Fintech Brainfood

In this episode Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo sits down with Increase CEO, Darragh Buckley to explore long-term infrastructure thinking, compliance as code, stablecoins vs. traditional rails, and what’s actually broken in payments. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:19 The motivation for Increase: addressing payment disbursement failures 03:04 Technical and business challenges in international financia...

After speaking to the CEOs of Ramp, Brex, and Mercury, my first instinct is to find other nerds with whom to share my thoughts. Immediately, I thought of Alex, and then I needed to bring some class to proceedings. I called my old friend Cokie (an OG and still my favorite Fintech content writer). This is the most fun, relaxed, and engaging conversation I’ve had about Fintech in a long time. I’m not...

This was perhaps the most intense conversation I can remember having. Incredibly efficient, scarily so. Focussed, intentional, direct.  Why should you listen to this episode? This company arguably created a category. By focussing on offering high yield and higher deposit insurance at a time when banks were not, when interest rates began to rise, they capitalized on a generational market opportunit...

Unlike Ramp or Brex, Mercury started with the account and built the ultimate dashboard for early-stage and growth companies. Immad is the founder’s founder, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor, with over 300+ angel investments in his name (including Airtable, Substack, and Rappi). If anyone got the challenges growth companies have trying to operate a business while relying on traditional banki...

In the crowded world of B2B Fintech Neobanks and platforms, did the world need one more? In 2021 the peak of Fintech mania Arc launched and on the surface risked looking like just another B2B Fintech.   Since then, their product velocity, growth and trajectory has made them stand out. Their approach is unique. In the post-Silicon Valley Bank world, they have the advantage of arriving late and fixi...

Brex created a category. Life before Brex was terrible for founders and growth businesses. The least worst option was Silicon Valley Bank which would offer a veneer of founder friendliness but with a terrible digital UX. Brex turned this on its head with corporate cards that just worked and removed the personal guarantee. It’s hard to understate the revolution this created in experience and the st...

Ramp has become known for its expense cards that "just work." While a few competitors are in this category, none have grown as quickly as Ramp.  I put that down to obsession—an obsession with the details driven by North Star metrics like hours saved per user and dollars saved per customer. But how does that manifest as a product?  As the old saying goes, it takes a lot of effort to make it look ef...

Hey Fintech Nerds 👋, Can B2B Fintech rescue us from the banking crisis, or does it make it worse?  Fintech Brainfood Interviews is a series of 1:1 conversations with CEOs of Fintech companies. We go deeper, getting into how they're building the product and partnering and how that makes them different.  The first five episodes are with Ramp.com, Brex, Arc, Meow, and Modern Treasury. Episode 6 is a...