PitchIt

In episode seventeen of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast we talk with Dapp Co-Founder & CEO Antonio Pelaez Diaz.

Dapp is a payment wallet that uses QR codes and biometrics to make payments faster and more secure for Mexicans. One of the things I love about fintech is how much innovation is taking place all over the world. Mexico, and LatAm more generally, is one of those places that fintech is taking off.

Dapp is a fascinating story as they are creating a payments ecosystem outside the traditional payments rails. User and merchants can use digital wallets to send money or pay for purchases. Antonio explains how the Dapp ecosystem works, why this payments ecosystem has eliminated the fear of fraud, trying times early on in the pandemic, raising capital and a whole lot more. I hope you enjoy the show.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Antonio's founder story
• The new payments ecosystem Dapp is creating
• The importance of QR codes
• Passwordless sign in can eliminate fraud
• Dapp has yet to see a case of fraud
• Crypto is growing rapidly in LatAm
• Dapp's tech is crypto friendly
• How they grew from 100 merchants to 25,000 in one year
• Dapp is in a pilot with UnionPay for Asia users who travel to Mexico
• Antonio recommends The Code of an Extraordinary Mind and The Miracle Morning
• And more...

In episode sixteen of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast we talk with Abound Co-Founder & CEO Trent Bigelow.

Abound helps the best businesses in the Independent Economy win by improving the financial security, wealth and wellness of self-employed Americans.

Trent and I dig deep into the larger trend of independent and gig workers, the complicated tax scenarios, working with ecosystem partners, raising capital and a whole lot more. We had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy the show.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Trent's founder story
• Why independent workers have complicated tax scenarios
• If the right tools existed Trent and his co-founders would still be freelancing
• The difference between employment and non-employment income
• Abound view themselves as a real-time tax ledger that makes the banking stack much more valuable to independent workers
• How they went from 5 employees in 5 years to more than 20 in the last 2 years
• Trent and his co-founders need to be more intentional with decision making for a distributed team
• Objectives and key results, or OKRs drive the team
• Why early investors passed
• He recommends reading All the Devils Are Here, High Output Management and The 80/20 Manager.
• And more...

In episode fifteen of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast we talk with Yotta Co-Founder Adam Moelis.

Yotta was founded to help Americans become more financially secure. They help make saving fun while also offering better economic value than most savings accounts. Getting people to save is not an easy task, there are a lot of barriers to contend with and financial education from an early age is lacking.

Adam and I delve into the psychology behind savings and the lottery, Yotta is using some of this to acquire customers but going further to offer a safer and more sustainable path to savings. We also discuss how they avoid becoming a gimmick, crypto, raising capital and a whole lot more. We had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy the show.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Adam's founder story
• Why people spend so much on the lottery
• Average American household spends $640 on the lottery
• 60 - 70 percent of what you put into the lottery is lost
• Savings is a significantly better and safer bet with your money
• Fun drives a lot of the behavior behind the lottery
• The importance of financial education at a young age
• Lower earning households spend a lot more of their income on the lottery as a percentage
• Yotta must be thoughtful to avoid being labeled a gimmick
• They view themselves as a digital or neobank
• Gamification can be a slippery slope
• Adam recommends reading Red Notice
• And more...

In episode fourteen of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast we talk with Lance CEO & Co-Founder Oona Rokyta.

Lance is an intuitive business bank account designed for freelancers. Freelance and gig work has really take off in the last few years, and the pandemic only accelerated this shift. People are now choosing a the life they want to lead and fitting a career or work around that life.

Lance helps freelancers decide how much they make, budget their savings and helps them to manage their taxes. Oona and I talk about where freelancer work is going, the technology behind Lance, how it is to be a fintech outsider, raising capital and a whole lot more. We had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy the show.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Oona's freelancer story
• We all could use a pocket CFO
• Lance provides a self driving business bank account with sub accounts
• The importance of cash flow
• Freelancers will account for 50 percent of workforce in 10 years
• 9 to 5ers are also getting into freelance work
• Freelancer education is still very piecemeal
• Being a fintech outsider allowed the team to be more thoughtful in developing Lance
• Lance views the banking approach as a mechanism
• They solve arguments through testing
• Investors appreciate how the nature of work is changing
• Female founders are more practical and conservative on numbers and growth trajectories
• Oona recommends reading Atomic Habits, Behold the Dreamers and Untamed
• And more...

