Fintech Leaders

Send a text Miguel Armaza interviews George Robson, investor and partner at Sequoia Capital, and former product manager at Revolut, for an insightful episode of Fintech Leaders. George shares his unique journey from investment banking at Morgan Stanley to joining the early team at Revolut, and ultimately becoming one of Sequoia’s 19 investment partners. Sequoia Capital, renowned for backing industry giants like Apple, NVIDIA, Nubank, Google, and Stripe, continues to define global venture capital with its generational expertise and innovative approach. In this episode, George delves into the extraordinary building process of Revolut, revealing how the company structured its teams to operate like independent startups—with full accountability and ownership over product, KPIs, and P&L. He explains why multi-product and multi-line revenue businesses are rare at scale, and how Revolut’s early focus on “product velocity” and cultural intensity enabled it to disrupt traditional banking. George also discusses Sequoia’s powerful approach to information sharing and storytelling, using narrative-driven apprenticeship and explicit evaluation specs to calibrate investor judgment and identify exceptional founders. He shares exclusive details about Sequoia’s internal tech stack, custom-built CRM, and founder tools like Ampersand, which foster information flow and operational excellence across Sequoia-backed companies worldwide. Miguel and George explore the art and science of picking great teams, the critical importance of founder energy and presence, and why coachability and honest conflict matter more than friendship in venture relationships. George provides a candid look at best practices for board management, the value of level-setting information, and Sequoia’s 90-day onboarding plan for new investments. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & George’s Background 04:14 Finding My People at Revolut 07:37 Building Self Sufficient Cross Functional Teams 10:57 Focus on Growth and Profitability 14:45 Crucial Decision and Growth 17:49 High-Conviction Investment Strategy 19:07 Parth's Inspiring Entrepreneurial Path 23:38 Entrepreneur Growth and Resilience 28:19 Storytelling Key to Early Success 31:05 Effective Board Dynamics 34:14 Entrepreneurs Investors and Problem Discovery 36:42 Outsiders Tackling Big Markets 40:21 Rewriting Business Laws of Gravity 44:04 Humbling Reads and Insights 46:17 Doug Leone Fierce and Kind Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Send a text Miguel Armaza sits down with Michael Calvey, legendary investor and founder of Baring Vostok, for a deep-dive into the world of emerging markets investing, fintech, and entrepreneurial leadership. Michael’s career is a masterclass in navigating volatility: from growing up in Oklahoma’s oil culture, to surviving Russia’s 98% market crash, to founding one of the most successful private equity firms in the region and backing early-stage decacorns like Yandex, Kaspi, Tinkoff, and Revolut. In this episode, Michael reveals playbook-level insights into: Emerging Markets InvestingBuilding Baring VostokBacking Legendary FintechsInvesting PhilosophyFounder PatternsManaging Geopolitical RiskGlobal VC WisdomPlus, hear Michael’s advice for entrepreneurs looking to replicate the “Caspi Model,” his reflections on global investing trends, and personal stories from Russia’s wild ‘90s to thriving in Mexico’s fintech ecosystem. Tune in for one of the most influential voices in international venture and private equity—a true masterclass on investing, building, and thriving amid uncertainty. Timestamped Overview 00:00 From Oklahoma to Russia - Intro & Michael’s Background 10:32 Building an Elite Emerging Markets Team 14:36 Geopolitics, Economics, and Market Resilience 20:25 Fewer Investments, Better Focus 24:08 Successful Entrepreneurs Value Purpose 28:47 Management KPIs and Key Insights 33:45 3 Cs of Ownership Focus 42:53 Marketplace vs. Fintech Growth Dynamics 44:02 Marketplace Dominance and Financial Complexity 52:25 Emerging Markets: Talent vs. Geopolitics 54:51 Emerging Markets and Fintech Ventures 01:00:20 Medici Family: Banking and Intrigue 01:05:59 Starting Over as Entrepreneur Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://

