetings designed to drive real partnerships and real ROI.

When Shanthi Shanmugam led customer support infrastructure at Robinhood, she saw firsthand what happens when trust breaks. Now CEO and Founder of Casap, Shanthi has been making big moves, leading in agentic AI to transform how fraud and disputes are handled and, in turn, how trust is built at scale.

Filmed at the Humans of Fintech Podcast Booth on Fintech Meetup’s Showroom Floor, Nicole Casperson sits down with Shanthi to discuss rebuilding consumers’ trust, using AI as a thought partner, and how Casap is trying to eliminate fraud for good.

🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

SPONSORED BY FINTECH MEETUP

Fintech Meetup brings together leaders from banks, fintechs, credit unions, and investing firms for 50,000+ one-to-one meetings designed to drive real partnerships and real ROI.