Interviews with Leaders in Fintech & Web3

Alvin Wang Graylin, Digital Fellow at Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) a, returns to Work in Fintech to explain why the AI jobs shock is years away, not decades. He puts it plainly: most thinking work could be replaceable within 3 to 10 years, and around 1.5 billion people worldwide will be affected in the near term. With host Matthew Cheung, Alvin explains why new graduates a...

Before Blockchain.com became one of the biggest names in crypto, Nicolas Cary was just a curious entrepreneur experimenting with technology. He started making money as a kid mowing lawns and selling clams. Later, he built websites as a teenager, including one he traded for lifetime sandwiches. Then came the 2008 financial crisis. Watching the financial system collapse changed how Nicolas thought a...

Betsy Cohen has spent decades identifying opportunities before they become obvious. From becoming a bank founder after a career in law, to building fintech infrastructure, sponsoring SPACs, and investing in the next generation of financial technology, Betsy has built her career around one principle: look for what isn’t being done. In this episode of Work in Fintech, Betsy Cohen, Co-Founder and Cha...

Carlos Menendez was born in Puerto Rico, the oldest of five children of Cuban immigrants who left the island with nothing. The family settled in Miami in the 1970s, where money was tight and both parents worked. What his parents drilled into him was simple: the one thing nobody can take from you is what's in your head. Excellence wasn't a lofty ambition in that household, it was the cond...

Today's guest is Esfira Zakas, CMO at payabl, one of Europe's fastest growing payment service providers, and the engine moving money for merchants across the continent, from online checkouts and POS machines to multi-currency accounts and card issuing, at a company that has scaled to over 300 people. Esfira describes herself as marketing agnostic. Before fintech she worked across insuran...

Today's guest is Emma Hagan, CEO of ClearBank UK, the UK's first new clearing bank in over 250 years and the infrastructure quietly powering some of fintech's biggest names, from Revolut and Tide to Coinbase, across around 280 financial institutions. Emma has spent her career at the intersection of banking and regulation, from a graduate programme at HBOS, an incumbent of roughly 75...

Today's guest is Greig McEwan, Chief Technology Officer at Funding Circle, the UK's leading SME finance platform, which has extended over £17bn in credit to more than 125,000 small businesses.  Greig has led technology at scale across very different worlds, from CTO of Paddy Power Betfair operating across 100 countries, to advising WorldRemit on payment strategy, and now building the eng...

Today's guest is Mark Mullen, co-founder and CEO of Atom Bank, the UK's first app-based bank and the first digital challenger to win a full UK banking licence.  Mark is a self-described accidental banker who read history at university, spent 24 years inside HSBC Group, and ran First Direct, one of the most innovative banks of its era.  Then, in his mid-40s, he walked away from a comforta...

Today's guest is William Quigley, one of the few venture investors who has operated at the centre of multiple technological inflection points. William was one of the first institutional investors in PayPal, co-founded Tether, the world's first and largest fiat-backed stablecoin, and founded WAX, one of the most active NFT blockchains globally. He saw the consumer internet emerge, watched...

Today's guest is Xen Baynham-Herd, Director of Growth at Base and Global Builder Ecosystem lead at Coinbase, working at the centre of where crypto, AI agents, and the future of finance collide. Before Coinbase, Xen spent eight years as a fixed income trader at UBS, where he championed an internal stablecoin project that eventually spun out into Finality, backed by UBS, Deutsche Bank, Barclays...

Today's guest is Matt Weaver, Head of Solutions Engineering for EMEA at OpenAI, working directly with some of the biggest names in financial services including Revolut, Alicabank, and BBVA. Before OpenAI, Matt spent four years at a pre-ChatGPT AI company helping banks extract data from documents using traditional machine learning. When ChatGPT burst onto the scene and disrupted everything he...

Today's guest is Dileep Thazhmon, Founder & CEO of Jeeves, one of the fastest-scaling fintechs to come out of Y Combinator (YC S20) Before Jeeves, Dileep built PowerInbox (later Jeeng) to $40M in revenue and a ~$100M exit. While running PowerInbox, Dileep ran headfirst into the chaos of cross-border payments, multiple cards, multiple bank accounts, different payment rails in every country...

Today's guest is Paroma Chatterjee, CEO of Revolut India, leading one of the world's most valuable fintechs into one of the world's most complex markets. Paroma has built her career at the intersection of ambition and execution, and there's no better proof of that than what Revolut India has become: a 3,600-person operation in a country where Revolut was virtually unknown just...

Today's guest is Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank, the fastest growing company in the UK from 2020 to 2024, built specifically to serve the small and medium sized businesses that traditional banks consistently overlook. Richard has spent his career across some of the most influential names in banking and fintech — from Barclays and HSBC to being employee number one at Oak North, and Group C...

From a small village to the heart of global financial markets. On our Women’s Day special, we host Charlotte Crosswell, Board Member at the London Stock Exchange. Charlotte’s journey is an inspiration for many girls and women who want to build a career in fintech and financial services. From humble beginnings in a small village to the global financial stage, she has held leadership roles at the Lo...

Today’s guest on the show is Sheel Mohnot, Co-founder and General Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a San Francisco based seed-stage fund focused on fintech, with investments in companies like Ramp, Mercury, and Unit. In this episode, host Matthew Chung, founder of Work in Fintech, sits down with Sheel to unpack: ✅ His journey from founder to venture capitalist ✅ What truly separates exceptio...

Today’s guest on the show is Carlos Espinal, Managing Partner at Seedcamp, one of Europe’s leading seed-stage venture capital funds, with early investments in companies like Wise, Revolut, and UiPath. In this episode, host Matthew Chung, founder of Work in Fintech, sits down with Carlos Espinal to unpack: ✅ Carlos early career & how he got into venture capital ✅ How Seedcamp spots billion-do...

Today’s guest on the show is Francesco Filia, founder and CEO of Fasanara Capital, a global asset manager and technology-driven investment platform. In this episode, host Matthew Cheung, founder of Work in Fintech, sits down with Francesco Filia to unpack: ✅ Francesco's early career and the key lessons that shaped him ✅ How the idea for Fasanara came about and the problem it set out to solv...

Today’s guest on the show is Gregory Van, Co-Founder & CEO of Endowus, Asia’s leading independent digital wealth platform. In this episode, host Matthew Cheung sits down with Gregory to unpack: ✅ How the idea behind Endowus came about ✅ What makes Endowus unique ✅ How AI is used in wealth management ✅ Investment vs. speculation ✅ The reality of funds and management fees And much more… If...

In this episode, host Matthew Cheung dives deep into Tom’s fascinating journey, from DJing during his university days to leading one of the most forward-thinking fintech companies in the world. Here’s what you’ll learn: ✅ The sales playbook behind multi-million–dollar fintech enterprise deals ✅ How 10x Banking is powering the next generation of global banks ✅ The evolution of core banking and b...

Today’s guest on the show is Charlie Youakim, Co-founder & CEO of Sezzle, the fast-growing Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform. In this episode, host Matthew Cheung sits down with Charlie to unpack: ✅ Sezzle’s business model ✅ How Sezzle makes money ✅ The shift that led to their rapid profitability & explosive growth ✅ How a billion-dollar company thinks about hiring ✅ Why BNPL is shapi...

In this session of the Work in Fintech AI Summit, Anthony Cheung (Chief Content & Culture Officer, AmplifyME) and Neil Massa (CRO, The Connection Lab) reveal how to stand out in today’s crowded market. Blending humor, real-world insights, and practical strategies, this engaging talk shows you how to move beyond survival mode and position yourself to truly thrive in a competitive world. Check o...

From running a humble market stall to building a career in the financial markets, this is the inspiring 45-year journey of Paul. In this candid and never-before-told story, Paul shares: His working-class roots and early struggles with no university education How a natural talent in maths set him apart despite limited opportunities The mindset shift that helped him move from “just making money” to...

In this episode, we are joined by Christian Nentwich, founder of Duco, a B2B data automation company valued at over $100 million. Christian shares how he started his first business, how he entered the world of fintech, the challenges he faced while scaling a company, and the mistakes he made that, if avoided, could have accelerated Duco’s growth. He also explains why B2B fintech is one of the best...

In this episode, we’re joined by Leif Abraham, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Public.com, the social investing platform that raised nearly $400 million last year and doubled its revenue. Leif has a bold hiring philosophy: he intentionally avoids candidates from elite schools like Harvard or Stanford. Why? Because he believes street smarts are better than book smarts. In this conversation, w...