Send a text Miguel Armaza welcomes Edward Woodford, founder and CEO of ZeroHash, to Fintech Leaders for a candid, insightful conversation on the future of blockchain infrastructure and the lessons learned from nearly a decade of building in crypto. Edward offers a unique perspective as a London-born, MIT-educated entrepreneur who’s seen ZeroHash grow into one of the most critical and least visible companies powering the global blockchain ecosystem. He shares his journey— from getting rejected by Oxford and taking the leap to the US, to building his first fintech business and discovering Bitcoin at the MIT bookstore. Join Miguel and Edward for a conversation packed with actionable insights for fintech founders, builders, and investors aiming to navigate the fast-evolving landscape at the intersection of crypto, infrastructure, and financial innovation. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & Edward’s Background 05:49 Balancing Business and Personal Life 08:58 MIT Bitcoin and Career Exploration 13:14 Tech-Driven Market Shift Insights 16:07 Tokenization and Global Interoperability 20:08 Impact of the founding team 21:54 Founding team dynamics explored 26:32 Power versus influence in investing 29:25 Effective Infrastructure Pricing Strategy 33:44 Weighted performance-based churn metric 35:00 Founder Mode Intensity Defined Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Send us a text Miguel Armaza sits down with Nikolay Seleznev, Co-Founder of Uzum, Uzbekistan’s first tech unicorn rewriting the playbook for e-commerce and fintech in Central Asia. From Moscow to Tashkent, Nikolay Seleznev brings global banking experience and entrepreneurial grit to a country leapfrogging straight into the digital economy. In this episode, Nikolay Seleznev shares the origin story of Uzum and how a simple, subpar online shopping experience sparked the vision for a super app serving millions. He dives into the challenges of building next-day delivery and financial services from scratch—without warehouses, 3PL infrastructure, or widespread digital adoption. Discover how Uzum managed to issue 4 million debit cards in a single year, reach 20 million monthly active users, and outperform their first-year GMV forecast by 4x, all while driving massive change in a historically cash-based society. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & Nikolay’s Background 05:45 Building a Super App Ecosystem 08:05 Time as the ultimate resource 10:51 Uzbekistan’s rapid transformation 15:13 Commerce and Fintech Ecosystem Overview 20:12 Building trust through products 23:15 Uzbekistan’s first unicorn funding 26:57 Scaling success and adaptation 28:22 Super app strategy adjustments 32:02 Super Apps and Local Adaptation 35:41 Self-focused entrepreneurial perspective Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Send us a text Miguel Armaza interviews Dan Westgarth, a powerhouse operator and current COO of Deel, one of the fintech world’s fastest-scaling companies. After an early, legendary run at Revolut, Dan now oversees an organization of 3,300 people across 100+ countries and has played a pivotal role in Deel’s explosive growth — from a mono-product startup to a global, multi-product leader exceeding $1B in revenue and a $17B valuation. In this episode, Dan shares actionable lessons and first-hand stories from the trenches of leading high-performing, distributed teams. He reveals the creation of Deel’s elite "Ghostbusters" team—an internal SWAT group that tackles the gnarliest, cross-functional operational challenges—and explains why they’ve become one of the most sought-after resources inside the company. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & Dan’s Background 05:51 Expanding products and global reach 06:30 Optimized systems scaling go-to-market 12:55 Begging for Ghostbusters Expertise 13:41 RevOps solved with Ghostbuster 18:05 Building a Streamlined Goal System 20:26 Payroll and Adjacent HR Services 26:09 Keep It Simple Prioritize People 28:15 Morning Routine and Work Prioritization 31:46 Clarifying Communication for Alignment 35:27 Building payroll processing engines Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Send us a text Miguel Armaza recorded this episode at FinTech Nerdcon in Miami with Steve McLaughlin, Founder and CEO of FT Partners, the largest fintech-focused investment bank. Since 2001, Steve has built a 250-person firm that's advised on landmark deals including Coinbase's $4.3 billion Deribit acquisition and Revolut's multi-billion dollar raises. FT Partners works with everyone from early-stage startups to industry giants. In this conversation, Steve shares his unfiltered views on Fintech's dramatic recovery, the tokenization revolution, and why AI will completely reshape financial services. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & Steve’s Background 02:18 Fintech thrives with smarter strategies 07:45 Crypto M&A Major Deals Emerging 09:38 Future of Asset Tokenization 12:41 AI transforming digital business 17:45 AI enhances analyst efficiency 21:08 Efficient AI investment insights 25:57 Closed-Loop Ecosystem Dominance 27:42 Building a passionate resilient team 30:07 Subscribe for more interviews Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join ~85,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a text Miguel Armaza sits down with René Lacerte, founder and CEO of Bill, one of the fintech industry’s most successful and enduring leaders. From building PayCycle in the 1990s to now leading a publicly-traded company powering the “Fortune 5 Million”—the SMBs that are the backbone of America—René brings nearly three decades of hands-on experience in financial operations, product innovation, and organizational culture. In this episode, René shares his singular journey, starting with childhood influences from a family steeped in entrepreneurship and jazz music, and moving through decades of building for small and mid-sized businesses. He dives deep into why serving SMBs is both uniquely challenging and vital for communities, and reveals how Bill processes over a trillion dollars annually for nearly half a million clients across the US, in partnership with more than 9,000 accounting firms. René also shares rapid-fire insights on metrics he obsesses over (customer happiness and escalations), the importance of deep networks for founder success, and why investing in culture is the ultimate bet for long-term company excellence. A must-listen for founders, fintech builders, and anyone passionate about the future of entrepreneurship, financial technology, and the creative power of small businesses. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & René Lacerte’s Background 04:41 Piano passion and perseverance 07:34 Dreaming of Wyntons Talent 11:52 SMBs community and identity 16:15 Entrepreneurship Requires Growth and Accountability 18:39 Being present and appreciating 20:11 Tech inspiration for SMBs 25:37 Scorecards Over Job Descriptions 29:47 AI Enhancing Creativity and Impact 33:09 Touchless Workflow Automation 35:38 Trust, data, and fintech success 39:07 Financial ecosystem and acquisitions 41:39 Embracing healthy workplace conflict 45:42 The Power of Networking 48:54 Celebration honors collective effort 51:48 The lasting impact of gratitude

