Tectonic Shifts In Fintech

Below are some quick thoughts. Several earlier fintech companies found success, with younger adults being solid customers. Today, we see newer companies target teens and kids through several gifting platforms that have closed rounds the past few quarters (i.e., UNest). This is good, but it will be difficult for those companies to scale over time… Continue reading Tectonic Shifts In Fintech

Blockchain Layer One Proliferation

There are numerous Layer 1 networks which have proliferated over the past 24 months, in part to Ethereum’s limited ability to scale. Side stepping ETH2.0’s story, there still are new(er) networks and private capital being deployed to this space. Some are simple forks of ETH, but many of these being built are different, even if… Continue reading Blockchain Layer One Proliferation

B2B Card Platforms

Recently talking to a founder, he had mentioned the poor experience he and his company had when they began looking for banking products. That made me want to do a quick deep dive. You'll find hyperlinks sprinkled throughout this quick post - do click on those if you'd like to learn more. Companies normally start… Continue reading B2B Card Platforms

Be a specialist

An interesting study was just released about venture capital. One tool I view that corporate development teams can refine and build upon to execute in-organic growth. The study essentially notes that venture capitalists are specialists. I believe this. The research paper also notes that performance is much better in the sub-industry VC's focus on; even… Continue reading Be a specialist

Early Stage Company Nomenclature + Rounds

Two things are popping up more and more in 2021: 1) I get a fair amount of questions about equity and where it should land for first-money-in through the mentoring I do for early stage companies. Unfortunately, it’s not a straightforward answer. 2) Round inflation is real. It really doesn’t matter if you mark your… Continue reading Early Stage Company Nomenclature + Rounds

The Continued Shift in Financial Advisor Technology

This post is a continuation from my original in 2019. I’ll quickly cover my initial hypothesis and provide any updates, then move into what I believe may be coming down the pipeline in this exciting space. If you haven’t read the initial post, it may be worth quickly pursuing that first. VC investments have hit… Continue reading The Continued Shift in Financial Advisor Technology

The Progressive Arc of Fintech

A few takeaways are from a session today with ODFintech1. We need to recognize that most everything is better delivered through software. No one wants to go into a StateFarm shop and ask about insurance. Walking into a Fidelity Investments personal investor location to deposit money and speak to an advisor is not where the… Continue reading The Progressive Arc of Fintech

FinTech Subscription Metrics (Acorns)

There is a lot of capital being poured into the consumer fintech space. And there seem to be an ever increasing number of larger scale unicorns who have yet to go public. More and more companies are waiting to ‘exit’ and the average time staying private has been increasing. This means that there are a… Continue reading FinTech Subscription Metrics (Acorns)