Fintech Leaders

Miguel Armaza interviews Doug Ricket, CEO & Co-Founder of PayJoy, a global fintech with $300+ million in annualized revenue that provides credit to over 10 million customers across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Founded in 2015, PayJoy reached profitability in 2023 and has raised almost $200 million in equity financing from USV, Core Innovation, Greylock, Invus, and DNX.

We discuss:

• How his years at the Peace Corps in Africa shaped him and fueled the ambition to work with emerging markets
• Building your team and the importance of the first 10 hires of a startup
• Strengths and weaknesses on the transition from engineer to company CEO
• Why in startups there are no magic elves and you have to do all the work yourself… 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 65,000+ 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

Miguel Armaza interviews Rebecca Lynn, Co-Founder & General Partner at Canvas Ventures, an early-stage VC with almost $900 million AUM, focused on Series A & B in fintech, digital health, marketplaces, and logistics.

Rebecca has been operating or investing in fintech for over 25 years and has also been ranked on the Forbes Midas List 5 years in a row.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Marketing and go-to-market strategies from her experience at Next Card
• How companies should think about preparing for M&A opportunities
• The areas of fintech where AI is making an actual difference
• Challenges of building a VC fund from scratch … 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 65,000+ 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

Miguel Armaza interviews Asaf Horesh, Managing Partner of Vintage Investment Partners, a $4B global fund investing in VC funds, growth companies and secondary investments. Founded in 2003, Vintage has invested in several of the world's leading venture funds and has exposure to over 2000 technology companies.

We discuss:

• Going from Apache helicopter pilot to tech investor
• Why self-awareness and critical reflection are especially important to succeed in VC
• How Vintage leverages data to make better investment decisions
• Why it makes sense to invest in first-time funds
• Succession planning for investment firms… 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 65,000+ 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

Miguel Armaza interviews Mike Seckler, CEO of Justworks, one of the largest platforms for SMBs providing HR, Tax, and payroll services in the US and Internationally.

Founded in 2012 in NYC, Justworks recently crossed $300 million in annual revenue and is backed by some of the best NY-based VCs, including Bain Capital Ventures, FirstMark, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures, Index, and Redpoint.

We recorded this conversation live in the heart of NYC at Barclays Rise, as part of New York Fintech Week. Mike was outstanding and he delighted a room full of 100 fintech entrepreneurs and builders. I’m sure you’ll be delighted as well.

We discuss:

• The secret to success of great entrepreneurs
• How to run a functional board of directors
• The power of focusing on one product for a long time
• Successfully managing a pre and post-merger integration
• Why doing something great requires tons of pressure… 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 65,000+ 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

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 $5.5 billion and has raised 900 million 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 network
• Why Airwallex prioritizes people with great leadership skills who are also technical
• The impact of AI in financial services
• New risks of AI-powered financial fraud
• Partnering with almost 100 banks around the world… 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 65,000+ 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

Miguel Armaza interviews Alberto Dalmasso, CEO & Co-Founder of Satispay, the largest fintech in Italy and one largest fintechs in Europe. Founded in 2013, Satispay has 4 million consumers and 330,000 merchants active on the platform. Started as a payments network, they’ve now evolved to a wider financial services ecosystem and super-app. Satispay has raised $500 million from Block, Greyhound, Addition, Coatue, Banca Sella, Endeavor, and many more.

We discuss:

• Strategies and key metrics on building one of the largest payment networks in Europe, bypassing Visa and Mastercard
• Balancing aggressive growth and a culture of efficiency
• Learning through small mistakes
• Evolving into a wider super-app for consumers
• Leadership lessons on handling pressure
• Spreading confidence instead of fear… lots 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 65,000+ 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

Miguel Armaza interviews Nick Peddy, CTO of Clear (YOU:NYSE), a publicly traded company with over 20 million members that’s built one of the largest identity platforms in the world. If you’ve ever travelled through an airport in the US, you’ve definitely seen them. Most recently, Clear expanded into financial services by launching its first reusable KYC solution.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The future of digital identity and why re-usability is crucial
• Lessons and secrets to great management
• What it takes to run a great technology organization
• Why AI will not take our jobs anytime soon… 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 65,000+ 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

Miguel Armaza interviewsLauren Kolodny, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Acrew Capital, a multi-stage venture capital fund with over a billion dollars in assets under management. Some of their fintech investments include Chime, Gusto, Coinbase, Bilt, Vanta, and Klar.

We discussed:

• Lessons from over a decade of investing in technology and fintech
• A bullish case for consumer fintech
• Lauren’s philosophy on developing talent from within
• How Acrew covers multiple industries and keeps their ear to the ground… 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 65,000+ 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

Miguel Armaza sits down with I sit down with Eric Poirier, CEO of Addepar, a global tech and data company with over $5 trillion in client assets managed on the platform and clients in more than 45 countries. Founded in 2009 by Joe Lonsdale and Jason Mirra, Addepar has raised half a billion dollars from a long list of great investors.

Eric has been CEO of Addepar since 2013 and prior to that, he was amongst the first 20 employees at Palantir.

We discuss:

• Lessons for entrepreneurs on the importance of making bold technology bets early on, despite its risks
• How AI and machine learning are helping solve problems in the investment management world
• Transitioning from software engineer to company CEO, and overcoming a big mindset shift
• Addepar's go-to-market strategy
• Lessons learned from working with Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale… 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 65,000+ 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

In this special episode, Miguel Armaza brings you a compilation of the best insights and actionable learnings on what it takes to be a great VC investor from 10 amazing interviews recorded over the last two years with early and late-stage investors.

The Partners and leaders featured in this podcast, represent firms with a combined $160 billion AUM from funds including General Atlantic, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, Bain Capital, and more.

If you want to dig deeper and listen to any of the complete episodes, you can find the links in our Substack newsletter.

You’ll hear from 10 investors:

1. David Haber, General Partner at a16z
2. Rana Yared, General Partner at Balderton Capital
3. Howard Morgan, Chair and General Partner at B Capital & Co-Founder of First Round Capital
4. Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures
5. Mercedes Bent, Partner at Lightspeed Ventures
6. Latif Peracha, General Partner at M13
7. Dan Rosen, Founder of Commerce Ventures
8. Martin Escobari, Co-President of General Atlantic
9. Emmalyn Shaw, Managing Partner at Flourish Ventures
10.Tidjane Deme, General Partner at Partech

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 65,000+ 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