Podcasts about core innovation capital

With the Synapse bankruptcy case seemingly nearing some kind of conclusion, impacted end users are left wondering, will they ever get their money back?While, at this point, Synapse cofounder and former CEO Sankaet Pathak can't really answer that question, he is able to provide greater context on what happened and why.In this podcast, recorded as a X (formerly Twitter) livestream yesterday, November 11th, I had the chance to interview Pathak and impacted depositors had an opportunity to ask him questions directly.Key takeaways I had from the conversation include:* Pathak revealed that Evolve had sent him a cease and desist as a result of him posting what he says is an anonymized version of the trial balance report of the funds Evolve held for end users.* A description of the process by which Evolve prepared and sent files to Synapse for reconciliation, including a possible reason why balances between Evolve's systems and Synapse's appeared to varied substantially day to day, and Evolve's claim that this wasn't something to worry about, Pathak said.* Pathak said that Evolve was aware of and acknowledged that fees owed to Tabapay were improperly debited from customer funds, but that Evolve disputed whether it was the bank's fault.* Synapse didn't want Synapse Brokerage to contract with Evolve or keep the Brokerage's funds at Evolve due to the known shortfalls, Pathak said.* The plan with the Brokerage structure, per Pathak, was that incoming funds would land in users' DDA accounts at Evolve, a portion of those funds that users would transact with would stay at Evolve, and the rest would be swept out to AMG. However, Pathak says, in late September or early October 2023, Evolve, without explanation why, ceased processing sweeps out of Evolve to AMG.* Pathak described how Evolve's reversal of position on funding the FBO shortfalls led to the collapse of the deal for Tabapay to acquire Synapse's assets and, ultimately, the collapse of the company and freeze of end user funds.* Pathak acknowledged taking two loans from the company, one in late 2023 and one in early 2024, which totaled $320,000. The transactions, Pathak said, were approved by the Synapse board — though, at the time, the board consisted of Pathak himself, a seed round investor that, and a Synapse cofounder. While Pathak didn't name specific individuals, per filings in the bankruptcy case, the seed investor is Doug Marchant and the Synapse cofounder is Hilary Quirk. Pathak declined to elaborate on the purpose of the loans, besides saying he had “good reasons” to do it, which would “become obvious” relatively soon.* Full reconciliation should be possible, Pathak said, but it would require the right data, resources, people, and time.* Pathak acknowledged anonymously leaking a letter that Synapse had sent to Evolve to me (which I suspected at the time but didn't know until now.)* According to Pathak, Synapse's board of directors, which, at points, included Andreessen Horowitz's Angela Strange, Trinity Venture's Schwark Satyavolu, and Core Innovation Capital's Arjan Schütte, was broadly aware of the issues Synapse faced, that they were “trying to do the right thing,” and that the board ask Pathak “not to shut down and escalate.”* While Chapter 11 trustee McWilliams and Judge Martin Barash have made numerous references to not being able to confirm or deny if they have made any referrals to law enforcement, Pathak said that he is not aware of any criminal investigation and has not been contacted by law enforcement authorities, though he did acknowledge speaking with broker-dealer self-regulator authority Finra.* When asked if, in the regular course of its business, Synapse had any interaction with Evolve's regulators, the St. Louis Federal Reserve or the Arkansas Department of Banking, Pathak indicated that it did not.Additional Context & Fact Checking* Pathak suggested that Evolve or others not suing him for defamation should be interpreted as a sign that he's telling the truth. However, Evolve has explicitly stated that it believes Pathak's claims about a shortfall of end user funds and the causes of it are “based on ledgers that are demonstrably inaccurate and that his company prepared” (see FAQ #17 here.) It's also worth noting that Evolve may have other reasons to avoid filing such a suit against Pathak — namely, that Evolve would presumably have to turn over relevant documents as part of discovery in any such suit.* Pathak said that Synapse launched the brokerage sweep program in October 2023, in response to Evolve raising Synapse's reserve requirement and withholding interest payments owed to end users, fintech programs, and Synapse. However, the Synapse Brokerage entity had been up and running for sometime by this point, and Synapse had been working with many of its programs to migrate them to the new structure since significantly earlier in 2023.* Asked directly if Pathak or Synapse ever inappropriately used end user funds, including using end user funds to meet bank reserve requirements, Pathak said he was not aware of any instances of customer funds being misappropriated. Pathak described the allegation that Synapse used customer funds to meet reserve requirements at Lineage as “factually false.” However, Pathak's answer glosses over that it was Synapse that would have instructed from Evolve to Lineage and, per my prior reporting, represented that these were Synapse's own funds, not end users'.* Pathak also denied that Synapse knowingly allowed fees Synapse owed to be debited from end user funds, saying that, as soon as such issues came to the company's attention, it alerted Evolve and worked to fix them. However, Pathak did not specify if when these types of issues occurred, whether or not end user balances were made whole.* Asked about his robotics startup's attempt to raise funds and purported relationship with GM, first reported by me and subsequently confirmed by CNBC, Pathak described the CNBC reporter as “a piece of s**t” and “highly unethical,” alleging that the reporter contacted an auto industry union leader, not GM, leading the union leader to threaten a strike if GM didn't pull out of the deal. However, the CNBC piece quoted a GM spokesperson as saying, “GM has never invested in Foundation Robotics and has no plans to do so. In fact, GM has never had an agreement of any kind with the company. Any claims to the contrary are fabricated.” GM sent me a statement to the same effect.Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday: Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Chapter, a Medicare advisory platform that uses a blend of technology and a trained team of advisors to decipher all plans at a microscopic level, ensuring that members can enroll in the plans that are best suited for their needs based on cost and coverage. Chapter has raised to date $61 million from notable investors such as Addition, Narya Capital, Susa Ventures, Maverick Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Core Innovation Capital, and Health2047 Capital Partners, and Peter Thiel.Where to find Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz:• Website: Free Guidance from Licensed Medicare Advisors - Chapter (askchapter.org)• LinkedIn Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz | LinkedInWhere to find Hadi Radwan:• Newsletter: Principles Friday | Hadi Radwan | Substack• LinkedIn: Hadi Radwan | LinkedInIf you like our podcast, please don't forget to subscribe and support us on your favorite podcast players. We also would appreciate your feedback and rating to reach more people.We recently launched our new newsletter, Principles Friday, where I share one principle that can help you in your life or business, one thought-provoking question, and one call to action toward that principle. Please subscribe Here.It is Free and Short (2min).

Raunaq Singh is the founder & CEO of Roam, the platform for purchasing a home with an assumable, low-rate mortgage included. Prior to founding Roam, Raunaq spent a decade in various product and operations roles across Uber, Opendoor and Culdesac. He received a Bachelor's degree in Political Economy from NYU and currently resides in New York City.(2:26) - Lessons from Opendoor & Uber(5:01) - Roam origin story (7:36) - Feature: Housing Trust Silicon Valley (8:48) - Assumable mortgage mechanics(14:55) - Roam's Business Model(16:38) - Benefits for mortgage lenders(18:58) - Roam's homebuyers & sellers(21:10) - Impact of interest rates on the business(22:10) - Roam's New Closing Guarantee(27:54) - Housing market in 2024(31:59) - Collaboration Superpower: FHA, VA, Zillow, Redfin

It's been two decades since the Financial Health Network and a national movement to improve financial lives were founded. As we celebrate 20 years of creating financial change, what does the future hold? Listen in as longtime finhealth champions Ellen Seidman of the Urban Institute, Arjan Schütte of Core Innovation Capital, and Tilman Ehrbeck of Flourish Ventures reflect on our journey and what we can do next to make the biggest difference in financial health.

Ryan Frazier is the Co-founder and CEO at Arrived Homes, the Real Estate tech company that Jeff Bezos and Marc Benioff invested in to make the wealth building potential of owning rental homes & vacation rentals more accessible. Ryan and the Arrived team believe they can do that by simplifying the process, and lowering the cost to get started. With Arrived anyone can buy shares in income producing rental properties starting at just $100. Arrived takes care of all the real estate operations so that investors can sit back and collect net rental income and their share of the home's appreciation. (2:42) - Arrived Homes origin story(7:49) - Arrived's end-to-end platform(9:14) - Investor returns with Arrived vs. REITs(14:44) - Seattle's Proptech Ecosystem(16:30) - Feature: Housing Trust Silicon Valley (site) (17:41) - Investing in single family homes vs. Residential funds(21:48) - Arrived's real estate investor community(24:35) - Proptech's strategy to competing with Institutional SFR(30:06) - Build-to-rent opportunity(33:57) - Housing market predictions for 2024(39:42) - Collaboration Superpower: Christina Tosi (Founder at Milk Bar - Wikipedia)

‍Column Tax's mission is to democratize access to tax and finance advice to improve people's lives. The company is building the infrastructure and APIs to power year-round income tax products for all mobile banking and fintech companies. Column Tax is venture backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Felicis, Not Boring, Core Innovation Capital, and South Park Commons. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Building a company and how to think about competing against the large incumbants in the industry. * Gavin's background story including sales & operations roles at Dropbox, Premise Data, and Waymo. * What led Gavin and his co-founder, Michael Bock, down the path of starting Column Tax. * All the details on Column Tax and how they are approaching the business of filing taxes a different way and the level of impact their platform is having, especially with low-income families. * Advice for building a remote first company. * And so much more. Did you know that you can set up a user profile on VentureFizz? A user profile gives you access to personalized content, job seeker tools, and administrative features to manage your email subscriptions. To create a user profile and maximize your experience on VentureFizz, go to venturefizz.com/register to get started.

On this episode of More Than Profit, Bryce is talking with Miles Lasater, Founder and CEO of Purpose Built. Purpose Built is a venture studio that partners with future founders, generates ideas together, builds teams, and invests capital to launch new companies. Miles is from San Francisco and was surrounded by entrepreneurs growing up. Miles started his first company, Higher One, when he was in college. From there he went on to start two other startups, SeeClickFix and OneUni. He fell in love with the venture studio model and his goal throughout his career was to eventually start one of his own. Bryce and Miles talk about how the venture studio model works, the qualities of a successful venture, and how social impact fits into it all. Learn more on this episode of More Than Profit, Exploring the Venture Studio Model With Miles Lasater. Miles website: https://mileslasater.com/ Podcast episode with Jeff Zhou of Fig: https://www.startupsforgood.com/jeff-zhou-co-founder-ceo-of-fig/ Startup ideas blog post: https://www.purposebuilt.vc/blog-posts/how-to-have-1044-startup-ideas-in-10-months Podcast episode with Arjan Schutte of Core Innovation Capital: https://www.startupsforgood.com/arjan-schutte-founder-and-managing-partner-of-core-innovation-capital/ More Than Profit is a podcast from Access Ventures and is produced by Render. Host: Bryce Butler Executive Producer, Recording, Editing, and Marketing: Per Nordgren Graphic Design: Olivia Allison Social Media: Mallory Sanborn

Ryan Frazier is the Co-Founder & CEO of Arrived. Arrived makes it easy for anyone to invest in shares of single-family rental homes, and earn passive rental income + property appreciation right away. The company is backed by Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, Spencer Rascoff (the former CEO and founder of Zillow), and Core Innovation Capital. Previously, Ryan was the Co-Founder and CEO of DataRank, an alumni of Y Combinator, and GM at Sprout Social.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adam Moelis shares why half of American's can't come up with $400 in an emergency, and 78% of people live paycheck to paycheck. But they spend $80 billion on the lottery every year. We also discuss a recent study that showed that most wished they'd learned more about money in school and scored themselves low when it came to financial literacy. Could tech change this? Adam shares how he founded Yotta to help Americans make healthier financial decisions and become more financially secure. Adam's company provides the chance to win big every week, similar to playing the lottery but in an FDIC-insured account where customers cannot lose any money. About Adam  Adam Moelis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Yotta, a financial technology startup whose mission is to help Americans become more financially secure by offering a unique banking experience that allows customers to win weekly prizes of up to $10 million.   Adam graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Finance and Accounting from Wharton. His degree and interest in personal finance and passion for behavioral psychology led him to co-found Yotta with Ben Doyle. Adam and Ben were honored with the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2021 for their social impact on founding their company, Yotta. Additionally, Yotta has raised over $17 million from investors like Base 10, Core Innovation Capital, Slow Ventures, FundersClub, TwentyTwo VC, Chapter One, Capital X, among some angel investors. Yotta graduated from the prestigious Y Combinator in July of 2020.  Previously, Adam was an investment analyst in the Multi-Strategy Investing Group at Goldman Sachs. He also worked as a Product Manager and Data Analyst at YipitData, where he built a mobile app for consumers. Tech Talks Daily Podcast Sponsor Details Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/TTD - Enter promo code TTD for 83% off and 3 extra months free! 

Arjan is a trusted and experienced venture investor and founder of Core Innovation Capital, a leading venture capital fund investing in financial services companies that democratize prosperity. He is a passionate advocate for market-based financial access and empowerment.His investments include Ripple, NerdWallet, Bestow, and Oportun. He is a Senior Advisor to the Financial Health Network (formerly CFSI), the nation's leading authority on financial health, which he helped start in 2004. He has served on the CFPB's Consumer Advisory Board and currently serves on the Fed's Consumer Advisory Counsel.Several of Arjan's investments have been acquired or gone public, including TIO Networks (by PayPal), Fundera (by Nerdwallet), Coverhound (Brown & Brown), Oportun (Nasdaq:OPRT), Honest Dollar (by Goldman Sachs), L2C (by TransUnion), AccountNow (by Green Dot), CircleLending (by Virgin Group), and RentBureau (by Experian).Arjan writes regularly, and has been noted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Economist, and in the documentary, Spent. He speaks regularly including at the White House, SXSW, Stanford, Harvard, and MIT.On a local level he serves on the Compton Community Development Corporation Board. Prior, he spent a decade as an operator in several venture backed startups as a technology leader, product- and general manager including Pierian Spring Software, Cognitive Concepts (acquired by Houghton Mifflin), Capella Learning (now NASDAQ: CPLA), and DoTheGood.Arjan joins me today to discuss mainly about a piece he wrote for Medium called How missionary are you actually?, which I think has so many insights per sentence. It is mind blowing, how dense and how much information is in the short piece. I thought it was worth a deep dive on the podcast, especially for founders thinking about how to hold themselves accountable to the mission. How to make sure it lives on past your initial excitement. And those moments when you say, Let's go climb that mountain..“We believe in Occam's razor, so pick the simpler versus the more complex solution, when there's a choice. We believe in creative destruction. And so rather than perfect academic rigor, we're fine to always be tinkering and improving it. Then we put together a small group of folks whose job it is to call our bluff, to hold our feet to the fire to insist on intellectual honesty.” - Arjan SchütteToday on Startups for Good we cover:Misguided perseveranceImpact externalities reportWhy mission driven startups are intent on financial healthThe importance of writing down the company's mission Calculating correlations between social impact and enterprise valueDifferent ways to levy feesUnderstanding your customer betterSharing positive externalities with steak holdersTaking The Founder's PledgeArjan's article in MediumConnect with Arjan through his email at a@corevc.com or at Core's websiteSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect

Financial health and inclusion in the US remain as major concerns  and challenges for the nation, the millions who struggle with access to affordable financial services, and payments experts focused in this arena. Join Glenbrook's Erin McCune and Justin Pituch as they speak with a recent panel of expert practitioners in the financial health space: Kimberley Gartner, Arjan Schutte, and Ryan Falvey.  Kimberley is Chief Growth Officer at Canary, a company that helps businesses establish emergency relief funds for their employees. Arjan and Ryan both work in the venture capital space; Arjan leads Core Innovation Capital and Ryan heads up Financial Venture Studio. Come to the Payments on Fire® website for: Expanded show notes Podcast transcript The complete Payments on Fire® episode catalog The Glenbrook Education schedule

Monique Villa leads Mucker Capital's Nashville office, investing in companies across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. She is also the co-founder of Build In SE, a community of startup founders and ecosystem partners committed to company building in the Southeast.  Prior to joining Mucker's investment team, Monique's career in early-stage venture capital began in 2013 leading investor relations for Velos Partners, and more recently with Core Innovation Capital. Earlier in her career, Monique advised digital entertainment startups on business development and strategic partnerships and later went on to lead a startup accelerator for students in the Greater Los Angeles area. Her love for startups began in 2008 while interning for TOMS, where she supported finance and inventory management projects for several nationwide launches. To request an intro, email monique@mucker.com.  https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/02/vc-meets-the-land-of-opportunity/

Arjan Schutte is the founder and managing partner at Core Innovation Capital, a venture capital firm that helps entrepreneurs build disruptive, high-growth FinTech businesses. Arjan shares insights on solving public sector problems using marketplace solutions. He is keen on ideas that can create social impact alongside providing competitive financial returns.Good intentions don't automatically translate into meaningful impact.Solve one problem that you have the best chance of solving.An entrepreneur's early-life story and the cocurricular activities they engaged in are incredibly telling of their character.Non-profit: Compton Community Development Corporation

Arjan Schutte is democratizing prosperity by investing in technologies that dramatically reduce the cost of financial services. 17% of low income Americans' spending goes to things that are generally “free” for the middle class and wealthy – like having a bank account. Arjan has backed unicorns like blockchain-based international digital payments company Ripple, and out of left field concepts like Yotta that encourage savings through lottery-like winnings. Listen to how over the last decade Core's portfolio companies have created $45 Billion of savings for 25 million Americans, 80% of whom are low and moderate income. That means Arjan has helped save poor Americans about $100 per household per month while driving substantial value in the Core portfolio.

Frank Furman was destined to lead. First, as an Infantry Officer in the US Marine Corps. Then as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company And now, he’s Chief Operating Officer of the VC-backed & fast-growing PadSplit. PadSplit is disrupting the affordable housing industry by creating safe, attractive, and respectable co-living environments. One room at a time, often for workforce housing. Unlike AirBnB, this is long-term rentals Based in Atlanta, PadSplit has 1,200 bedrooms listed & its average rental is 8.5 months Clearly, Frank & PadSplit are onto something. Because they’ve been backed by a who’s who of early-stage ventures. Including Impact Engine, Cox Enterprises, Kapor Capital, Techstars, 1984 Ventures, Base Ventures and Core Innovation Capital. But this episode isn’t about funding. It’s about leadership. And how Frank is scaling his team at PadSplit.

Miguel Armaza interviews Kathleen Utecht, Managing Partner at Core Innovation Capital, a venture capital firm, with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, investing in high-growth financial technology companies that can unlock upward mobility for everyday Americans. Kat holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Babson College and an MBA from The Wharton School. We talked about: - Kat’s journey, from family upbringing, schooling, all the way to how she ended up in VC - Why she continues to be excited about Fintech, even after investing in the sector for over a decade - What’s changed in the industry over the past few years - Core’s investment and valuation approach and how they work with portfolio companies to prepare them from seed, to series A, and beyond - Her vision for Core’s future - And a lot more! Kat Utecht Kat Utecht is co-managing partner of Core Innovation Capital, an early stage venture capital fund making mercenary returns through missionary investments in financial services and insurance technology. Portfolio companies include HealthSherpa, Bestow, Ripple and Synapse. Prior to investing with Core and at Comcast Ventures, Kat was CEO of Green Rock Entertainment, a commerce company acquired by private equity in 2009. Kat began her career in financial services, both as an investment banker and a graduate of General Electric Capital's Financial Management Program. Kat has an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BS from Babson College. About Core Innovation Capital Core Innovation Capital is an an early stage venture capital fund making mercenary returns through missionary investments in financial services and insurance technology. Core invests across three themes: 1. Modernizing financial and insurance infrastructure, 2. Expanding access to better financial services and insurance, and 3. Creating wealth through fintech adjacencies that help increase a household or SMB GDP. We optimize our portfolio by focusing on high conviction, early-stage investments with the flexibility to participate in unique opportunities across the venture lifecycle. Our main value add is our contacts - regulatory (e.g. state insurance regulators, CFPB), people flow (internal database for hiring), commercial contracts (e.g. insurers / reinsurers; lenders / debt capital, SaaS customers) - and to bounce ideas off of since we are so focused. Investments include Ripple, NerdWallet, and Oportun, among many others. For more information, visit www.corevc.com.

Great discussion with Arjan Schutte about democratizing prosperity and running Core Innovation Capital, a finTech fund that measures its impact on society and has invested in Ripple, NerdWallet, Synapse, Fundera and more.

Finding VC in an I-Don't-Know Moment—with Dillon Liang Are you curious about how different industries work? Would you like to learn something new every day? Then a career in venture capital might be a good fit. Dillon Liang is a Junior VC at Bullpen Capital, an early-stage, post-seed venture fund based in Silicon Valley. His resume prior to Bullpen includes roles at M13, Techstars Cedars-Sinai, Core Innovation Capital and Uncharted Ventures. Dillon earned his BA from UCLA, where he cofounded a nonprofit that connected startups with student talent. On this episode of the podcast, Dillon joins us to discuss the I-don't-know moment that led to his career in VC, explaining what he loves about meeting and working with founders and other investors. He weighs in on what makes a great Bullpen investment and how he learned to identify what kind of deals he likes (and which ones he doesn't). Listen in to understand why founders should talk to Junior VCs and find out if a career in venture capital is right for you. Topics Covered What made Dillon want to become a VCFound internship at family office on UCLA job boardLiked meeting smart people inspired to change world What makes a great Bullpen investmentProduct in market with early signs of tractionTeam of about 10 that's raised up to $4M What Dillon likes most about being a VCMeeting and working with foundersBeing part of effort to change world How Dillon is finding deals in the COVID eraLean on network of trusted sourcesGo deep with relationships formed in last year How we can inspire more people to be VCsBroaden access to processesTransparency around how it works Dillon's I-don't-know moment at UCLARealized lack of conviction for medicineLed to discovery of venture capital Why founders should talk to Junior VCsJunior team included in decision meetingsRally more internal support How Dillon builds internal conviction for a dealTook every meeting in Year One to develop tasteSit in on meetings to understand what partners like What Dillon is most proud of in his VC career thus farDeals that made it over line (e.g.: Honeybee Health)Friendships with founders, other investors Dillon's definition of successContent and fulfilled, happy in workContinue to learn every day Connect with Dillon Bullpen Capital https://bullpencap.com/Dillon at Bullpen https://bullpencap.com/team/dillon-liangDillon on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dillsl/Dillon on Twitter https://twitter.com/dill_slBullpen on Twitter https://twitter.com/BullpenCap Resources Techstars https://www.techstars.com/Core Innovation Capital http://corevc.com/Honeybee Health https://honeybeehealth.com/Call of Duty: Warzone https://www.callofduty.com/warzoneDiscord https://discord.com/Telegram Messenger https://telegram.org/Reddit Showerthoughts https://www.reddit.com/r/Showerthoughts/Fortnite https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/homeOculus Quest https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/homeThe Weekend Live Experience https://wavexr.com/theweekndexperience/John Legend's Virtual Concert https://go.wave.watch/johnlegendWave https://wavexr.com/ Connect with Boost VC Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVCBoost VC on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/boost_vc/

Miguel Armaza is joined by Melbourne O’Banion, CEO and Co-Founder of Bestow, a digital life insurance company leveraging technology to make protection accessible and affordable. Bestow has received over $68 million in equity financing from Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, NEA, Morpheus Ventures, Core Innovation Capital, Abstract Ventures, Sammons Financial, 8VC. Melbourne O’Banion is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bestow, a digital life insurance company leveraging technology to make protection accessible and affordable. Through data-driven technology applications and innovative products, Bestow is changing the way life insurance is perceived and purchased. He is an entrepreneur and investor with expertise in fintech and direct-to-consumer businesses. Among his startups, he was a founding member of Presidio Title, a leading title insurance agency in Texas. He is also co-founder of Beauty Bioscience, a skincare line sold via TV shopping channels and luxury retailers. Melbourne is a member of the National Advisory Council for the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University and is on the board of the SMU Tate Lecture Series. He is a graduate of BYU and studied Finance and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Bestow is an insurance technology company that builds products and software that make life insurance accessible to millions of families. In addition to its direct-to-consumer arm, Bestow provides industry-first APIs enabling partners to offer bespoke life insurance coverage to their customers with ease. Bestow is reshaping the life industry as the insurance company of the future. The company is headquartered in Texas with offices in Dallas and Austin. Learn more at www.bestow.com In this episode, Melbourne shares: - His background as a serial entrepreneur and what drove him to life insurance. - Why he and his co-founder decided to avoid third party software solutions and, instead, built an insurance product along with its integrated software from scratch. And why this decision has made a huge positive difference. - Reasoning behind Bestow’s entry market strategy. - Finding product-market fit and how they decided what customer segment to focus on - Bestow’s key partnerships, ranging from traditional life insurance companies to Fintechs like Acorns, Chime, Stash, Moneylion, and more. - The importance of hiring a great team, establishing company principles early on, and leading and hiring by those principles. - Famous Texas Hospitality. The advantages of launching a startup in Texas and why he thinks there isn’t a better place in the US to start a company. - How the COVID-19 crisis has awakened a lot of people to a sense of their own mortality and what this has meant for the life insurance business. - The state of InsurTech and why he thinks new entrants in the insurance space will have to do something radically new and different to differentiate themselves. - Valuable advice for entrepreneurs and aspiring founders.

Sankaet Pathak is the Co-founder and CEO of Synapse. Synapse is a San Francisco-based startup that operates a platform enabling banks and fintech companies to easily develop financial services products. It closed a $33 million Series B in 2019 bringing the total funds raised to $50 million, aiming to democratize and become the AWS of financial services. The backers of this startup include Andreessen Horowitz, Core Innovation Capital, and Trinity Ventures. On this episode you will hear: Sankaet's journey from India to the US, and what made him start Synapse? What is SynapseFi and what are they trying to build? What has taken technology so long disrupt the financial services as we know? What is the future of finance? And how does it compare to the Pre-COVID world? Will trust get disrupted? How should one think about building a product that is sustainable? Reach out to Sankaet and Synapse to learn more on Linkedin and Twitter. You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Twitter, Linkedin, or email me at mindgravity2020@gmail.com.

Misha Esipov is the Founder & CEO @ Nova Credit, the startup that allows you to use your international credit history to apply for credit cards, apartment rentals, loans and more. To date, Misha has raised over $69M with Nova from some of the best in the business Kleiner Perkins, Index, First Round, Pear and Core Innovation Capital to name a few. As for Misha, prior to changing the world of credit history, he spent over 5 years in the more traditional world of finance including time at Apollo in the world of private equity and then also Goldman Sachs in the world of investment banking. If that was not enough, due to the incredible impact Nova is having, Misha also sits on the board of World Education Services. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Misha made his way from the world of investment banking and private equity with Goldman and Apollo to changing the way we think about international credit with the founding of Nova? 2.) How does Misah think about and asses both risk and value creation? How did Misha's time at Goldman Sachs influence his operating mentality and how he thinks about the value of data today? Why does Misha find the growth at all costs and revenue later mindset challenging? What core fundamentals around unit economics did Misha establish early with Nova? How does Misha advise founders when it comes to unit economics? 3.) Misha has raised over $69M from some of the best, how did Misha find the process of fundraising? Where specifically does Misha believe his investors provide outside value? What is the optimal way to use an investor in the recruitment process? Where does Misha believe investors could do better and improve? How does Misha advise founders when it comes to manager selection? 4.) How does Misha manage the psychology of being CEO? How does he deal with the shit hit the fan moments? How has his role changed over the last 3 years? What elements have been the most challenging to learn and scale? 5.) How does Misha advise founders on building a diverse pipeline of recruitment candidates from day 1? Why does Misha believe that no recruitment firm can solve for diversity? What is his process as a result for ensuring a truly diverse team? What works? What does not? How does Misha building a culture of accountability? How does Misha think about optimising internal decision-making? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Misha’s Fave Book: Mastery (The Robert Greene Collection) As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Misha on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Carta simplifies how startups and investors manage equity, track cap tables, and get valuations. Go to carta.com/20vc to get 10% off. More than 800,000 employees and shareholders use Carta to manage hundreds of billions of dollars in equity and Carta now offers Fund Administration so you can see real-time data in the Carta platform and work with Carta’s team of experienced fund accountants. Go to carta.com/20vc to get 10% off.

Tim Chen is the co-founder and CEO of NerdWallet which is a personal finance website and app, that provides unbiased advice. From finding the best credit card to buying a house to investing their next dollar, and more. The company has raised over $69 million from investors such as IVP, RRE, iGlobe Partners, Core Innovation Capital, or Silicon Valley Bank. 

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Atticus Leblanc of PadSplit.com, a house sharing service that offers affordable shared living experiences to the workforce. The Company raised a $4.6 million Seed Round led by Core Innovation Capital. Cox Enterprises, Kapor Capital, 1984 Ventures, Impact Engine, MetaProp NYC, Techstars, Alexander & Edwards Publishing and Enterprise Community Partners also participated in the round. In this episode, Atticus discusses his vision for making an affordable housing marketplace, the Atlanta startup scene, raising capital from foundations and social impact investors, his powerful way he leverages weekly investor updates, and much more. This series is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Learn more at www.foundersuite.com.

Colleen Poynton is the Vice President of Core Innovation Capital where she sources and invests in companies that make financial services more efficient, affordable, accessible, and secure for individuals and businesses. Prior to her involvement in Core, Colleen worked on the sourcing and selection team at Endeavor Global and helped launch and scale the commercial real-estate startup, IIC, as the first employee. She has a MBA from Columbia Business School and graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University. In this episode, Colleen speaks about her experience with investing and her role in Core Innovation Capital as well as emphasizing the importance of networking in order to become a strong investor. 03:38 - How Colleen got involved with 37 Angels in the beginning 05:50 - Getting an investor’s perspective at an early age 06:37 - What Core Innovation Capital invests in and does 07:36 - How Core Innovation Capital founder, Arjan Schütte’s investment thesis brought  Colleen into the world on investing 09:28 - Core’s investment thesis and mission 12:25 - How the members of Core assembled together 14:54 - Challenges in raising an institutional fund 17:28 - What would Colleen tell her younger self 21:00 - Walkthrough of soft due diligence at Core 24:09 - How teams are mentored at Core 27:21 - The importance of being self-aware and receiving feedback 29:46 - What are the typical advice startups receive 32:02 - Follow on investing and helping startups fundraise at the next level 34:12 - Relationships with early stage accelerators 36:10 - How to build enterprise value 39:04 - Trends in the FinTech industry Full show notes: http://www.sheinvests.com/21

Kathleen Utecht is a General Partner @ Core Innovation Capital, I would say one of the most under the radar but immensely exciting funds in market and they are looking to revolutionize financial services with their portfolio. With their portfolio are the likes of NerdWallet, PayJoy, fundera and Mayvenn just to name a few. Prior to Core, Kat was an investor at Comcast Ventures and WVP Ventures. Prior to her venture roles, Kath invested in and led Green Rock Entertainment, an online/offline commerce startup. Before that, Kat cut her teeth in the world of finance working as an investment banker at Raymond James. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Kat made her way from car entrepreneur dreams to operator to now, General Partner @ Core? 2.) Why does Kat believe that "society is on a downgrade"? Does Kat agree with the Thiel thesis of "we expected flying cars and were given 140 characters"? Where does Kat most want to see entrepreneurs spending their time and skills? 3.) How does Kat view regulation with regards to startup operations and expansion? Why does Kat believe that "sector specific funds should be in every highly regulated deal"? What are the core benefits? How can VCs really aid with regulation? 4.) Kat has previously said that "VC is a lifestyle not a job", what does Kat mean by this? How does this mean VCs should behave with regards to founder interactions and communications? How can entrepreneurs stress test whether a VC has this belief? 5.) How does Kat view the process of losing companies? What does her post mortem analysis look like? Why does Kat believe that if you do not lose companies, you are not taking enough risk? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Kat’s Fave Book: Atlas Shrugged Kat’s Fave Blog: AVC by Fred Wilson As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Kat on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. If you are an early stage startup, the right infrastructure and support systems are critical, that is where First Republic is so good. First Republic’s resources network and expertise allow entrepreneurs to customise a solid foundation for their business. Why First Republic, well you get to leverage their incredible network of VC firms to prepare you for future fundraising events, you get to count on a single point of contact that will be there for you and your employees, you get access to exclusive events and networking opportunities. Their clients include the likes of Instacart, eShares and Wish just to name a few. Check it out by heading over to innovation.firstrepublic.com Segment allows you to collect data from every platform (mobile, web, server, cloud apps) and load it into Segment. Segment then sends the customer data to your tools and destinations where it can be used most effectively, destinations include email, analytics, warehouses, helpdesks and more. With over 200 sources and destinations on the Segment platform that can empower your team, Segment really is the last integration you will ever do and that is why the world’s best companies use segment to drive growth and revenue including Atlassian, New Relic and Crate & Barrel. Simply head over to segment.com to find out more.

Regular listeners of Barefoot Innovation will have noticed that we often mention the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and serve on its board. This year, CFSI celebrated its 11th anniversary. A decade ago there was nothing called Fintech. And yet Jennifer Tescher – who when she first entered the financial services industry couldn’t balance her checkbook – joined with former OTS Director Ellen Seidman and others who had a remarkable insight: that technology trends would create innovative ways to improve the lives of financial consumers. A former journalist, Jennifer became interested in financial services via reporting on urban poverty and inequality issues. That led to her to join ShoreBank, America’s first community development bank, where she explored ways to serve consumers who are deemed risky, in new ways that can be both sustainable and profitable. Fast forward to 2015 and CFSI has become the nation’s authority on consumer financial health, and Jennifer, as President and CEO, leads a network of financial services innovators committed to expanding access to high-quality financial services in ways that are sound and profitable. As you will hear in this episode, a majority of Americans are not financially healthy. Research by CFSI and others paints a “frankly disturbing” picture of the economic lives of millions of Americans. Studies also draw strong links between physical and financial health, including how stress affects decision making.  Jennifer says it best our podcast: “Wow, wow, wow, huge swaths of people are incredibly challenged!” CFSI is aiming to change this, using a lot of tools.  One is seeding new ventures. It founded Core Innovation Capital, which is now an independent VC fund (see Episode 3, where we talked with Core’s Arjan Schutte). And 2015 kicked off a five-year innovation contest funded by JPMorgan Chase, in the CFSI Financial Solutions Labs competition. (See our podcast with one of the contest winners, Steve Carlson of Ascend). Second, CFSI convenes people, including through its new membership model and by hosting the annual EMERGE conference, which presents cutting-edge thought leadership and features innovators, executives, and emerging companies in the financial services industries, including guests of this very podcast! Third, CFSI helps identify standards and practices that can help both providers and consumer thrives, as with the Compass Principles for prepaid cards. And fourth, CFSI is doing unique research in deeply understanding the financial lives of American consumers, including through the U.S. Financial Diaries project conducted with New York University. Jennifer is a nationally known expert on all these themes, with a monthly column in American Banker, frequent interviews and articles in the financial press, and major speaking engagements at industry and policy convenings. I am so happy to bring to you my lively interview with Jennifer, showcasing both her prodigious knowledge and her passion for these goals, which, as she says, has so far has kept her from abandoning it all in favor of a Mexican beach! To bolster your own optimism, here are links to the new data and trends spurring CFSI’s mission, and links their initiatives and research: Find out how CFSI is powering solutions for a financially health America (and for more on the 9 winners of their first Financial Solutions Lab’s challenge). Access to CFSI’s research on the state of consumer financial health, including the U.S. Financial Diaries and their Consumer Financial Health Study. For more on illiquid vs. insolvent consumers: My piece in Banking Exchange called Illiquid? Insolvent? Solutions can differ drastically and Aaron Klein’s article in American Banker on Shifting the Debate on Small Dollar Credit. For my take on the US Financial Diaries work, see my blog post, “Diary of a Mad Financial System”. On new ways of assessing financial well-being: Ron Shevlin’s Financial Health is the New Marketing. And mark your calendar for Emerge 2016, June 14-17 in New Orleans! Please come to CFSI’s website for a wealth of further information. And now, enjoy my talk with Jennifer Tescher! Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes. If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Donate Subscribe Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Email Address Sign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you!

Episode 7: Vouch Founder & CEO Yee Lee Everywhere I go in the fintech world these days, people are mentioning Vouch.  It's new, it's still small, but it has a potentially huge idea, and a team that can make it happen. Vouch is a Bay-area startup that calls itself "the first social network for credit".  Its concept is simple: a borrower asks  his or her social network friends to vouch for repayment of the loan. The friend can choose an amount to vouch for. If the borrower defaults, the friend pays the promised amount. The vouching network - or "trust network" -- can become mutually beneficial, bringing lower rates (5% to 30%) or larger loan amounts ($500 to $15,000, with one- to three-year terms.) As I say in introducing the episode, this idea may look like something just for millennials, but I think it is tapping into something with massive potential - new ways to evaluate people's creditworthiness by understanding them in their social context - understanding how they are viewed by the people who know them best. Vouch says they want to "return lending to its roots," where your reputation carried weight, but to do it using new tools and reach. Yee Lee is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur and investor. In our conversation  he says he grew up in the Bay Area and it was just "in the water" there to do an internet startup during the dot-com bubble - he quit his PhD program at Stanford to go after his first idea. Since then he's been involved with everything from PayPal to TaskRabbit, and in 2013, founded Vouch. That same year, he wrote a thoughtful Wall Street Journal blog piece for Fathers In Tech. He lives in the Bay area with his wife and two young sons, and I will personally "vouch" for his dad credentials, as I recently invited him to an event that he declined because of his younger son's birthday. I know you'll enjoy hearing our discussion. And here's is a bit more on some of the other entities mentioned in this episode: PayPal Mission Asset Fund, a much-emulated innovator using Latin American-style lending circles  Grameen Bank, microfinance pioneer Core Innovation Capital, a Vouch investor IDG Ventures, a Vouch investor The CFPB's Project Catalyst, fostering pro-consumer innovation  Enjoy my conversation with Yee.  

  Arjan Schutte (pronounced Ar-yon Shoot-eh) is Founder and Managing Partner at Core Innovation Capital  in Los Angeles. Core is a double-bottom line venture capital company seeding innovation that both helps consumers and wins in the marketplace, with the ability to reach huge scale.  Listeners will discover several kinds of value in his insights.  One is an overview of the fintech innovation landscape – what are the exciting things happening?  VC firms enjoy a unique vantage point, since their funding makes nearly every innovator seek them out. They see it all. Another insight to glean from our talk is that many of these startups are taking aim at perceived vulnerabilities of traditional financial companies – the industry’s Achilles’ heels.  Some innovators think many customers are not happy today, or at least can be lured away with a vastly better customer experience. Some believe millions of potentially high-profit customers are being neglected by the mainstream system, or are accessing it only through high-cost products that can be replaced. These startups are working on cutting delivery costs, reimagining the customer experience, using big data to invent powerful new risk analytics, using behavioral science to engage customers in new ways, empowering consumers with new tools, leveraging mobile to reach massive new markets, and much more. Many are making impressive headway. For those wanting to understand the fintech innovation realm, this is a quick primer. Core’s companies include:      In addition, L2C has exited. Notice the broad range of business types.  Core tries to have at least one company in each arena that’s important to consumers, from affordable lending and personal financial management to digital currency. In our conversation, Arjan talks about the unlikely journey that brought him to this work, Core’s launch as a bold initiative of the Center for Financial Services Innovation, and the firm’s strategy.  He zeros in on the incredible opportunity around mobile services closing the “digital divide.” And he laments the minuscule impact of 40 years of well-meaning but small-scale community development lending, laying out a big vision for how to measure Core’s impact as it seeks to change the lives of millions of people.  The key is to make it very profitable to do right by them. Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot".