Fintech Impact cover logo
RSS Feed Apple Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts
English
Non-explicit
acast.com
3.90 stars
32:33

Fintech Impact

by Jason Pereira

Fintech Impact is an exploration of the fintech world where we interview different fintech entrepreneurs about what they do, their story, and what their impact is on consumers, incumbents, and the industry is as a whole.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Copyright: All rights reserved

Episodes

TaxTemplates with Jay Goodis | E286

32m · Published 25 Jul 10:00

Jason talks to Jay Goodis, the CEO of Tax Template Sync, a software designed to help advisors in Canada assess different tax scenarios for their clients. The software allows users to analyze current tax situations, run test scenarios, and optimize tax strategies.

Episode Highlights

  • 01:57: Jay explains that the genesis of the company was driven by the need to save time and improve efficiency.
  • 02:23: While working in public practice, Jay constantly sought ways to be more efficient and identified opportunities to develop software solutions for the complex challenges faced by professionals in the wealth management industry.
  • 03:40: Jay explains that when assessing tax outcomes, it can be done from both a corporate and personal perspective. From a personal perspective, individuals can download tax tables from their websites to determine their marginal tax rate.
  • 05:52: Jason explains that individuals at the lower end of the income spectrum may face high marginal tax rates due to clawbacks, such as the guaranteed income supplement, which effectively results in close to 70% taxation.
  • 11:14: Taxes can be perceived as both simple and complex, depending on individuals' level of understanding and experience.
  • 11.38: Jason raises a concern about the perception of taxes being simple or complex. He mentions two categories of people: those who believe taxes are simple because they use tax software without fully understanding the complexities and those who recognize the complexity.
  • 18:22: The software developed is primarily used for personal tax planning and corporate tax planning with shareholders, says Jay.
  • 19:38: The lack of software dedicated to anything outside of financial planning and investment in this industry is horrible.
  • 29:43: Jay discusses the importance of simplifying the tax code and the challenges faced in finding professionals with expertise in tax and programming. 

3 Key Points

  1. Jason and Jay discuss the impact of government benefits and income testing on tax calculations. Jason mentions that in the US, these are referred to as phase-outs, where entitlements are based on income and may result in different calculations.
  2. Jason shares his perspective on the challenges faced by business owners who often have surprise tax bills at the end of the year.
  3. Jason and Jay discuss the use cases and value of software in the financial planning industry, particularly in the areas of personal tax planning and corporate tax planning with shareholders. 

Tweetable Quotes

  • “Many advisors focus on corporate tax and personal tax, so that's where most users begin. They work with their clients to assess their tax situations and determine what deductions, credits, or planning strategies are available to optimize their tax outcomes.” – Jason
  • “The software aims to address both the total tax amount and the cash flow implications for clients.” - Jay
  • “There is a lot of time spent by me and my colleagues reading tax legislation, putting that tax legislation into an interface that's easier for others to understand and to keep it current.” - Jay

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn
  • Woodgate.com – Sponsor
  • Podcast Editing

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Couplr with Derek Notman | E285

37m · Published 18 Jul 10:00

Jason talks to Derek Notman, the founder and CEO of Couplr. It is a fintech company that provides a platform for people to find the right financial advisor for their needs. Jason mentions that he often gets pitched similar ideas, but he finds Derek's approach unique and effective. Derek explains that Couplr is focused on fixing lead generation in the financial advisory industry. He highlights that lead generation has been a personal frustration for him, and Couplr aims to address this issue. 

Episode Highlights

  • 01:08: Couplr is a platform that combines the concepts of eHarmony and Bumble. It focuses on facilitating connections between financial advisors and consumers based on the human elements and dimensions of the relationship.
  • 03:07: Early in his career, Derek joined New York Life and encountered the traditional methods of lead generation, such as cold calling, door knocking, and attending networking events like BNI meetings.
  • 12:02: Derek introduces the concept of warm inbound traffic, which refers to the existing pool of people actively searching for financial guidance.
  • 14:06: Derek further explains that Couplr empowers consumers by allowing them to research and get matched with an advisor when they are ready.
  • 17:21: Derek highlights the importance of providing valuable information and building trust with consumers before they even contact the advisor.
  • 34:20: Through the work at Couplr, Derek aims to break down the friction and barriers in the financial industry, enabling more advisors to help more clients.
  • 36:20: Derek shared his passion for fixing the issues surrounding money and improving financial outcomes for individuals and advisors. The conversation highlighted the complex nature of financial relationships and the significance of addressing them effectively.

3 Key Points

  1. Derek explains how Couplr's approach to lead generation is different from the traditional methods like SEO and paid ads. 
  2. Derek explains the "bumble aspect" of Couplr, where consumers can explore the matches, read buyer reviews, visit websites, and check broker checks to gather more information about the advisors.
  3. By leveraging machine learning and AI, Couplr aims to continually improve its models and gather valuable data insights.

Tweetable Quotes

  • "The current process of finding a financial advisor is broken, as it fails to create a positive experience for both clients and advisors." – Derek
  • "Couplr aims to help consumers find the best advisor based on shared human dimensions, commonalities, experiences, and philosophies." – Derek
  • "By focusing on connecting consumers and advisors on a human level, Couplr offers a more targeted and effective solution." – Derek
  • "Minimizing friction is crucial for adoption and user satisfaction." – Jason
  • "Money is a powerful tool that people have access to, yet there is a lack of education and guidance in managing it effectively." - Derek

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn
  • Woodgate.com – Sponsor
  • https://www.couplr.ai/about-couplr/
  • Podcast Editing

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StockTwits with Rishi Khanna | E284

26m · Published 11 Jul 10:00

Jason talks to Rishi Khanna, CEO of StockTwits. It is a social media platform for the retail investing and trading community, known for inventing the cash tag. Rishi talks about his vision involving horizontal expansion to become a global platform and vertical expansion into diverse asset classes, while leveraging the culture of money and markets and the significance of live interactions.

Episode Highlights

  • 01:00: StockTwits has expanded beyond U.S. stocks to cover Canadian equities, Indian equities, cryptocurrencies, and other assets.
  • 01:16: The company aims to provide a highly engaging place for global investors to connect, learn, and have fun while profiting.
  • 03:10: Rishi Khanna got involved with StockTwits in late 2019 after knowing the company for several years. He was invited to help build the next phase of StockTwits' vision, expanding its value to the investing community throughout the investing life cycle.
  • 03:35: Rishi mentions joining in January 2020 and how the world changed drastically during that time.
  • 04:07: Jason suggests having a dedicated social media outlet for a specific community of interest.
  • 06:08: Rishi discusses unlocking and utilizing unique data points, such as social sentiment data, trending activity data, and messaging bonds.
  • 07:37: Rishi highlights the importance of enriching the execution experience and providing a comprehensive toolset for users.
  • 08:57: Rishi discusses the challenges of the equity trading business model.
  • 10:26: Jason mentions the monetization strategy of advertising on the social media platform.
  • 20:45: The conversation touches on the introduction of trending streams and the importance of trust and quality conversations on the platform.
  • 22:20: Rishi Khanna expresses his wish to change the default position of cynicism and distrust in communications.

3 Key Points

  1. Rishi talks about the importance of data and information in the investing life cycle.
  2. Rishi discusses the challenges of the equity trading business model, particularly in the US where it is highly commoditized and most big platforms offer free trading.
  3. Rishi explains how to facilitate and enable investors to explore and connect with different asset classes, find their tribes, engage in conversations, learn, and potentially build wealth.

Tweetable Quotes

  • "Equity trading is not a great business model. It's very hard to generate revenue to cover costs." - Rishi
  • "We're expanding globally to become the go-to platform for the retail investing community. Launching in India is just the beginning." - Rishi
  • "Our goal is to expand the asset classes and cater to the diverse interests within the investing and trading community. There are many micro-communities within this space." - Rishi
  • "Changing things is a challenge... users hate change, especially if they've been using [the platform] for 10 plus years." - Rishi Khanna
  • "We punch way above our weight class... getting to take on these challenges and problems every day is fun." - Rishi Khanna

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn
  • Woodgate.com – Sponsor
  • StockTwits

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wise Revisted with Brigit Carroll | E283

28m · Published 04 Jul 10:00

Jason talks to Brigit Carroll, the policy lead for the Americas at Wise. Wise is a company that has previously appeared on the show. Jason has invited Bridget to discuss the progress or lack thereof regarding open banking in North America. They discuss various topics related to cross-border payments, banking apps, and the challenges faced by the industry. Bridget emphasizes the need for transparency in pricing and reducing the cost of remittances. They also talk about the evolving narrative of fintech disruptors and the importance of collaboration within the payment ecosystem.

Episode Highlights

  • 00:42: Bridget provides a recap of what Wise (formerly known as TransferWise) is all about. 
  • 01:18: Wise is a global payments company that focuses on providing the best solution for moving money across borders. 
  • 02:22: Open banking is seen as a crucial component of the overall modernization of the payment ecosystem in Canada. 
  • 08:33: Bridget emphasizes the importance of faster payments, stating that Canadians deserve it and it's not just a luxury. Failure to deliver on this promise would be detrimental to consumers and businesses during the cost-of-living crisis.
  • 11:26: Bridget emphasizes the importance of bringing Canada up to speed with the rest of the world.
  • 16:22: Canadian banks are not competitive and are expensive compared to other financial institutions globally. 
  • 18:06: There are long lead times for various initiatives, such as the retail Payments Activities Act, which is currently undergoing consultations. 
  • 27:10: Knowing that we are making a positive difference in the lives of millions of people around the world is incredibly rewarding. It's why we do what we do, and it's what keeps us motivated to continue pushing for better solutions and a more inclusive financial system, says Bridget.

3 Key Points

  1. Bridget explains that payments modernization in Canada includes various aspects such as real-time payments, modern payment licensing through systems like RPAs (Request-to-Pay Agreements), open banking, and enabling fintech companies to access the payment system through amendments to the Canadian Payments Act.
  2. Jason highlights the frustration of waiting several days for a payment to clear and emphasizes that instant payments are crucial for individuals who cannot afford to wait for their paychecks or for small businesses seeking instant liquidity.
  3. Jason criticizes banks for their generic marketing approaches that fail to address individual needs.

Tweetable Quotes

  • "Canadian banks may strongly resist open banking, while noting that Europe has taken a legislative approach, and the United States has embraced free market capitalism." – Jason
  • "Wise was the first non-bank to access the Bank of England's faster payment system, resulting in cost reductions for customers and significantly faster payment processing." - Bridget
  • "Change needs to happen in collaboration with regulators and incumbents as well. It's not about disrupting for the sake of disruption, but it's about working together to create a better system." – Bridget

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn
  • Woodgate.com – Sponsor
  • Podcast Editing

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

186 Ventures with Giuseppe Stuto | E282

29m · Published 20 Jun 10:00

Jason talks to Giuseppe Stuto, co-founder and managing partner of 186 Ventures. It is a venture capital firm founded by former high-growth tech executives themselves. They have been there, and they know how to advise people who are going through that same journey. Giuseppe explains that their criteria for investing in a company involve evaluating founder market fit, the competence and unique positioning of the founders, their understanding of the problem, and their passion and motivations for building the business.

Episode Highlights:

  • 00:47: Giuseppe Stuto says that they are at an early stage precede and seed venture capital firm. So, they typically invest at the earliest stages. There may or may not be a company incorporated or maybe a business already with over $1,000,000 in annual revenue, but primarily invests in the US primarily in the Northeast.
  • 01:43: Giuseppe shares how he and his best friend started angel investing. 
  • 07:25: As per Giuseppe for the most part, they make sure that they leave that initial meeting with two or three ways they can begin to provide value to that founder.
  • 10:04: The investors focus on connecting companies with key team members and leveraging their extensive network of technical and industry experts to provide support and value to the companies they invest in.
  • 11:57: Giuseppe emphasizes their role in assisting founders by aligning their goals, providing insights, and offering support through various programs tailored for founders and operators.
  • 15:08: Giuseppe acknowledges that building an unsustainable model can be challenging to unwind, particularly in times of high cost of capital. 
  • 21:29: It's crucial to have a deep understanding of the local market when making investment decisions or implementing business strategies.
  • 24:19: In the context of early-stage startups, the definition of "early stage" typically refers to the initial stages of a company's development, usually up until the Series A funding round.

3 Key Points:

  1. Giuseppe shares how in early 2019, the brand was founded and then in fall of 2021, they started investing out of their first institutional vehicle.
  2. Giuseppe talks about the 4 pillars that they consider when deciding upon investment.
  3. Jason expresses the desire to discuss the investments made in the fintech sector and asks Giuseppe to provide details about the companies they have invested in and what attracted them to those companies.

Tweetable Quotes:

  • "Never before was there more of a time where founders should partner. With firms that actually have institutional know-how and being able to build companies themselves." - Giuseppe Stuto
  • "In mid 2021, later on the peak actually where many funds were coming to market, new ones particularly we decided to institutionalize our platform and raise our first fund vehicle, which is a $37 million fund today." - Giuseppe Stuto
  • "The experience of having been there and done, that's incredibly valuable, but there's also an underlying thesis to the investments." - Jason

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn
  • Woodgate.com – Sponsor
  • Podcast Editing

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

XLR8CRM with Jennifer Thomas | E281

33m · Published 13 Jun 10:00

Jason talks to Jennifer Thomas, Director of Business development for XLR8. It is a well-known financial advisor CRM tool that is built over top of the Salesforce Platform. XLR8 is an overlay or custom version of Salesforce. Jennifer explains that they use all the power and strength and a wonderful thing that Salesforce offers, and then they came out-of-the-box with a fully customized version specific to the finance sector. 

Episode Highlights:

  • 01:19: Jennifer talks about the history of XLR8. How did it come to be and how does it evolve?
  • 03.20: Within XLR8 what we are doing is providing the out-of-the-box solution that is able to be and still intended to be sort of further customized, says Jennifer. 
  • 07:17: Jennifer explains how they are a little bit different in the Salesforce space and that they are not a transactional relationship. They don't just sell you licenses and then sort of move on.
  • 08:43: Jennifer explains how keep updating the system as per process and industry changes.
  • 10:17: Jennifer shares how filling gaps is something that they work with the different educational series that they provide.
  • 10:57: Jennifer thinks more from a relationship point of view. She doesn't think about business workflow enablement. 
  • 12:40: Sort of mathematics in your mind doesn't always go there with technology, says Jason.
  • 15:01: Jennifer is currently at a place where her successful business basically caters to the financial advisors.
  • 16:13: To sort of filter and disseminate information to our clients of what impacts them, what matters to them, what's important to them, what's useful to them, that is something that we have sort of taken on our shoulders, says Jennifer. 
  • 23:08: One of the things that often shocks advisors is the transition cost from CRM to CRM. Jennifer shares what people can expect when they are moving to any CRM. 
  • 24:17: Big data is the most valuable part of your business. It is everything, it's every note. It's everything about your clients.
  • 28:06: The support in Salesforce is largely handled through DIY stuff on their very good learning systems.
  • 30:31: There is some saying about lesson learned or once the lesson is better learned once you have experienced it.

3 Key Points:

  1. Jennifer explains how the user journeys and the product itself are informed by the user's journey.
  2. As per Jennifer a lot of firms don't always investigate the full breadth or depth of the technology they have.
  3. Jennifer says that their focus is to make sure that they are an ongoing partner, and their clients are able to and open to and know that they can kind of come knock on their door anytime to ask questions and look for ideas. 

Tweetable Quotes:

  • "If you are willing to invest the time and effort into the customizations of building your entire practice into Salesforce, you can spend a lot of time on a lot of money, but also get a lot of utility out of it not everyone is built for that." - Jason 
  • "You could get into some really deep things, but there are also a ton of really some little things that can be done in the system that takes essentially time really adds time back to somebody that's doing those things manually or kind of doing those things in a repetitive way." - Jennifer
  • "Leveraging a best-in-class platform in a unique vertical which is a great trend and bright place to be as a good, sweet spot." - Jason

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Integrated Finance with Daniel Cronin | E280

43m · Published 06 Jun 10:00

Jason talks to Daniel Cronin, CEO and Co-Founder of Integrated Finance. It is a platform that helps Fintech's launch with their payment systems all ready to go. 

Episode Highlights:

  • 00:31: Integrated finance is a platform that helps fintech's to launch or incumbents or add new offerings to their existing customer base.
  • 02:00: The APIs that work with Bank A are entirely different to the APIs that work with Bank B compounded times the number of banks you are working, says Daniel. 
  • 11:45: The four letters that scare at every American when looking to do business with Europeans are GDPR, and Daniel has built our platform from a security perspective and data protection perspective here in the UK and Europe and it just conforms to GDPR.
  • 15:52: There is a stranglehold on innovation because over half of the Fintech that wanted to launch with product X, either never launched or ended up launching with product Y because it was 10 times harder.
  • 23:32: If we don't make the cost of entry low or be as lowest as possible then any number of constrained, innovative ideas who do not have capital Rich will never see the light of day, says Jason.
  • 32:01: Forcing consumer protection is a great way to create innovation that is now more secure, says Jason.
  • 32:31: As crypto cools, fintech's become the higher risk category, and Daniel would be interested to see how that plays out over the next couple of years.
  • 36.32: The biggest challenge in the company where is it today is to fully evaluate the ecosystem that Daniel is trying to build and strategically add new partners as they grow.
  • 39.15: Finding something that you love where you don't get Sunday blues changed Daniel's life about 7-8 years ago it was running his own business.

3 Key Points:

  1. Daniel explains how they target the payments piece, they go even more specific than that on account generation, because this is something that's often overlooked in Fintech.
  2. It's the mountain of non-differentiating stuff that needs to be built before you can get your head above the water line just to breathe.
  3. There is an asymmetric relationship with industries that are currently growing rapidly, and the way legacy industries are built to serve that growth.

Tweetable Quotes:

  • "Rather than focusing on the core assets of the back end of Fintech, we focus on homogenizing the experience our Fintech customers get." – Daniel
  • "The principal reason you increase engagement with anyone in any industry is by giving them account, and that's why we are in the payment and account space to give Fintech and Non-Fintech greater control of their user base." – Daniel
  • "When a customer comes to us, the first thing, we do is we analyze what their requirements are, and we set them up with a sandbox that works with the bank, and they can do what they want." – Daniel
  • "We establish a marketplace where all gaps are filled, and we're doing minimal filtering of features for every single partner, and that drives major commercial alignment." – Daniel

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn
  • https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielcroninif/?originalSubdomain=uk
  • https://integrated.finance/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vamos Ventures with Ashley Aydin | E279

21m · Published 30 May 10:00

Jason talks to Ashley Aydin, Principal at Vamos Ventures. It is a venture capital firm that not only makes investments in various areas, including fintech but has taken a keen eye toward increasing diversity within their founder.

Episode Highlights:

  • 01:41: Ashley explains how they only invest in the next and diverse founding teams. They also focus on impact-oriented companies. 
  • 01:47: Ashley mentioned diversity, but it also means equity, community, product, and environment on the equity front, it's about wealth agency created for founders, teams, and communities and access to funding and growth that facilitates social mobility in the Community front, it's creating a diverse pipeline of Angel investors of VC investors of role models for future generations.
  • 03:29: 60% of population growth is going to be fueled by that next immigrant chic right in the coming years.
  • 03:48: The world is changing fast as what we are seeing, and it's increasingly marked by Latin X and diverse entrepreneurial influence.
  • 05:29: Ashley explains how there is a demand for more financial education and literacy.
  • 06:49: As per stats, less than 3% of funding goes to diverse entrepreneurs, whether women, Black, Latino, or any underserved overlooked founder category or demo figure.
  • 08:37: As per Ashley there needs to be education early on as to what these careers are, whether it's building, operating, or investing, and that we need diversity in those spaces and different experiences.
  • 11:15: Ashley is building sort of outside of the venture partnership and advisor staff off deep functional experts in health and Wellness and sustainability and future work in fintech that either have had exits or have been in an executive position.
  • 13:21: The more LP capital that you have that believes in these missions, that gives emerging managers a chance, the better the VC landscapers and the startup landscape.
  • 15:30: The founding journey isn't just this glamorous thing; it's also caring about an aging parent and building a company at the same time.
  • 17:35: Emerging fund managers aren't so much emerging anymore that they are the standard right and that they have unique insight into investing and building funds.
  • 18:22: At the end of the day, the opportunities between success and failure in life often come down to a couple of serendipitous choices made by others that give us opportunities where they could have just as easily turned away and done nothing.

3 Key Points:

  1. Ashley explains how diversity is important to them and how they use it to build technology.
  2. Ashley shares examples and instances how they promote diversity.
  3. Ashley talks about the venture partner program. How people could sign up to be a venture partner, come on as a venture partner and help advise companies about market strategy or how to fundraise etc.

Tweetable Quotes:

  • "There are a few different things we look at in Fintech, but I think the overall theme is empowerment and education." - Ashley
  • "When we look at the sub-sectors and fintech and what is most interesting in that connection, it's things like alternative business lending, new payment structures platforms that focus on wealth generation and wealth building and access and education." - Ashley
  • "We have seen that people are privileged, are coming to coming to the VCs end up not necessarily staying on the right side of the law either." - Ashley

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Docupace with Ryan Geroge | E278

33m · Published 23 May 10:00

Jason talks to Ryan George, CMO of Docupace. It is a platform for paperless tools basically designed to automate your back office or the financial advisors back office that, eliminate a lot of the heavy lifting and pain that we go through daily.

Episode Highlights:

  • 03:07: Ryan is working with and working for people who are sometimes in the background of the business, whether it's connecting to the CRM and having a wireframe into that business or another level of deep integration.
  • 05:56: As per Ryan, in the early 2000s, they sort of had the mainframe systems where everything was a locked technology ecosystem, and in terms of what it was able to do and what happened, that led to this explosion of innovation.
  • 11:01: As per Ryan industry average is around between 25 to 27% of the NIGO rate for large enterprises, which sounds extremely high because it is on Docupace, it's below 3% for their clients.
  • 12:00: As per Ryan, APIs are a big part of their integrations and a big part of their systems. 
  • 18:26 Ryan discusses how the pandemic drove growth in digital data gathering.
  • 24:37: Sometimes, your clients will lead you down the path to destruction. It's a matter of knowing where to draw the line and saying this is what's good for us.
  • 28:01: As per Ryan, there is a need to pivot, and we need to change things in order to get to where we are trying to do what we are trying to move, move faster, be more agile, be more innovative, serve customers in a different way.
  • 30:42: As per Ryan, they are not at the level of creativity to where people are coming up with creative solutions to solve because they don't know what the problem is yet.

3 Key Points:

  1. Ryan shares a case study of someone he has dealt with who didn't have the interconnectivity, what kind of experience change they see within their company, and what type of productivity gains they get from this.
  2. Docupace provides tracking in the dashboards where if paperwork gets submitted, somebody must call and say, hey, where's Joe and sell his application.
  3. Ryan shares what are the new features of Docupace that they are going to implement in the coming years.

Tweetable Quotes:

  • "We want to be a cohesive glue that helps connect your financial planning software, custodian, and systems together as you integrate throughout the technology stack that you have at your firm." – Ryan
  • "Often, it's not the technology, it's the humans that become the inefficiency in the system, and we are trying to find that." - Ryan
  • "Do you have the people in management or middle management with the vision for how this all comes together, which is a is and it's a very difficult thing to fill because it's a Venn diagram." - Jason
  • "People who understand the digital realm as to what's possible and being able to tie that all together. Those are the single most valuable people in our enterprises these days." - Jason
  • "There are so many uses for being able for one person to get data from another person, and that is never going to go away in this business." - Ryan

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn
  • LinkedIn - Ryan George

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SIFA with Alan Gurung | E277

27m · Published 16 May 10:00

Jason talks to Alan Gurung, CEO of SIFA. It is an artificial intelligence-powered platform for financial advisors to leverage their data, be more efficient, and garner insights from that data.

Episode Highlights:

  • 01:52: It is a man versus machine argument instead of a man and machine argument.
  • 02:51: Generative AI seems almost scary to many, but the reality is the future belongs to those who utilize the robot correctly.
  • 05:29: AI works on explicit rules and logic to solve specific problems and is very rigid. Prerequisite rules and logic have been put together, whereas generative AI works a lot more on patterns. It's able to create new content on the back of those patterns that's been exposed.
  • 06:37: In SIFA, Alan and his team gain data that financial advisors use. They analyze the endpoint of all financial advisors trying to do with that data and trying to streamline that process as much as possible. So, the moment when people come on to decipher, what they can do is they can import their unstructured data through recordings from meetings or notes from meetings and start to have a conversation with that data.
  • 12:20: Alan explains how they come right at the start of the process of individuals once they record the meeting, they can import them into the cipher as well as gather data from all the other areas.
  • 13:15: Think about where advisors tend to spend the most amount of time or rather where they pay people to end up, saving them a lot of time, it's the middle and back-office side of things.
  • 14:11: People just hire other people to do stuff they hate as opposed to improving that process.
  • 17:32: Alan explains what the future of their application is what other features they are planning to implement.
  • 19:53: Alan sees support chats on every website, but in some of these to date the bots have been very, very rudimentary.
  • 23:45: The difficulty for Alan has been to work alongside data, and for a lot of financial advisors they realize the impact AI and machine learning might have on their overall business. 

3 Key Points:

  1. Alan explains about AI and generative AI and how they are different. 
  2. Alan talks about the integrations that they have done. He explains custodial integrations and couple of other CRMs.
  3. Alan explains how they are fundamentally changing the nature of the work in the back and middle offices.

Tweetable Quotes:

  • "SIFA is a virtual assistant that allows financial advisors to communicate with their data and generate insights." - Alan
  • "A lot of individuals who seek out financial advisors one of the main reasons they do so is because they don't have the knowledge for certain questions they want to answer. But in actuality, a lot of people don't even know what questions to ask." – Alan
  • "Small finance advising has been a somewhat delicate dance between logical decision making and emotional decision." – Alan
  • "The interesting thing about the financial advice industry is that the demand for financial advisors is greater than the supply of financial advisors." – Alan
  • "If I can teach other people how to be better with their money, maybe I can be better with my money as well." - Alan

Resources Mentioned:

  • Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
  • LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn
  • https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-gurung-186714168/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fintech Impact has 331 episodes in total of non- explicit content. Total playtime is 179:39:10. The language of the podcast is English. This podcast has been added on August 26th 2022. It might contain more episodes than the ones shown here. It was last updated on May 30th, 2024 14:10.

More podcasts from Jason Pereira

Similar Podcasts

Every Podcast » Podcasts » Fintech Impact