Tech Tuesday: The Democratization of Alternative Investing

Meet Milind Mehere. Serial entrepreneur, builder, thinker, angel investor, and founder and CEO of Yieldstreet, a company on the mission to change the way wealth is created. Milind is one of those CEOs I sit back and admire. He has scaled and grown numerous companies and is always challenging the status quo. With Yieldstreet, he is innovating yet again - but this time in the world of alternative investing.

Alt investing is still mysterious for large portions of the population, even for those within financial services, and it is one that I have been thinking about a lot recently. When people think of alt investing, they most often think of real estate. But there are so many more possibilities in the space; from rare art pieces to a buffalo farm in LATAM. Listen in on the conversation below as Milind and I discuss the state of alternative investing and the biggest opportunities for investors across the spectrum.

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Tech Tuesday: The Future Of Credit

Meet Michael Broughton. Michael is one of those unique individuals who make an impression. Michael has done so much so that I have directly asked him to be my best friend solely on his coolness factor :) As the youngest board member ever of a financial institution, Michael Broughton brings a young, disruptive mindset to the world of fintech. He is the founder of Perch, a mobile app that allows you to build credit using your common, recurring, subscriptions, such as Netflix, Hulu and Rent. Raising his first round of capital at 20, Michael has set out to build new age fintech products that bridges the gap between disadvantaged communities and financial opportunity. Listen in below as Michael as I discuss the importance of credit on the future of finance, especially for who need credit most.

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Tech Tuesday: The Shifting World of E-commerce

Meet Tracey Milligan. Founder and CEO of Term Payments, the company looking to empower everyday consumers to purchase the items they crave the most from boutique shops and beyond. Tracey is on a mission to be as inclusive as possible and serve people where they are, and that often lies with where they spend time online. Listen in below as Tracey and I discuss the shifting world of e-commerce and where the biggest opportunities are moving forward.

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Tech Tuesday: Community Banking in 2020

2020 continues to surprise, especially within financial services. Covid has impacted the market up and down so looking at this from a community bank perspective sheds light on what is happening on small businesses and consumers alike. This week, I am speaking again with the incredible Jill Castilla. Named "Community Banker of the Year" by American Banker, "Most Innovative CEOs in Banking" by Bank Innovation, "Most Admired CEOs in Oklahoma" by Journal Record and "Business Leader of the Year" by Oklahoma Christian University, Jill Castilla is a force to be reckoned with.

Jill and Citizens of Edmond is a shining example of a community bank who took a proactive approach by focusing on technology and partnering with fintech startups and celebrities including Mark Cuban to have a direct impact on small businesses. This was done in many ways but one of the most prominent ways is through the website ppp.bank. Listen in below to the conversation where Jill and I speak about the impact on Covid at length and specifically can be done with PPP.

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Tech Tuesday: The Role of External Communications

Meet Christina Anderson. Expert communicator and the one responsible for articulating BBVA's message externally. In a world filled of commoditized products and services, and in an industry like financial services with over 5K financial institutions across the country, the role of Director of Communications is crucial. Communicating a brand's mission, vision, and values to audiences is not an easy thing to do, especially in an authentic voice, but it is something that Christina excels at. Listen in below as Christina and I discuss the role of external communications and what this looks like moving forward.

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Tech Tuesday: Creating a Productive Culture

Meet Diane Spiegel, Cultural Expert, Executive Coach at Leaderology, adjunct faculty at University California Irvine and Culture Curator. I had the pleasure of working with Diane when she was Chief People Officer at Opus Bank and I was Chief Innovation Officer there. During our time as colleagues, we talked about a lot, but we spent hours on many trips talking about the ins and outs of culture. With 2020 being the year it has with the way we work, the way we connect, and the way we communicate all changing, I thought it would be a great time to reconnect with Diane and discuss more about culture.

Culture encompasses a lot of things from hiring to firing to the way a company lives and breathes on a daily basis. Culture is the DNA that makes up a company and attracts talent, it is what makes people feel passionate and comfortable. Listen below as Diane and I discuss the different components of a successful culture and what financial services can do specifically to improve.

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Tech Tuesday: 150 Years of Fintech for 150K Subscribers

This week is a very special week as Tech Tuesday has reached over 150,000 subscribers! I spent the end of the day reflecting on the last (almost) two years of effort in building Tech Tuesday and I am reminded of why I started the series in the first place. The idea behind the series was to provide a concise overview and discussion centered around relevant, current topics related to technology while also using my platform to highlight the voices of the best and brightest across industries. Watch the video below where I give a special thank you to all of you, and then, in honor of the 150, I highlight some of my favorite technological achievements across financial services throughout the past 150 years. What was your favorite Tech Tuesday to date? What has been your favorite technology that has impacted financial services over the last 150 years?

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Tech Tuesday: Investment in Core Infrastructure

Meet Vaibhav Puranik. Chief of Staff at Heracles Corp, A Bay area HQ-ed company building solutions to radically reduce cost of capital across the world. Vaibhav is an individual with a true understanding of both the tech and business mindset, a skillset that I truly value. He has played many roles in his career from founder, to head of product, to consultant, to investor. All of these roles has allowed Vaibhav to think about the many angles for the topic we will be discussing today, core infrastructure.

While not the most glamorous of topics, core infrastructure is the fundamental backbone to all things fintech and the future of financial services. While there has been a lot tried and tested surrounding the core for the last 20 years or so, there isn't a fully baked solution that is fully market ready. There are so fabulous solutions in market for specific things, but there aren't integrated players that allows for a product build from scratch within financial services thus in many ways limiting what is possible. We have seen success on both the vertical and horizontal fronts, but these players don't work seamlessly together. Listen in as Vaibhav and I discuss the journey of the core infrastructure and where we go from here.

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Tech Tuesday: A 2020 Look at Financial Wellness

Meet Rebecca Liebman, CEO and Co-founder of LearnLux, a financial wellness company. We first met Rebecca on Tech Tuesday last July and both Rebecca and the company have continued to prosper since, including being honored on a national stage as a recipient of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award for the category of Education.

I am bringing Rebecca and our interview back to light because the role of financial wellness is more important than ever. Many American’s personal finances have been affected by COVID-19, and our country’s levels of financial stress are higher than ever. To support employees, employers and the greater community, LearnLux has launched the How to Financially Navigate COVID-19 resource page.

As a reminder, LearnLux helps employers reduce financial stress in the workplace by offering employees a high tech, high touch financial wellness platform. Our program blends digital lessons and interactive tools with on-demand Financial Advisors to provide unbiased, holistic financial wellness. As a result, employees feel financially confident, which makes them happier, more productive and more engaged at work. 

Listen in below as Rebecca and I discuss the realities of financial wellness and what companies in particular can do to help their employees improve their relationship with money.

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Tech Tuesday: The Changing Role of the CEO

Meet Luann Abrams. A woman whose career has spanned everything from aerospace engineering to venture capital. To say she knows a thing or two about leadership, especially in male dominated industries, is putting it lightly. How many times have we heard (and how much data supports) the idea that men are hired on potential and women are hired on what they've accomplished? While we have seen progress across industries at large, the progress is minimal compared to where we should be. Luann is one of many who is on a mission to change this and created a company, CEOX to accelerate this change. CEOX connects highly qualified female CEO-ready candidates to CEO roles. They identify these women by asking successful CEOs and senior leaders to nominate them. More than a recruitment firm, CEOX is a mission-based organization the connects and supports women by creating community, programming and opportunity for our candidates. Listen in below as Luann and I discuss how far we have come, why this issue continues, and where we can go from here.

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Tech Tuesday: Data​: Why Quality Is Better Than Quantity

Meet Sanjib Kalita, CEO of Guppy, a company creating and operating a distributed ledger for consumer credit data. Sanjib is one of those people whose career has allowed him to look at the world of fintech from a holistic level. A fintech leader for over two decades, he has worked for large organizations like Google, Intel, and Citi as well several startups with successful exits. Sanjib and I have spoken for hours about the ever changing world of fintech and one of the topics we continue to come back to is data. Since getting into financial services, I have long said that what really differentiates banks is their data and if they were to be classified as anything, it would be as data companies. Just because they have the data though, it doesn't mean it used anywhere close to it's full capacity. There are many reasons for this but today we are going to focus on quality. Enter Sanjib and Guppy where data owners-- financial institutions and consumers-- become true owners by controlling and monetizing their data. Tune into our chat below.

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Tech Tuesday: The Role of a Bank CEO in 2020

Meet Javier Rodríguez Soler: President and CEO of BBVA USA and U.S. country manager for the BBVA Group.

I first introduced Javier to you all through Tech Tuesday in November of 2019 - his first year on the job as President and CEO of BBVA USA. Since then, he has found himself navigating the U.S. subsidiary of global financial services group BBVA through an unprecedented global pandemic, even as he launched a new five-year strategic plan to guide the bank’s growth.

In this next installment, I wanted to catch up with Javier to get his thoughts on the state of digital and banking during a global pandemic, how his first 18 months on the job have gone, and why he believes that the bank’s new strategic direction is more relevant than ever.

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Tech Tuesday: How Technology Has Impacted Law

Meet Tatyanna Senel. A woman with a multifaceted career spanning from technology to law. Always looking to push boundaries for the greater good, Tatyanna is a shining example of the next generation taking charge and doing so in a meaningful way. All by utilizing technology. What does this mindset result in? Turns out quite a lot as seen in this spotlight piece in Forbes. What started off as a simple conversation between Tatyanna and her friends Yasmina Souri and Alex Baptiste, transformed into a thousand lawyer plus coalition united around a singular cause, social justice. This movement didn't come together over a matter of weeks or months, but a matter of days.

This recent example with the social justice movement is just one of many ways in which the legal industry is shifting to a digital first mindset. I sat down with Tatyanna to discuss #BLM, the role of lawyers, and how law in general has been impacted by technology. See our conversation below.

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Tech Tuesday: The Global Shift From Live to Digital

Meet Jan Mercer Dahms. As a professional speaker, trainer, and avid networker, it is hard to be in the same room (even a virtual one) with Jan and not be inspired. To say that Jan has had an eclectic career just begins to tell the story. When looking through Jan's incredible journey, there are a few things that stick out and the one we will be focusing on today is around the power of the network. There are many things that defines one ability to succeed- intelligence, grades, alma matter, hustle, etc but what is rarely discussed is the powerful role the network plays and how detrimental the lack of a network can be to success of all kinds. I never fully understood the saying "It's not what you know, but who you know" until moving to NYC 14 years ago where I was constantly reminded of the importance of your network, or in my case, lack of network. Having a strong network gets you past the initial resume review, that first round of an interview, meeting with that hard to reach VC, and in touch with that journalist whose writing is seen by everyone who matters in the industry. Building a network takes years and a lot of effort. So how has networking and opportunities associated with it shifted to the digital world? I sat down with Jan to discuss further. See our chat below!  

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Tech Tuesday: How The Industry is Coping With the Pandemic

Meet Leslie Campisi. Leslie has had a full career taking many paths. She is a 20 year tech veteran who has spent a lot of time in house on the tech PR side of things and also in house on the VC side for the last 4 years. Currently, Leslie has taken her passion for technology and people to focus on wellness and what startup founders can do to set them, and their companies, up for success now and in the future. With the dual mindset that Leslie brings, I was eager to speak to her about how COVID is impacting the tech industry, particularly from the lens of an investor or a founder. Listen in to our conversation below.

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Tech Tuesday: The NY Fintech Ecosystem & Corporate Accelerators

Meet Kelly Fryer. Connector Extraordinaire and one of the pivotal pieces of the backbone of the fintech ecosystem that is New York City. It is rare to spend time in the space and for Kelly's name not to come up. When you think of people who provide true value to the ecosystem and give much more than they take, you think of Kelly. Over the last 4 years, Kelly has acted as the Program Director (ie COO) for the Barclays Accelerator New York, a top-tier FinTech accelerator for early-stage startups. Every year Barclays Accelerator invests in 10 fintech companies and helps them get their businesses to the next level. With more than 170 alumni companies, the Barclays Accelerator is one of the strongest early stage FinTech portfolios globally, with a current portfolio valuation of over $1.4 billion. With such an impressive portfolio, I knew it was time to highlight the incredible Kelly Fryer. Check out our chat below.

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Tech Tuesday: A 2020 Look at The Role of the Accelerator Model

This week, I am re-highlighting Marcia Chong, a woman on a mission to make financial services and capabilities attainable to all.

As an advisory board member to Village Capital, the vision and mission is close to my heart and I have always been impressed with Marcia's ability to think outside of the box and continuously bring new and exciting perspectives into fintech. Since we caught up with Marcia last year, she led the Finance Forward US 2019 accelerator at Village Capital. Finance Forward US is an accelerator for early-stage companies solving challenges on financial health, economic mobility and community resilience in the US. One of the great aspects of the startups in Finance Forward is that they truly come from across the geographic landscape. In face, for Finance Forward US 2019, two south-Florida based companies, Xendoo and Worthy Financial, were selected by their peers to each receive $75,000. To have Florida-based companies participate and be the peer-selected companies, shows rising fintech leadership outside of the typical "hotspots" of NY, SF, and Boston.

This year, Marcia and the Village Capital team are back with Finance Forward US 2020 and applications are closing this week, May 8th. For all of you entrepreneurs out there, please be sure to apply here!

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Tech Tuesday: Why Now is the Time for Supply Chain

The concept of the supply chain has been around since the early 20th century, centered around the creation of the assembly line. Supply chains are being used every day to bring us the products we know and love including our phones, our cars, our clothes, and beyond. With the current pandemic upon us, supply chains are more important than ever and with PPE in high demand, the struggle is real. The insomniac I am, especially lately, I have been thinking about the supply chain issue as it relates to the current Covid crisis and decided now was time the to catch up with my long time friend and supply chain enthusiast, Brian Aoaeh. Enter Brian and REFASHIOND Ventures.

REFASHIOND Ventures is a NYC-based, early-stage supply chain technology venture firm that is being built to invest in startups refashioning global supply chains. Brian is also the co-founder of The Worldwide Supply Chain Federation, a network of grassroots driven communities of people who are obsessively enthusiastic about supply chain, innovation, and technology. The community has more than 2,000 members in its New York City chapter, and more than 3,000 members globally.

Brian has been a long time supply chain fan and prior to co-founding REFASHIOND, Brian gained 10 years of experience in investment research and management. He spent 8 of those years building an early-stage venture firm, KEC Ventures, from scratch. The firm grew to $98M of assets under management distributed across 2 funds, and 51 investments, with a team of 9 people.

Listen in and read below as Brian and I discuss supply chain discuss the current challenges with supply chain and what you can do to get involved.

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Tech Tuesday: The Future of SMB Lending

SMB, or small and medium business, lending is a hot topic on everyone's minds in today's climate, especially over the last 2 weeks with the emergence of the PPP loan. Our country's economy is suffering, and while this impacts everyone, it disproportionately impacts the small businesses of America. Given that SMBs employ over half of US population, and with the drastic increase in national unemployment, we need this sector healthy in order to ensure a healthy economy moving forward. Equipped with that background, now, more than ever, banks need to enhance their digital banking capabilities, specifically their digital origination to better service their SMB customers.

I have spent the last few weeks deeply immersed in this topic and decided that there was no one better to discuss this further with than my long time friend, Jorge Sun. Jorge's resume speaks for itself, as the former Head of Small Business Credit at Capital One Bank, founding team member and company director at OnDeck Capital (IPOed December 2014), and former board member of the Small Business Financial Exchange among many other banking leadership roles, to say Jorge is an expert in SMB lending is an understatement. All of his past experience has led Jorge to his next mission, building a fintech startup, LendingFront. LendingFront provides cutting edge lending technology to banks to modernize the origination underwriting and servicing of SMB loans. I sat down with Jorge to speak about the status of SMB lending now and in the future.

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Tech Tuesday: Financial Wellness for Retirees

The baby boomer generation, the generation that created modern technology as we know it. Baby boomers are getting ready for retirement and have a lot on their minds. The current stock market, the national and global impact on the economy, and often times, many more basic questions like where to begin. They are the first generation to be retiring without a pension and also the first generation to be living 10 years longer than their parents. In a digital world that has been focused on "millennials", boomers, all 72M of them with 3x the spending power, are often overlooked. Plenty of data and research shows that in fact boomers, while not digital natives, are active digital consumers and as such there are massive opportunities for those entrepreneurs willing to tackle the challenge.

Enter Kindur.

Kindur is a financial technology company that reimagines financial wellness for modern retirees and helps them retire fearlessly with straightforward financial advice and services. The Kindur team built the Silvur app with one goal: to help Baby Boomers make the most of their retirement savings. With a suite of interactive tools, money saving advice, and timely content, Silver offers personalized support and resources so that Boomers can live their lives with peace of mind whether they’re nearing retirement or already living it.

Look out for a new app release coming from Kindur tomorrow- its designed to help boomers navigate their new normal.

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