Interviews with Leaders in Fintech & Web3

Anand Sambasivan, founder and CEO  of PrimaryBid, joins Matthew Cheung and Josh Lavorini to discuss his experiences in the world of Fintech and the challenges faced by entrepreneurs.  PrimaryBid is a technology platform that allows everyday investors fair & equal access to investing in public companies raising capital. They have worked with the likes of Aston Martin, Ocado and William Hill and...

Brad Levy,  Symphony CEO, former CEO of IHSMarkit and ex-MD at Goldman, shares his thoughts on  everything from the future of artificial intelligence to finding purpose and much, much more! Brad began his career working at Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs before venturing into Fintech through a Partner role at IHS Markit, multiple Chairman roles at the likes of FINOS and now CEO of Symphony.  Bra...

Technology Futurist, Theo Priestley joins Matthew Cheung and Benjamin Ahmed to discuss the future of the world! Theo Priestley has worked within the technology industry for up to 20 years in both the client facing side and the vendor side. During his time in the industry, Theo study various trends that occurred, leading him to write "The Future Starts Now", which encapsulates all these t...

Sharon Thorne, Global Chair of Deloitte,  joins Matthew Cheung and Josh Lavorini to discuss her experiences breaking glass ceilings in the business world. Sharon is the first-ever female to hold the role as Deloitte's Global Chair and was also the first-ever female partner in the Manchester office, the first of two women on the UK board in 2004, the first female on the UK executive in 2006 an...

Kene Ejikeme, ex-Professional Rugby Player and Goldman Sachs Managing Director, Head of Multi Asset Platform Sales EMEA,  shares his thoughts on everything from finding your career, why athletes are a good fit in finance, the importance of diversity and much more! Kene's story is a fantastic insight into pursuing your passions and taking risks. Kene initially grew up with  aspirations of ente...

Hossein Azari, CEO and Founder of Cmorq, is a former Chief Data Scientist at Goldman Sachs and Senior Data Scientist at Google. He successfully co-founded his own company called Clarity Money, a personal finance app for consumers, which was eventually bought out by Goldman Sachs for $100m.  Hossein's impressive CV also includes being a Teaching Fellow and Research Assistant at Harvard Univers...

Jess Houlgrave, Chief of Staff at Checkout.com joins Matt Cheung and Helene Lipp in this episode to talk about the year of NFTs, blockchain, payments, valuable skills to succeed, stereotypes and women in tech.  One of the key messages are to be brave, seek out challenges, stay curious and be willing to learn across everything you do. Chief of Staff at Checkout.com, a global fintech company with ov...

Pavir Patel, Head of Strategy and Business Development at Bitpanda Pro, and former Digital Strategy and Fintech VP at JP Morgan, shares his experiences of the traditional finance world compared to fintech.  Starting off as a graduate at JP Morgan, Pavir undertook rotations in EM Markets Hybrids Trade Support and Rates Derivatives Sales Support, followed by becoming Lead Product Manager for Digital...

Dmitry Buterin, serial entrepreneur, blockchain mentor, investor and father of Vitalik Buterin (co-founder of Ethereum),  shares his insights on everything from following your passions to dropping out of university, the blockchain and NFTs. From humble beginnings, Dmitry grew up in the Soviet Union and quickly found his passion with technology. At the age of 25, Dmitry created his first start-up a...

Alastair Clarke, Senior Equity Trader at Capital Group and FinTech Intrapreneur, joins Matthew Cheung and Josh Lavorini to discuss what makes a good trader, the future of careers in FinTech and the uncertainty that he faced upon graduating and going out into the world of work. Alastair began his career on the sell-side, working in corporate finance and research before finding his niche in Sales an...

Alex Struc, Founder and CEO of GoalsFirst and former Head of ESG Portfolio Management at PIMCO, gives an introduction to impact investing, where Fixed Income is going with technology, and how students can begin their career in markets.  Alex is the founder and CEO of GoalsFirst – a specialist fixed income firm with a disruptive investment approach and the vision of mobilizing finance for change. ...

In an exclusive interview held with Benyamin Ahmed and his father Imran Ahmed, we learn how 12 years old Benyamin first got into NFTs, what inspired him to create the Weird Whales collection which led him to amassing a small fortune of $450k just in a few weeks, and his journey to becoming an "overnight success". Benyamin explains how to create coding superpowers that will enable you to...

Toby Babb , Founder and CEO of Harrington Starr, shares what you need to know for an interview how students can beat the tough competition to landing your dream job in Fintech. Toby is the founder and CEO of the Harrington Starr Group. Harrington Starr was launched in 2010 and focuses on the Financial Technology sector with offices in London and New York. The Group also owns The North Starr, a spe...

Christian Frahm, Founder and CEO of United Fintech, joins Matt Cheung and Helene Lipp to discuss his entrepreneurial career path, having founded e.g. CFH Group in 2007 and United Fintech in 2020.  Christian Frahm started off his career at Bloomberg and Saxo Bank before focusing on founding own businesses in the Fintech space. He set up CFH Group in 2008, exited for $120m to Playtech (a £1.35bln fi...

Ying Cao, Fintech Entrepreneur, Board Member of several prominent Fintechs, and Former Head of Digital Products at Barclays Investment Bank, shares her experiences of the Fintech ecosystem and how her perspective on the work-life balance has changed during her illustrious career.   Initially starting out as a Strategy Consultant at the Oliver Wyman Group advising Fortune 500 companies, Ying helped...

Andy Mosson, Director at JP Morgan joins Matt Cheung and Helene Lipp to discuss his uncommon career path which ultimately led to finance and trading technology, the experiences he made and how students can impress in the finance industry. He explains how important it is to be resilient and not being scared of failing. Furthermore he emphasises the significance of networking properly. Andy Mosson w...

The Lord Mayor William Russell,  joins to discuss;  his vision for the City of London,  London being the next Silicon Valley, the importance of returning to the office and why Green Finance might be a once in a generation opportunity. Being the first Lord Mayor in nearly 200 years to have 2 consecutive years in office and with over 30 years of experience across Investment Banking and multinational...

Mark Martin, founder of Urban Teacher & UKBlackTech shares why he feels diversity is important in the technology industry, his journey from being a teacher to being a founder of two companies as well as how he is equipping the next generation with technology skills. Mark works with industry, including Google, Microsoft, Apple and Adobe, and the education sector, including the University of Her...

In today's episode, we were joined by serial FinTech Entrepreneur, Max Rofagha. Before starting up Finimize, Max founded DeinDeal.ch, which became the biggest e-commerce platform in Switzerland after Amazon. After selling DeinDeal.ch to one of the biggest Media players in Europe, Max went on to start Finimize in 2016. In today's episode, Max explains to us how he grew Finimize to become...

Dean Berry, Group Head of Trading and Banking Solutions at the London Stock Exchange Group joins to discuss; career reflections in Trading, Broking and Fintech as well as advice on the importance of resilience, following your passion and how students can take advantage of opportunities in financial markets. Dean's pursuit to learn and enthusiasm in the face of challenges along his journey, cr...

Andrew Davis , Partner at Goodwin Procter and Oxford University Alumni, shares his thoughts on the future of fintech and gives invaluable career advice for any aspiring law graduate. The former Magic Circle graduate started his career at Allen & Overy, before departing for Taylor Wessing. Within just 14 years of graduating from Oxford University, with a degree in Law, Andrew made Partner at Ta...

Before joining Symphony, Craig Butterworth amassed over 15 years worth of experience within Fixed Income Sales at prestigious banks such as Goldman Sachs & Nomura. It was within his time at Nomura where Craig's fascination within Fintech began. Craig Butterworth is now the Global Head of Sales and Account Management at Symphony. Craig Butterworth is yet another interviewee who has demonst...

Over the past 14 years, Chris Scott, Senior Manager at TP ICAP gained various valuable experiences in product management of equities, derivatives and trading systems.  Throughout this period he has played a leading part of the electronification of financial markets and fintech. In this episode Chris Scott joins Matt Cheung and Helene Lipp as he shares his experience of starting off as a credit and...

Nirvana Farhadi, global influencer and RegTech pioneer discusses the future of finance, sharing her thoughts on technology and its best attempt to disrupt regulation and finance. Nirvana started her career on the trading floor, after graduating with a degree in Law. She quickly rose to strength realising her ability to spot where financial companies are exposed to compliance issues!  Nirvana emerg...

Before teaming up with founder of Work In Fintech, Matt Cheung at ipushpull, Neil Weatherall amassed 16 years worth of experience at prestigious banks such as NatWest Markets & RBC Capital Markets where he ran Inflation Trading. Throughout this period, Neil experienced how technology revolutionised the trading floor. Neil Weatherall is now Head of Technical Sales at ipushpull. Neil, alongside...