In episode thirteen of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast we talk with Esusu Co-Founder & Co-CEO Abbey Wemimo.

Esusu automates credit building by reporting monthly rent payments to credit bureaus, boosting credit scores one rent payment at a time. It’s pretty astonishing how long its taken to get data points like rental payments and utilities included into credit scoring, this really underscores the fact that the the financial system has historically overlooked certain groups, especially communities of color and immigrants.

Abbey and I delve deep into the benefits of rental payments, the state of financial wellness today, revamping the credit score and a whole lot more. We had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy the show.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Abbey's journey from Lagos, Nigeria 
• The benefits of the Esusu rent payment product for renters and landlords
• $45mn people in the U.S. don't have credit scores and average debt of $92,000
• There are 140 million renters in the U.S.
• Fintechs have a big opportunity to build trust without baggage
• The credit score needs continuous improvement, not a radical overhaul
• Rental payments are a better gauge of ability to pay than credit card payments
• Society needs to invest more in people
• Esusu has grown 800 percent during the pandemic
• Abbey's favorite books include Never Eat Alone, The Wright Brothers and A Promised Land
• And more...

In episode twelve of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast we talk with Rho CEO & Co-Founder Everett Cook.

Rho is a unique SMB banking platform focused on high growth corporates, not the mom and pop shops that many other fintechs are helping. One of the biggest issues scaling startups face is keeping track of everything going on with a growing business. Who is spending what, who has what cards, what invoice was generated and to whom. The Rho platform has brought all this into one convenient place that allows firms to accelerate that push for scale.

Everett and I discuss the acceleration Covid caused in the space, the flexibility of the platform, the state of SMB banking today and much more. We had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy the show.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Everett enjoyed his time on Wall Street
• The U.S. fintech market is more complex than people realize
• The name Rho comes from options math
• Rho is a metaphor for improving clients trajectory
• Small SMB's are served well and scaling companies are not
• Digital is no longer optional
• They do not believe in fees
• Rho is not a one size fits all platform
• We are entering the second phase of fintech
• Rho has always believed in a distributed workforce 
• Everett recommends The Inner Game of Tennis and Cable Cowboy
• And more...

In episode eleven of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast we talk with Stubenefits Founder & CEO Char Saintilus.

Stubenefits offers student loan benefit and repayment solutions for employers, employees, consumers and more. Student debt is one of the hottest topics today, and companies all across the fintech spectrum are looking to develop solutions to ease this burden.

Offering the solution as an employment benefit is beneficial to both the employer and employee, this type of thinking is exactly what we need to solve the student debt problem. Char and I discuss the benefits of offering this solution, the overall student debt problem, financial wellness and a whole lot more. We had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy the show.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Char's personal connection to student loans
• Lessons learned from Char's first two ventures
• Stubenefits at its core is a personal finance platform
• Community is crucial
• Student debt is an economics and public policy problem
• Student debt needs a comprehensive solution
• Financial wellness is impacted greatly by student debt
• There are two ecosystems in the student debt universe, pre and post loan
• The post loan ecosystem is winning
• Human potential amazes Char
• And more...

In episode ten of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast we talk with Finimize Founder & CEO Max Rofagha.

Retail investors have captured the attention of financial institutions, media outlets and fintechs alike. Finimize aims to empower everyone to become their own financial advisor. Providing the information and tools you need to invest with confidence. With this massive influx of retail investors, more people than ever before are in need of quality, digestible financial information. 

Finimize break down information into digestible bites for the users to consumer and understand. The Finimize community also play a key role in educating the retail investor, community members often help each other understand investments. Retail investors have made similar pushes in the past, but the fintech tools allow these investors to have more staying power than previous periods.

I really enjoyed the conversation as we delve into the financial education gap, investment trends in crypto, DeFi and traditional financial markets, the biggest financial community in the world and tennis.. I hope you enjoy the show.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Max's personal story of investing his savings
• What the retail investor really looks like
• How users consume information
• The retail investor has staying power
• Finimize is not the place to push Doge Coin
• Community really matters
• There is a massive acceleration in market awareness
• It's all about delivering the right content, at the right time, through the right medium
• Retail investors as a group hold power
• Max recommends "Deep Work" by Cal Newport
• And more...