Send us a text Miguel Armaza sits down with Nigel Morris, co-founder of QED Investors and Capital One, in an episode packed with essential insights for entrepreneurs, fintech operators, and anyone captivated by the intersection of finance and technology. From humble beginnings in North Wales to building some of the world’s most renowned financial institutions, Nigel Morris candidly shares the experiences, philosophies, and learnings that have fueled his journey as an operator, investor, and champion of innovation. In this episode, Nigel Morris details how curiosity, empirical thinking, and resilience shaped his leadership style and the culture at Capital One—now the sixth-largest bank in the US. He breaks down why relentless focus on analytics, unit economics, and hypothesis-driven experimentation created a wave of “Capital One diaspora” that transformed the fintech ecosystem. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro 01:25 Nigel’s Background 05:02 Driven by Curiosity and Empiricism 09:03 Banking economics and unsecured credit 10:10 Data economics and scientific method 14:12 Intentional Leadership Shapes Culture 18:25 NuBank exceptional net promoter scores 22:37 Fintech Journey Early Stages 25:06 Financial inclusions global expansion 27:50 Big Tech AI Dominance 33:16 Co-Founder Synergy and Longevity 36:00 Effective board meeting essentials 37:25 Effective Board Meetings Matter 42:09 Climbing a million feet yearly 44:21 Fintech empowering global change

Send us a text Miguel Armaza sits down with Andrew Wang (CEO) and Linda Du (COO) of Valon, one of fintech’s fastest-rising infrastructure platforms revolutionizing mortgage servicing in America. With impressive backers like Andreessen Horowitz, Jefferies, WestCap, and Ali Corp, Valon now operates nearly a million mortgages and has surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue—all without a traditional sales or marketing team. In this candid and insightful conversation, Andrew and Linda pull back the curtain on their journey from founder-led sales to building a true fintech powerhouse. They share how they broke through industry catch-22s, the value of painstaking early manual work, and what it took to turn Valon into a Top 10 U.S. servicer operating at massive efficiency and scale. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro & Valon’s Background 04:14 Finding Trustworthy Growth Partners 07:55 Navigating startup licensing challenges 09:55 Overcoming Loan Licensing Hurdles 15:53 Proving Value Through Integration 18:22 Servicing philosophy shoot higher 21:23 Valenos Success Without Marketing 23:21 Building Two Businesses Two Strategies 27:01 Monetizing operations with efficiency 30:14 Debating AGI's future impact 34:52 Modern CTO Strategies Culture Infrastructure 38:19 LLMs redefining productivity models 41:39 Mentorship sparks business collaboration 44:02 Choosing New York over SF 47:55 Ali's thoughtful guidance and clarity

Send us a text Miguel Armaza sits down with Santiago Suárez, Co-Founder & CEO of Addi, one of Colombia’s fastest-growing fintech and commerce platforms. With a background that spans global finance and a track record of driving innovation in Latin America, Santiago shares a candid, in-depth look at lessons from scaling Addi to over $1.3 billion in annualized GMV, serving 2.5 million customers, and achieving industry-leading gross margins above 55%. In this episode, Santiago and Miguel dive deep into Addi’s unique approach to board management—treating every board meeting as a “dirty laundry” session to maximize transparency, trust, and tangible input from world-class investors like Andreessen Horowitz, GIC, and Union Square Ventures. Santiago also unpacks the company’s relentless focus on operational excellence, from shifting to a North Star-driven management style to building a contentious yet high-performing executive team with global talent from Amazon, Capital One, and PayTM. Timestamped Overview 00:00 Intro 03:57 Monthly updates streamline meetings 09:00 Building Success Amid Challenges 13:02 Seamless commerce and finance ecosystem 14:20 Persistent Networking Pays Off 18:49 Marketplace built on consumer demand 21:43 Scaling globally through self-funding 24:00 Show Your Work The Why 27:30 Empowered Customer Service Equity 31:30 AI Agents Powering Transactions 34:10 AI Data and Deployment Nuances 38:30 Building success through early funding 41:30 CEO weekly field day

Send us a text Miguel Armaza sits down with Nico Simko, CEO and co-founder of Clair, for an inside look at the journey, pivots, and insights behind one of the most innovative companies in earned wage access and embedded fintech. From his early days as a competitive fencer on the Swiss national team—where he learned the mental agility and resilience needed for entrepreneurship—to his high-impact stints at J.P. Morgan, Nico shares how his personal story shaped his approach to building and scaling Clair. He dives into founding Clair and the surprising early missteps around product-market fit, the company’s evolution toward deep partnerships with payroll and workforce management platforms, and why saying “no” is a crucial leadership skill for founders. Timestamped Overview Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 80,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a text Miguel Armaza interviews Alan Patricof and Howard Morgan, two of the most influential figures in the venture capital industry. From the early days of just 50 annual deals to today’s 10,000 opportunities, they’ve helped shape the industry’s explosive growth over the last five decades. In this episode, Alan and Howard share lessons from navigating multiple crises, their vision for the AI revolution and a future with humanoid robots, and why mentorship and legacy matter more than money when building enduring companies. Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 80,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a text Miguel Armaza interviews Art Levy, Chief Business Officer of Brex. Brex has scaled to over $100 billion in processed transactions while becoming one of the most influential multibillion-dollar fintechs in the world. In this episode, Art shares the strategies behind Brex’s hypergrowth comeback, its extreme focus on three core products, and the culture that continues to produce founders of billion-dollar companies. Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.

Send us a text Miguel Armaza interviews the CEO of Shift4. Shift4 has been at the forefront of the global payments industry for 26 years—and they’re only getting started. In this episode, CEO Taylor Lauber reveals the strategies that have kept the company ahead in a competitive, fast-moving market. Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 80,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.

Send us a text In a country where credit vanished, Cashea built a new system from scratch. CEO Pedro Vallenilla shares how they scaled BNPL to 3% of Venezuela’s GDP, through trust-based lending, merchant financing, and a bold vision for national impact.

Send us a text Miguel Armaza interviews Steve Stagner, CEO of Crete, an AI-powered roll-up deploying $500+ million to modernize the accounting industry. Backed by Thrive Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and others, Crete is acquiring US accounting firms and transforming them with OpenAI-powered tools. Steve brings battle-tested insights from building Mattress Firm from a single $1,300 franchise to a $3.8 billion Fortune 500 giant. In this episode, we discuss (1) Why "People, Process, Technology" - in that exact order - is the only formula that works for AI transformation; (2) How Crete's partner equity model differs from traditional PE roll-ups, letting firms keep their culture while accessing enterprise-grade AI tools; (3) Why firms that don't embrace AI will lose and how Crete has already seen 30-50% efficiency gains through AI-powered trial balance normalization and audit testing... and a lot more! Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 80,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a text [Original air date, April 9, 2024] Miguel Armaza interviews Jack Zhang, CEO & Co-Founder of Airwallex, a global payments and treasury giant that moves $7 billion in monthly transaction volume and serves 100,000+ clients, including Brex, Rippling, and SHEIN. Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex was last valued at $6.2 billion and has raised over a billion dollars from Sequoia, DST, Square Peg, Greenoaks, Mastercard, Tencent, Salesforce, and many more. In this episode, we discuss: How investing in a coffee shop led him to co-found a global payments networkWhy Airwallex prioritizes people with great leadership skills who are also technicalThe impact of AI in financial servicesNew risks of AI-powered financial fraudPartnering with almost 100 banks around the world Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 80,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a text Miguel Armaza interviews Eynat Guez, CEO and Founder of Papaya Global. She has built an HR and payroll platform that has transformed how companies manage and operate global teams across 180 countries. After having faced over 1,000 rejections from VCs, Papaya has now grown to process $34 billion in payments annually and they've raised significant funding from Insight Partners, Bessemer, Greenoaks Capital, and more. We discuss why brutal honesty and direct leadership creates stronger companies, how founders need to learn "investor language" to sell the company vision rather than the product, the operational complexity of building global from day one across 160 countries, and how being a mother of three shaped her approach to building a hypergrowth company. Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 80,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a text Miguel Armaza interviews Chen Amit, CEO and Co-Founder of Tipalti, a global fintech platform processing billions in payments and serving over 4,000 mid-market companies worldwide. By focusing on the underserved mid-sized companies, Tipalti has achieved 99% gross revenue retention over 15 years and secured licenses across 50+ jurisdictions. We discuss: Navigating "once-in-a-decade" disruptions that now seem to happen every six monthsWhy customer intuition can override conflicting data pointsHow saying "no" to your customers or partners can sometimes be the right strategic moveWhy licenses, bank integrations, and data moats matter more than ever in the AI era... and a lot more! Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 75,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Send us a text Miguel Armaza sits down in NYC with Anré Williams, Senior Executive Advisor at American Express. Anré has spent over 35 years at Amex, rising from summer intern to, most recently, CEO of American Express National Bank (which represents ~60% of the company's revenues). Under his leadership, Amex transformed its banking business into a top 25 US bank by assets. Amex is one of the oldest financial services companies in the world. The company is 150 years old and in 2024, they reported record revenues of $66 billion dollars. We discuss: The Amex playbook for maintaining industry-leading low loss rates even through major economic crisesBuilding the AmEx digital bank from a small operation into a powerhouse with over $100 billion in assetsHow hyper-targeted data analytics revolutionized Amex's global expansion strategyLessons from pioneering fintech partnerships with disruptors like Square, insights on effective mentorship... Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond. Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 75,000+ readers and listeners worldwide! Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter. Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z Miguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBc Fintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp