CDFIs don't get nearly enough credit in the fintech conversation. They're filling a gap the traditional financial system either can't fill or won't, and they're doing it with cobbled-together technology that was never built for them. In this episode, Roland sits down with Kyle Lovell, Chief Lending Officer at Business Impact Northwest, for a ground-level look at how CDFIs actually operate, where they fit in the broader lending ecosystem, and why the technology gap inside these organizations is one of the most underexplored partnership opportunities in fintech right now.

Guest

Kyle Lovell, Chief Lending Officer, Business Impact Northwest businessimpactnw.org

What We Cover

• [0:00] What CDFIs are and how they fit into the financial ecosystem alongside banks, credit unions, and fintechs
• [3:22] Why CDFIs view themselves as a stepping stone, not a forever lender, and what that means for their bank and credit union partnerships
• [4:17] How CDFI underwriting differs from traditional lending, including approving borrowers with sub-600 credit scores by weighing the full picture rather than requiring strength across all five C's of credit
• [6:43] The speed problem: CDFIs personalize every loan decision, and that takes time. Where fintech can help close that gap
• [13:23] How Business Impact NW funds its loan portfolio without deposits, pulling from federal, state, and local grants alongside low-interest debt from banks and credit unions
• [15:57] The rise of guarantee programs and how they allow CDFIs to take on higher-risk borrowers without putting the organization at risk
• [21:11] Why merchant cash advances are, in Kyle's words, the scourge of her existence, and how they hide in underwriting if you're not looking for them
• [22:41] Cash flow underwriting as the next frontier: Business Impact NW is integrating Laser Credit with Salesforce to automate financial spreading and accelerate time-to-yes
• [24:28] The SBA microloan program: 40% of Business Impact NW's loan volume by count, the lowest rates they offer, and the most manual work in the portfolio

Resources and Links

Business Impact Northwest: businessimpactnw.org

Related Episodes

If this episode got your wheels turning, these are worth your time:

🎙️ Why Most Digital Transformation in Banking Fails | ICBA's Justin Dunmyer — CDFIs aren't the only ones struggling to modernize. Justin Dunmyer breaks down why transformation initiatives stall and what community banks are doing about it.

🎙️ Fintech PR Demystified: Costs, Relationships, and the AI Trap — If you're a fintech founder eyeing the CDFI space as a market opportunity, this one covers how to build credibility and get press without torching your budget or your reputation.

🎙️ Cringe Valley to Growth Engine: The Power of Video Content — Kyle mentioned wanting to get faster and more visible. This episode is about how fintech brands use video to build trust before a borrower or partner ever picks up the phone.

The Propagate Fintech Podcast is produced by Propagate, a fintech marketing, branding, and PR agency. propagatefintech.com | #fintechmarketing #bankingpodcast #fintechpodcast

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

EPISODE OVERVIEW

Roland sits down with Jazzy Zhu, CMO of Equipifi, to dig into why community banks and credit unions are still leaving BNPL on the table, how Equipifi is helping them reclaim those dollars flowing to third-party lenders, and what it looks like to run bold, human-first marketing inside a regulated-industry startup. Jazzy also pulls back the curtain on Equipifi's fourth website build, their go-live marketing toolkit, and the philosophy she brings to every brand she touches: ban boring.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - The BNPL gap: why banks are missing out 

02:05 - Equipifi's mission and who they serve 

03:10 - Category creation as a marketing mindset 

05:00 - How Equipifi shows up online (and has fun doing it) 

10:30 - BNPL evolution: from checkout to full purchase journey 

15:20 - The pre-approved, post-transaction experience 

18:30 - Why institutions are slow to adopt, and why they shouldn't be 

23:40 - 60-day go-lives and the marketing launch toolkit 28:48 - Website 4.0: the full story 

34:25 - Why they dropped the bank vs. credit union pages 

40:47 - Final take: how to stay a person in the age of AI content

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• An estimated 95% of BNPL transactions still run through fintech. Equipifi exists to change that for community banks and credit unions.
• Millions of dollars are leaving institutions every month to repay third-party BNPL loans. The data is sitting right there. Most banks just haven't looked.
• BNPL has evolved well beyond checkout. The real race now is owning the full pre-purchase to post-purchase journey, and financial institutions have a genuine opening to compete.
• Equipifi's go-live timeline can be as short as 30 to 60 days from first call to launch, including a custom-branded marketing toolkit they hand off to every new client.
• Jazzy's take on category marketing: your job isn't just to answer the question, it's to define the question. That's the whole game.
• On the website redesign: they ditched separate bank and credit union pages and let institutions self-select by use case instead. The product outgrew the old architecture.
• The "ban boring" rule isn't a tagline. It's a filter. If you have nothing new to say, saying nothing is better than adding noise.
• In B2B fintech, people buy from people. If they don't like you, product value won't save you, especially early stage.

QUOTABLE MOMENTS

"My North Star as a marketer: if you've come in to say something, make sure you said it, and make sure you were not boring during it." — Jazzy Zhu

"If everybody is saying 'do you want to grow deposits?', it has no value and no meaning. You could have said nothing and that would have served you better." — Jazzy Zhu

"The end product should still be you. No matter how you get to that end goal, how do you stay you?" — Jazzy Zhu

TOPICS COVERED

Buy Now Pay Later, Community banks, Credit unions, Embedded finance, Category marketing, Brand strategy, Website redesign, Fintech marketing, Personal brand, Customer acquisition, Disintermediation, AI and content, Startup growth

CONNECT WITH JAZZY AND EQUIPIFI

Visit equipifi.com to learn more about their BNPL platform for financial institutions. Find Jazzy on LinkedIn and keep an eye out for the Equipifi team at industry events.

Other Episodes:

Clip 1: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9qZqDXlvMYw 

Clip 2: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/O1iXwgEkEfg 

Clip 3: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kisYKG2_qkw

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

The $124 Trillion Opportunity Banks Are Sleeping On

$124 trillion is transferring from Baby Boomers to the next generation by 2048. And most banks and credit unions have no seat at that table. I sat down with Tobias Salinger, Chief Correspondent at Financial Planning magazine — sister publication to American Banker — to unpack the disintermediation risk, the wealth transfer opportunity, and the crawl, walk, run playbook for standing up a financial advising program.

Timestamps

0:00 — Welcome & Tobias's background at Financial Planning and American Banker

0:24 — How fintechs are chipping away at traditional banking relationships

1:03 — How serious is the disintermediation risk for banks and credit unions not offering financial planning?

2:21 — Why smaller institutions have fallen behind on wealth management

3:05 — The long-term commitment wealth management actually requires

4:15 — The advisor retention problem — and why golden handcuffs matter

5:07 — Why institutional financial advising relationships appeal to privacy-conscious customers

6:35 — How LPL, Cetera, Osaic, and Ameriprise are winning the third-party race

8:00 — The natural connection between deposits and wealth management

8:54 — The $124 trillion Baby Boomer wealth transfer — and whether banks are positioned to capture it

10:52 — The emotional and behavioral complexity of intergenerational wealth transfers

11:23 — Can a robust financial advising offering intercept the wealth transfer moment?

12:55 — Unpacking customer acquisition costs in wealth management

15:39 — The crawl, walk, run playbook for standing up a wealth management program

17:04 — What should you expect to pay for a financial advisor? Real numbers from Diamond Consultants

18:27 — Mr. Beast, financial influencers, and what banks and credit unions can learn

20:26 — The compliance challenge of partnering with financial influencers

21:55 — Why hiring young advisors might be your best first move

23:28 — Using influencers as a front door to traditional institutions

24:39 — The paradigm shift in talent management banks aren't ready for

26:17 — What Tobias is watching over the next 12 to 18 months

27:31 — Last question: a bank CEO walks up to you at a bar. What do you tell her?

29:11 — Where to follow Tobias and Financial Planning magazine

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Most fintech brands are pouring budget into pipeline — but their executives are completely absent from the places buyers are actually paying attention. Roland breaks down why executive thought leadership is one of the highest-leverage, lowest-cost growth levers available, shares real examples of fintech leaders doing it right, and delivers a three-speed content playbook any team can start using today.

Timestamps

[00:00] — The problem: your best asset is invisible Your senior leaders are having genuinely interesting conversations every day — with customers, prospects, and their teams — and nobody knows because it's not being shared publicly.

[01:15] — Who's doing it right: four fintech leaders worth watching

• Jason Weida (Candescent) — relatable, funny, posts hot takes as himself. The brand gets warmer every time he shows up.
• Brett King (Breaking Banks) — built the world's #1 fintech podcast, 7 million listeners, 180 countries. By being loud, opinionated, and everywhere.
• Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes) — sharp voice, real engagement, consistent cadence. People wait for his next post without realizing it.
• Ron Shevlin (Cornerstone Advisors / Forbes Fintech Snark Tank) — combines original research with humor. Proof you can be an executive, a researcher, and a personality at the same time.

[03:10] — The stat that should wake everybody up 95% of B2B buyers are more receptive to outreach from companies whose executives publish thought leadership. (Edelman + LinkedIn research.) In fintech — where trust is everything and CAC is enormous — that is a competitive advantage.

[04:30] — The reframe: this is not about becoming an influencer Not about posting every day. Not about going viral. It's about building one simple, repeatable system that makes content feel like a business asset instead of a chore.

[05:15] — The playbook: crawl, walk, run

[05:30] — Crawl: one post, once a month One LinkedIn post per month on something you actually have an opinion about. Use this formula:

1. Hook — stop the scroll with a specific moment or observation
2. Your take — what do YOU actually think?
3. Evidence — one stat, story, or example
4. Takeaway — one thing to do or think differently

[08:00] — Walk: expand your surface area Get on a podcast at least once a month — your own or someone else's. Run bi-weekly or monthly content syncs with your team. Engage within the first hour of every post going live. The LinkedIn algorithm is watching.

[10:45] — The repurposing flywheel: one post, five outputs

1. Pull the strongest sentence → next week's post
2. Main insight → newsletter paragraph
3. Record a 60-second video riffing on the same topic
4. Turn the takeaway into a question post
5. Repeat — before you create anything new, ask: did I get everything out of what I already made?

[13:00] — A note on ghostwriting Ghostwriting isn't cheating. Your competition is using it. The execs you admire are using it. A good ghostwriter pulls the ideas out of your head and shapes them into content that sounds exactly like you — with zero extra lift on your end.

[14:20] — Run: multi-voice, coordinated, on purpose Multiple people across your org posting consistently, connected to a single narrative. A content calendar built a month in advance with clear topics, clear ownership, and a predictable cadence. Active PR, media relationships, and stage time layered on top.

[16:00] — The executive voice capture system A monthly 20-minute recorded conversation. Three questions every time:

• What's one thing you observed in the market this month that surprised you?
• What's one thing a customer or prospect said that you keep thinking about?
• What's one thing the industry gets wrong that you see differently?

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

PR is one of the most misunderstood and most expensive lines on a fintech marketing budget. In this episode of the Propagate Fintech Podcast, host Roland Howard pulls back the curtain on why PR costs what it costs, why AI alone can't carry a campaign across the finish line, and why so many founders write off PR after one underwhelming press release.

Roland walks through the real difference between marketing (what you control) and PR (what you earn), and explains why the engine that actually moves earned media is built on relationships and timing, not output volume. He shares how the best fintech teams stop running PR and marketing in parallel and start compounding them together, turning a single placement into a long tail of sales assets, social proof, and pipeline accelerants.

You'll also hear a candid breakdown of what you're really paying for when you hire a boutique B2B fintech PR agency at $5K to $15K a month: a network of editor and journalist relationships, the editorial judgment to know which stories will actually land, and the sustained effort it takes to keep a narrative alive. Then Roland tackles the AI question head on, including where it genuinely speeds up PR work and where it will quietly kill your credibility if you let it write your pitches.

Whether you're a fintech founder weighing your first PR retainer, a marketing leader trying to make the case internally, or a sales leader who wants to put earned media to work in your pipeline, this episode lays out a practical, honest framework for thinking about PR as a long term trust game rather than a quick paid play.

Chapters

• 00:00 Intro: Why PR Is Expensive and Where AI Falls Short
• 01:05 Marketing vs PR: The Control Line Most Teams Miss
• 02:30 The Press Release Trap: Why Your Big Announcement Flopped
• 04:00 Relationships and Timing: The Real Engine Behind PR
• 05:20 Stop Running PR and Marketing in Parallel
• 06:45 Turning One Placement Into a Long Tail of Marketing Assets
• 08:00 The PR Flywheel: When Coverage Generates More Coverage
• 09:15 What PR Actually Costs: $5K to $15K a Month, Explained
• 10:30 What You're Really Paying For: Relationships, Editorial Judgment, Sustained Effort
• 12:30 Why PR Is Not a Paid Media Buy
• 13:15 The Zeitgeist Test: Why AI Slop Will Sink Your Pitch
• 14:30 What AI Can't Do: Vibes, Favors, and Trust
• 15:45 The 18-Month Credibility Gap: A Thought Exercise
• 16:30 Outro: Crawl, Walk, Run Your Way Into PR

Want to talk PR strategy or kick around ideas for your fintech? Reach out at PropagateFintech.com.

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

MrBeast just acquired Step. Cash App is going after 6-year-olds. The creator economy is colliding with regulated banking — and Senator Elizabeth Warren is putting the whole space on notice.
In this episode, Roland sits down with Elizabeth Gujral, Director in the Research & Fintech Advisory (RAFA) practice at Cornerstone Advisors, to unpack what the MrBeast/Step deal really means for banks, credit unions, and fintechs. We get into who owns the outcome when an influencer-fronted fintech goes sideways, why "we're a community institution" is no longer a differentiator, and the practical playbook financial institutions need to build if they want to compete with SoFi, Chime, Brex, and Mercury for the next generation of customers.
Elizabeth also shares fresh findings from Cornerstone's SoFi research — including the surprising channels SoFi members say they actually heard about the brand from — and explains why short-form content, micro-influencer trust, and a real tech stack now matter more than a logo on the local soccer jersey.

Chapters:
00:00 Cash App targeting 6–12 year olds & the race to the bottom of age
01:40 MrBeast acquires Step — the 8,000-pound elephant in fintech
03:13 Banking-as-a-service meets the creator economy: who owns the bad outcome?
04:06 Elizabeth Warren's letter and putting the creator-fintech stack on notice
05:35 Are banks becoming commoditized rails behind the brands?
07:09 What a sponsor bank actually does (and where it gets messy)
08:42 Elizabeth's role at Cornerstone & the RAFA team
11:44 How banks and credit unions should rethink partnerships and distribution
13:13 Inside the SoFi research: how members actually find them
14:47 The "influencer trust funnel" and why micro-influencers matter for community FIs
16:04 Where the attention is: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts
17:03 Why social media without the tech stack behind it is "lipstick on a pig"
20:24 The biggest theme in fintech research right now: growth
22:42 Why "our people and our customer service" is no longer a differentiator
23:58 Treasury, small business, and the ERP integration gap
26:50 Fiserv core consolidation — good thing or bad thing?
28:09 Why Cornerstone research isn't a sales fluff piece
28:46 Where to follow Elizabeth, Ron Shevlin, and Cornerstone
Guest
Elizabeth Gujral — Director, Research & Fintech Advisory (RAFA), Cornerstone Advisors
Follow Elizabeth and Ron Shevlin on LinkedIn for Cornerstone's latest research and Forbes columns.
#fintech #banking #MrBeast #creditunions #communitybanking #SoFi #influencermarketing #embeddedfinance #BaaS

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Christian Ruppe joins the show to break down his transition from community banking into his new role as Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at ImpactFi Advisors.

We cover where banks are actually winning, what fintech founders get wrong, and how strategy, AI, and data are reshaping the industry. Christian also shares insights from launching the Perch Fund and how he evaluates fintech investments.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro + career transition
02:00 – From founder to banker to advisor
05:00 – Most underrated growth levers in banking
07:30 – Why small business is a massive opportunity
09:00 – Inside the Perch Fund
11:00 – How to evaluate fintech investments
21:20 – Biggest mistakes fintech founders make
26:05 – What content bankers actually need
27:50 – Tactical growth: fixing Google reviews
32:00 – What’s next for Christian

If you'd like to explore coming on the show, go to propagatefintech.com and submit a contact form with your thoughts.

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Why Humor Is the Secret Weapon in Fintech Marketing...

What if the most effective way to get people to do the thing they have been avoiding is to make them laugh first?

In this episode, Roland sits down with Trust & Will CEO Cody Barbo to unpack how one fintech company took one of life’s most serious and uncomfortable topics, estate planning, and turned it into a high-performing, humor-driven growth engine.

From viral commercials and memorable characters to a brand strategy built on being approachable instead of intimidating, Trust & Will is proving that humor is not just a creative choice. It is a conversion strategy.

We break down:
•Why laughter creates trust faster than logic
•How Trust & Will built a category-defining brand in a space with no clear leader
•The role of partnerships with banks and fintechs in driving massive distribution
•Why giving away wills for free can actually increase AUM and retention
•How AI is reshaping the future of estate planning and what it means for fintech
•The behind-the-scenes startup grind, including printing thousands of wills in a coworking space

If you are building in fintech, marketing to consumers, or trying to stand out in a “boring” category, this is a masterclass in turning tone into traction.

Timestamps
00:00 – Intro and how Trust & Will’s ads first caught attention
00:37 – Making estate planning funny (yes, really)
01:49 – Why humor works in a traditionally serious category
02:34 – The origin of their marketing strategy
04:40 – Super Bowl ambitions and brand positioning
05:26 – Why banks and fintechs are key partners
08:40 – Estate planning as a retention and AUM strategy
10:34 – The power of co-branded distribution
14:14 – The origin story of “Trust & Will”
16:32 – Early startup days and finding product-market fit
20:34 – Scrappy operations (the “unlimited printing” hack)
21:56 – AI’s impact on the business
23:51 – Rebuilding the company AI-first
25:36 – Will creation in the age of AI
28:39 – Navigating compliance with financial institutions
29:47 – The surprisingly tricky question: who gets the kids?

TL;DR: In fintech, the brands that win are not always the most serious. They are the most memorable. And sometimes, the shortest distance between a customer and action is a well-timed joke.

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Why Fintech Leaders Need to Start Creating Video Content NOW

In a world dominated by short-form video, fintech leaders can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. This video breaks down why video content is no longer optional and how it can dramatically improve awareness, trust, and customer acquisition costs.

If you’re not creating video content in 2026, you’re already behind.

In this video, I break down why short-form and long-form video have become the most powerful tools for fintech growth and why companies relying on traditional tactics like paid ads, events, and outbound are facing rising customer acquisition costs (CAC) with diminishing returns.

The hard reality is, people are ~80% more likely to watch a video than read a blog, PDF, or newsletter. And if your story isn’t being seen, it’s not being heard.

We cover:
• Why video content is now the dominant form of consumption
• How video builds awareness, trust, and distribution at scale
• The direct impact of content on reducing CAC
• Why creating video forces sharper messaging and positioning
• How to push through “cringe valley” and stay consistent
• A simple mental model to turn ideas into short-form video

The goal isn’t perfection....it’s consistency.

If you’re a fintech leader (or any operator driving growth), this is the shift you need to make. The sooner you start, the faster you build momentum.

Subscribe for more conversations on fintech, growth, and storytelling.

It's going to be awkward in the beginning, but it is for everyone...Try to have fun in the process if you can!

Timestamps:

00:00 – Why this video has been a long time coming
00:18 – The simple reality: video dominates content consumption
00:52 – The rise of short-form content (and why it’s not going away)
01:20 – Stat: people are 80% more likely to watch vs read
01:48 – Why this matters for your brand and visibility

02:20 – The biggest challenge: nobody knows who you are
02:50 – Traditional fintech growth = expensive (ads, events, outbound)
03:25 – The missed opportunity

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Episode Overview

In this episode, Roland Howard sits down with John Kingma of Old Glory Bank to explore what it takes to build a digital-first bank in a rapidly consolidating financial industry. As traditional institutions move upmarket, small businesses and everyday Americans are increasingly left behind.

Old Glory Bank was built to serve that gap, launching nationwide and reaching customers in all 50 states within just two weeks. The conversation dives into the realities of starting a bank, from regulatory pressure to operational scale, and why so few new institutions are entering the market.

John shares how Old Glory approaches digital transformation differently, treating it as the core experience rather than a secondary channel. The bank’s flexible technology strategy enables faster innovation, while its distributed workforce allows access to top talent across the country.

The discussion also covers the future of banking through embedded finance, including crypto and stablecoins. Old Glory is building a fully integrated experience where customers can move seamlessly between fiat and digital assets, enabling faster payments and greater flexibility for small businesses.

Finally, the episode highlights the importance of financial health and education, with upcoming tools designed to help consumers and business owners better understand their financial position, improve outcomes, and grow over time.

Episode Timestamps

[00:00] Introduction

[00:18] Banking consolidation and market gaps

[01:23] Why small businesses are underserved

[02:13] Scaling to all 50 states in two weeks

[03:06] De-risking and politicization in banking

[04:32] The challenge of starting a bank

[06:22] The shrinking future of banking options

[07:09] Why fintechs underestimate banking

[07:35] Personal motivation and small business roots

[08:08] Building a flexible tech stack with Q2

[09:11] Crawl, walk, run approach to innovation

[09:48] Talent strategy and distributed workforce

[11:23] Hiring outside traditional banking

[12:38] The emotional nature of switching banks

[16:14] Where digital transformation fails

[18:00] Entering crypto and stablecoins

[19:16] Why invest in crypto now

[20:08] Avoiding fintech disintermediation

[21:47] Financial health and wealth tools

[23:02] Customer feedback driving product decisions

[23:54] Crypto in business payments

[25:12] Business insights and financial tools

[26:21] Closing and where to learn more

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com