Purpose Driven FinTech

LATAM's payment infra is fragmented and outdated... Imagine a single API that breaks down barriers across LATAM and unlocks a seamless payment experience, and multiple geo launches; a smooth, unified digital payment experience for the entire region!

Well, I had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Litvin, Co-Founder at tapi, and he's doing exactly that! In LATAM people still line up to pay bills and basic services... And while FinTechs and banks have a massive opportunity to fix this, The real magic happens on the infra layer... and this is why tapi is disrupting the region: One solution that works everywhere. One integration. One contract. Of course a touch of AI to make it easier, faster better for your devs, and a fantastic team who understands how you want to work...

We cover:

- Lessons from his failed e-wallet startup

- Insights that led him to evolve into Tapi

- Understanding the LATAM landscape

- The reality of customer pain points when it comes to payments

- What makes a great product

- How he's using AI to disrupt

- What's next after his very successful round

- Why the culture of your tech partner matters (a ton)!

And much much more

Follow for more discussions on how to build great FinTech products with customer and commercial impact and to stay updated on the latest episodes.

👉 You can find Kevin here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinlitvin/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tapi-latam/posts/?feedView=all
• Website: https://tapi.la/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

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Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

There are 5. 5 million small businesses with less than 20 people in the UK - and we can argue small businesses are the most underserved of all FS customers today! That’s why Bankifi is transforming the space and making bank's digital banking platforms from something that's purely transactional into the place where a small business run and operate their business from.

In this episode Mark Hartley, CEO & Founder at Bankifi, shares with us Bankifi’s backstory and purpose, the challenges of both banks and SMEs, and we go deep on data, AI, engagement - and more importantly human interaction! Because the majority of the population still fears AI, the hypothesis is that customers will value more human interaction, and that will be a differentiator.

If you enjoyed this Purpose Driven FinTech pod, follow for more discussions on how to build great FinTech products with customer and commercial impact and to stay updated on the latest episodes.

👉 You can find Mark here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hartley-038b38/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bankifi/
• Website: https://www.bankifi.com/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

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Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

“There's a lot of power behind financial data. Every time we move money from point A to point B, we also move information” BUT the power is unlocked by the quality of the data, and the what we do with the data!

In this episode Nare Vardanyan, CEO & Co-Founder at Ntropy, the immense potential of financial data and its impact on both consumers and businesses. We discuss how standardizing and unifying fragmented financial data can unlock new opportunities in lending, payment authorization, accounting automation, and more. We explore the challenges and role of AI and advanced models in transforming financial services and of course, how we can use tech to drive social change…. very good points on social mobility!

If you enjoyed this Purpose Driven FinTech pod, follow for more discussions on how to build great FinTech products with customer and commercial impact and to stay updated on the latest episodes.

👉 You can find Nare here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/narevardanyan/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ntropy/
• Website: https://www.ntropy.com/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

—

Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

Buying a property is a big life moment, and one full of anxiety! And yes, we the people in the industry are guilty of creating anxiety to our customers! That’s why Geer Van Kerchkhoven, CEO & Co-Founder Oper is doing something about it, and helping both banks and customers create a much better mortgage experience!

In this episode Geert shares his journey and insights on improving the mortgage process. He reveals how we can reduce borrower anxiety and streamline the home-buying journey, why Oper is a great product and his secret sauce to building products people love and are willing to pay for! He also shares valuable experiences on leveraging AI Oper, lessons learnt re AI, and building high-performance teams, and top advice for anyone in the journey!

We cover,

(00:00) Intro to the Mortgage Experience

(04:10) Geert’s Initial Hypotheses

(06:10) Challenges and Mindset in Building a Fintech

(11:37) Defining a Great Product in Fintech

(14:37) Addressing Borrower Anxiety and Mortgage Challenges

(23:22) The Hybrid Model: Combining AI and Human Touch

(26:15) Loan Advisor Interaction in Virtual Environments

(28:16) AI in Document Matching and Loan Processing

(29:32) Key Takeaways of Building AI Features in Fintech

(31:04) Challenges in AI Deployment: Compliance and Integration

(33:00) Understanding Vertical AI and Its Applications

(38:55) Fireside Chat: Insights on Strategy and Leadership

Follow for more discussions on how to build great FinTech products with customer and commercial impact and to stay updated on the latest episodes.

👉 You can find Geert here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geertvankerckhoven/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/opercredits/posts/?feedView=all
• Website: https://www.opercredits.com/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

—

Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

Have you ever thought about owning a Franchise, but got discouraged by the large amount of investment capital?

Many of us have. Franchises pose barriers to entry to most of us, but not any more!

In today’s episode I speak with Kenny Rose, the founder of FranShares. He is on a double mission to allow individuals to invest in franchises and to solve for the generational wealth gap through local business ownership. Kenny has an amazing mindset and energy.

So we go deep both on him as an entrepreneur and his business. We cover his definition of great product - not your traditional answer!, why wealth creation is a problem with a big surface area, why franchises is a good asset class, what makes FranShares innovative, how he pays earnings, how he chooses franchises in the platform and his mindset as an entrepreneur.

It’s a fascinating conversation!

We cover,

(01:54) Franchises as an investment opportunity

(02:52) Empowering entrepreneurs

(11:42) Building a successful team

(24:06) Why invest in Franchises?

(28:21) Equity growth vs. income in Franchising

(29:05) The appeal of franchises

(31:15) Why FranShares is an Innovative Fintech

(35:58) Selecting the Right Franchises

(42:43) Challenges in Franchising investments

(48:19) FranShares future plans

(49:58) Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

(52:37) The one thing to change in FinTech

Follow for more discussions on how to build great FinTech products with customer and commercial impact and to stay updated on the latest episodes.

👉 You can find Kenny here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennyrose/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/franshares/
• Website: https://franshares.com/investments/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

—

Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

Wio Bank has become one of the fastest Neo-Banks globally to achieve profitability. In its first full year of operations, Wio reported a revenue of AED 266.4 million and a net profit of AED 2 million. Wio has over 50,000 Wio Business and 40,000 Wio Personal customers… and in today’s episode we go through the How they achieved such amazing success!

I speak with Prakash Sunkara, Chief Financial Officer at Wio Bank - and I have to say he’s a CFO that sounds like a CPO! He is absolutely super customer centric!

We discuss Wio’s story, their mindset and how that sets them apart, what’s the definition of innovation - in the eyes of Jayesh Patel, Wio’s CEO; and ways of working to bring it to life, the how they reached profitability, what happens once they hit month one of profitability, and finally we put Prakash in the hot seat with some fire side questions!

It’s a fascinating conversation!

Prakash has a long career in Financial Services and as a CFO - across both traditional financial services and FinTechs. Wio Bank is disrupting banking for consumers and small businesses in the UAE and has created an all-in-one digital financial platform to reboot banking for everyone!

We cover,

(00:00) The framework behind hitting profitability in year one

(03:55) Wio's Mission and Customer Focus

(05:52) Achieving Rapid Profitability

(06:37) Mindset and Ecosystem in Dubai

(08:23) Innovative Approaches in SME Banking

(13:05) Continuous Innovation and Customer Needs

(20:50) Strategic Thinking Behind Profitability

(25:53) Introduction to Platform Banking

(26:15) Innovative Features for SME Banking

(27:27) Customer-Centric Approach

(30:14) Scaling and Growth Strategy

(33:32) Teamwork and Company Culture

(39:36) Profitability and Sustainable Growth

(47:22) Challenges and Future Focus

Follow for more discussions on how to build great FinTech products with Customer and Commercial Impact and stay updated on the latest episodes.

👉 You can find Prakash here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakashsunkara/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wiobank/
• Website: https://www.wio.io/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

—

Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

The Statistics are brutal!

• 56% of young investors avoid professional advice due to high fees and outdated approaches.
• 51% of respondents feel they lack control over their finances, indicating a significant financial literacy and engagement gap.
• 63% of women are uncomfortable with basic investment principles, with 72% not actively monitoring their investments.
• 47% of participants save little to no income, reflecting poor financial habits and future preparation.

Theo Paraskevopoulos, CEO & Founder of Invessed, is taking the challenge straight on and transforming wealth management to better serve younger generations.

I sit with Theo to discuss the evolving landscape of financial advice in the UK and the enormous challenge we have ahead. Theo shares with us how Invessed aims to empower financial professionals by leveraging technology to reduce admin tasks and enhance client interactions, and therefore provide a solution to this problem.

We cover,

(00:00) Understanding the Hesitation in Seeking Financial Advice

(01:13) The Importance of Purpose in Business

(02:24) Building Purpose-Driven FinTechs

(06:30) Simplifying Financial Services for Greater Impact

(09:42) Engaging More People in Financial Management

(13:48) Challenges Faced by Young Investors

(19:03) The Role of Technology in Modern Financial Services

(22:42) The Responsibility of Wealth

(23:29) Innovative Fintech Solutions

(24:07) Empowering Investment Professionals

(25:40) Behavioral Data and Predictive Technology

(28:43) Customer Pain Points and Scalability

(37:42) Building Successful Products

(41:10) Fireside Questions and Closing Remarks

Follow for more discussions on how to build great FinTech products with Customer and Commerical Impact and stay updated on the latest episodes.

👉 You can find Theo here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theoparaskevopoulos/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/invessed-tech/
• Website: https://invessed.com/
• Invessed report: https://invessed.com/invessed-client-engagement-survey-2024/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

—

Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

Over a TRILLION dollars per year is spent on SAAS and so much of that is wasted! Customers know they are overpaying for subscriptions, don’t have good visibility on them, and are aware they could save so much Money if they could bring them all into a single place easily and unlock savings from the software providers

This is exactly what Matt Bird, Co-Founder and CEO of Lemon is on a mission to do! To help Businesses save Money so that they can focus on growing their business - and the impact is huge!

Not only we go deep on understanding Lemon’s customers and solutions, but we go behind the scenes with Matt and understand his thinking process behind driving innovative products. We explore how to build an empowering company culture, customer driven products and feedback loops, pricing, the secret to building great product, the underdog mentality and much more!

If you enjoy this Purpose Driven FinTech pod, please subscribe in YouTube, follow in Spotify, and leave a 5 star rating apple podcast. Remember to connect in LinkedIn to keep the conversation going.

Let’s get into it!

👉 You can find Matt here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbird1/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spendlemon/posts/?feedView=all
• Website: https://spendlemon.com/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

We cover:

(00:00) Intro

(03:10) The Importance of Customer Feedback

(03:56) Lemon's Approach to Subscription Management

(08:20) Impact of Financial Solutions on Businesses

(15:00) Building a Strong Company Culture

(19:28) Creating Customer-Driven Products

(22:13) Practical Implementation of Feedback Loops

(27:33) Targeting the Right Customer Segments

(29:00) Subscription Management Challenges

(30:18) Pricing Strategies and Customer Insights

(32:14) Lemon's Features

(35:17) Financing and Lending Solutions

(38:30) Building a Successful Product

(42:09) The Underdog Mentality

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Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

“I love filing my return!” Said no one ever… did you know in the US people spend over 5 billion hours per year to get their taxes done. And Column Tax is in a mission to do something about it!

Gavin Nachbar, Co-Founder of Column Tax, shares how Column Tax is disrupting the process of filing taxes - and it all starts by leveraging customer’s existing apps! Column Tax is a B2B2C solution that enables Neobanks, Banks, and Institutions to solve a taxing problem for their users.

We discuss the complexity of the US Tax System and how it affects Americans, who Are Column Tax's Customers, how Column Tax saves people time and money, User Experience with Column Tax,

what sets Column Tax apart? Building trust with customers and much more!

If you enjoy this Purpose Driven FinTech pod, please subscribe in YouTube, follow in Spotify, and leave a 5 star rating apple podcast. Remember to connect in LinkedIn to keep the conversation going.

Let’s get into it!

👉 You can find Gavin here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavinnachbar/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/column-tax/
• Website: https://www.columntax.com/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

We cover:

(00:00) Intro

(01:10) Building Purpose Driven Fintechs

(03:34) About Column Tax

(07:14) Impact of Fintech on Financial Inclusion

(08:29) Strategies for Greater Impact: Starting Small

(16:01) Sustainability in Fintech

(17:39) Leadership and Empowering Culture

(20:52) The Complexity of the US Tax System

(25:14) Who Are Column Tax's Customers?

(26:29) The Problem Statement: Time and Money

(27:50) User Experience with Column Tax

(29:41) Future of Banking and Tax Integration

(32:26) What Sets Column Tax Apart?

(35:17) Challenges in Integrating Tax Products

(41:47) Building Trust with Customers

(43:49) The one thing to change in FinTech to have most impact

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Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

Jas shares with us the importance of data metrics in building purpose-driven fintech. We go deep and practical! We start by defining what makes great product and the role of metrics in product development. We give examples across fintech verticals to bring it to life. It’s a super practical conversation, so defining metrics is not enough, we also deep dive into the challenges like confirmation bias and tools necessary for efficient product growth, including A/B testing, and the potential of AI.

If you enjoy this Purpose Driven FinTech pod, please subscribe in YouTube, follow in Spotify, and leave a 5 star rating apple podcast. Remember to connect in LinkedIn to keep the conversation going.

Let’s get into it!

👉 You can find Jas here

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jas-shah/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bitsul/
• Website: https://bitsul.co.uk/

👉 And you can find Monica here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
• Website: https://moni-millares.mystrikingly.com/

We cover:

(00:00) Intro

(00:25) Building Purpose-Driven Fintechs

(02:56) Defining Great Product

(05:34) The Importance of Metrics

(08:43) Getting Started with Metrics

(16:45) Moving the Metrics

(23:50) A/B Testing in Fintech

(27:11) Challenges in Building Metrics

(29:09) The Role of AI in Metrics

(32:24) Frequency of Reviewing Metrics

(36:04) Fireside Questions and Insights

(43:05) The one thing to change that would have most impact

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Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email [email protected]

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.