Podcasts about oportun

By the time you're hearing this episode, I'm a newly aged 35-year-old woman. My year from 34 to 35 has been one of tremendous growth. Not from a business or material standpoint, but from an internal one. It's been a year of reflection, trusting the unknown, and having faith. It was a tough year personally and I was forced to do things I didn't plan to. I was forced to slow down when I didn't want to. I was forced to be content, which is something I struggled with. The growth I've experienced in the past year has had a huge impact on the money lessons I've accumulated over my 35 years of life. In this episode, I'm sharing some of the biggest money lessons I learned by 35. I have a feeling the lessons will keep coming!   Here's a glance at this episode: [02:55] On this City Girl Solutions' segment, I'm sharing whether to set up bill-pay through your bank or automatic payments through each company. [07:43] Money isn't what brings happiness, but it can allow you to do and purchase the things that do bring you overall happiness. [12:15] Contributing to a 401k plan at age 21 was the best thing I did for my finances. I didn't do a lot of things right back then, but I did that right! [17:09] Love to travel? It's okay to visit the same place multiple times, especially if that place brings you joy. [21:05] I no longer believe starting a business is for everyone. I think personal wants and characteristics may warrant working for someone else.   Subscribe, Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts This helps me support more people — just like you — to make the best money moves as they make their way to their dream life.   Resources mentioned in this episode: Listen to Episode 30 – Vacation Planning on a Budget Listen to Episode 53 – My Personal and Business Goals for 2023 Save money with Oportun! Get a free $5 on me! Listen to Episode 70 – My Budget Non-Negotiables Get your question answered on the podcast! Ask your question here. Struggling with your finances? Request a call with me (and get a budget)! Follow City Girl Savings on Instagram Follow City Girl Savings on TikTok Join the City Girl Savings Facebook Group Subscribe to the City Girl Savings Newsletter! Check out the City Girl Savings blog!

"El poder de la motivación radica en tu capacidad de convertir los obstáculos en oportunidades y transformar tus sueños en una realidad imparable."PRONTO EL EVENTO QUE TRANSFORMARA TU 2023 Lista de espera  https://forms.gle/9YzNMjPniTKYbVJh9  Si quieres comprar el libro aquí te dejo el link:En Ingles- https://amzn.to/3LZcxC6En Español - https://amzn.to/3M1TOppEpisodio transmitido a ustedes por @drawisco. Si tienes niños con mocos, ella puede atenderlos desde la comodidad de tu hogar.https://www.canva.com/design/DAEZIH9npKE/b6FsHMt2yjlRKgC9fAib7w/view?website#2022  Si quieres crear una estrategia para tu vida, coordina tu cita aquí: https://linktr.ee/CarlosFigueroa  añade 10 horas a tu semana !!! Guía Gratis. (Por Tiempo LIMITADO)  https://mailchi.mp/07bcc6ddabe1/10horasmasatusemana  Redes Carloshttp://www.tiktok.com/carlosefigueroaprhttp://www.instagram.com/carlosefigueroaRedes Gana Tu Díahttp://www.instagram.com/ganatudia http://www.tiktok.com/ganatudiahttp://www.ganatudia.cominfo@ganatudia.com

Brian Finn, CIO of Findell Capital Management, is back on Yet Another Value Podcast in the quickest turnaround in the show's history, and for good reason. Following earnings calls from $CUTR (idea recently discussed with Vince Martin, link below) and $OPRT (idea discussed on Brian's first appearance, link below), there was a ton information to dissect. Link to last podcast on $CUTR: https://youtu.be/LVqVzbAohus Link to last podcast on $OPRT: https://youtu.be/xoxdSl3FwOk Findell Capital Management Letter to the Oportun (3/29/2023): https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e17f2a118561f6339437f24/t/64240b4f0cf8705352d472b7/1680083791192/Findell+letter+to+OPRT.pdf Chapters: [0:00] Introduction + Episode sponsor: Stream by Alphasense [1:38] Update on $CUTR following earnings, new board slate [9:27] What happened on the $CUTR earnings call, who's on the new board slate and CEO candidates [15:33] $CUTR cash burn and potential financing needs going forward [19:30] What happens with the $CUTR former CEO and former Chairman [23:39] How do you assign a value to $CUTR when looking at the potential upside with AviClear product [31:22] How $CUTR is dealing with management and board turnover [36:50] Final thoughts on $CUTR [39:00] Quick update on $OPRT following earnings call [43:24] How has regional banking "crisis" affected $OPRT [47:49] Thoughts on Tidewater earnings Today's episode is sponsored by: Stream by Alphasense Are traditional expert calls in the investment world becoming obsolete? According to Stream, they are, and you can access primary research easily and efficiently through their platform. With Stream, you'll have the right insights at your fingertips to make the best investment decisions. They offer a vast library of over 26,000 expert transcripts, powered by AI search technology. Plus, they provide competitive rates on expert call services, and you can even have an experienced buy-side analyst conduct the calls for you. But that's not all. Stream also provides the ability to engage with experts 1-on-1 and get your calls transcribed free-of-charge—all for 40% less than you would pay for 20 calls in a traditional expert network model. So, if you're looking to optimize your research process and increase ROI on investment research spend, Stream has the solution for you. Head over to their website at streamrg.com to learn more. Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next time. For more information: https://www.streamrg.com/

Brian Finn, CIO of Findell Capital Management, discusses the letter he sent to Oportun Financial's board (NASDAQ: OPRT). Since Oportun's September 2019 IPO, shares have fallen -85%, falling well behind competitor, OneMain Holdings (OMF). In addition, costs have exploded higher and acquisitions have proved disastrous. Findell Capital Management Letter to the Oportun (Nasdaq: OPRT) Board of Directors (3/29/2023): https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e17f2a118561f6339437f24/t/64240b4f0cf8705352d472b7/1680083791192/Findell+letter+to+OPRT.pdf Chapters: [0:00] Introduction + Episode sponsor: Stream by Alphasense [1:50] Oportun Financial overview and why Findell Capital sent a letter to OPRT's board of directors [9:20] What is the $OPRT Board of Directors doing? What is the incentive structure? [11:45] Understanding $OPRT's subprime lending business for underbanked folks [15:32] Comparing $OPRT to competitors like OneMain [24:20] Unpacking $OPRT valuation [28:29] How Oportun's corporate strategy is wrong [30:38] $OPRT valuation cont'd - what is the fair value of the loans + cost of financing [34:29] $OPRT Q4 2022 earnings call [38:54] Next steps following Findell's sending of the letter [43:01] Why $OPRT should be private or run by PE [44:51] Closing thoughts on $OPRT Today's episode is sponsored by: Stream by Alphasense Are traditional expert calls in the investment world becoming obsolete? According to Stream, they are, and you can access primary research easily and efficiently through their platform. With Stream, you'll have the right insights at your fingertips to make the best investment decisions. They offer a vast library of over 26,000 expert transcripts, powered by AI search technology. Plus, they provide competitive rates on expert call services, and you can even have an experienced buy-side analyst conduct the calls for you. But that's not all. Stream also provides the ability to engage with experts 1-on-1 and get your calls transcribed free-of-charge—all for 40% less than you would pay for 20 calls in a traditional expert network model. So, if you're looking to optimize your research process and increase ROI on investment research spend, Stream has the solution for you. Head over to their website at streamrg.com to learn more. Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next time. For more information: https://www.streamrg.com/

T. Sterling Watson and Kortney discussed Kortney's recent trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where they stayed in an Airbnb and enjoyed the downtown area. They discussed the benefits of not having to interact with anyone and the convenience of being able to walk to places. They also discussed Sterling's recent illness and his recovery. Kortney discussed her experience with a delicious salmon dish with a buttery, creamy sauce. They also discussed how to pronounce Mario's name, with Kortney saying that she would disconnect from someone who pronounced it incorrectly. They also discussed the movie "Mario Brothers" and how it has been breaking records. Kortney and Sterling discussed the importance of two Black history figures, Dr. Charles Drew and Granville T. Woods, and the cancellation of Sheboygan Brat Days in 2023. They also discussed similar events in their hometowns, such as River Fest and the Daffodil Festival. Kortney and T. Sterling discussed the importance of budgeting and saving for retirement, as well as the scam of towing and releasing cars. They also discussed the possibility of doing a segment on adulting and finances. Finally, they discussed apps such as Digit (now Oportun) and Stash that can help with budgeting and saving. Kortney recommended Schitt's Creek and Boy Meets World, and t. sterling watson recommended Unstable, starring Rob Lowe and his real life son, and Lambrusco, a red fizzy wine. They then discussed the difference between a neat drink and other drinks. Kortney expressed her gratitude for her husband and their ability to communicate and work through difficult topics. They also discussed the importance of communication in relationships. Follow Kortney on Twitter @iamkhinton, and Sterling on Twitter @indoob.  Email us at indoobpod@gmail.com. Subscribe to the Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/indoob. Visit the Indoob Store https://www.teepublic.com/user/tsterling and more at indoob.com.

For this week on the Crossing Borders podcast, we're revisiting one of our greatest hits episodes featuring Pedro Moura, Co-Founder, and CEO of Flourish Fi. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we didPedro Moura moved from Natal, Brazil to the US at a young age, overcoming many challenges while always trying to build a better future for himself, his family and his region. His perseverance and grit guided him to create a company that he is truly passionate about. In this episode of Crossing Borders, Pedro tells the story of his career path and how taking a risk on what he really believed in led him to found Flourish, a B2B SaaS company that empowers people to establish positive money habits. In this episode, I sat down with Pedro to discuss how he landed on the idea for Flourish, what companies can do to attract foreign talent, and how to think of a business from a global perspective.Finding a fit in financial inclusionPedro's story is truly inspirational. He moved to Northern California from Brazil when he was young, and his mother worked tirelessly for the family. Pedro attended UC Davis, studying Economics and International Relations, then venturing into Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley. However, he soon realized the position was not the best fit for him. After joining Opportun, a startup dedicated to making financial services more accessible, Pedro realized his passion for financial inclusion and decided to start Flourish. Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about Pedro's career path and what led him to Flourish. Attracting talent overseasA key part of Pedro's story was his decision to ‘cross a border' to build something great. With talent today more mobile than ever before, some countries are still more hesitant than others to recruit from out-of-country. Despite political immigration boundaries, the culture of international collaboration is healthy and thriving. Find out more about the opportunities that lie in hiring across borders in this episode of Crossing Borders.Chasing your passionWhile Pedro was still working at the bank, he saw a TV program that inspired him to learn more about companies that were driven by social issues: specifically, the disparity between the Latin American community and the world of financial services spoke to him. This experience sparked Pedro's curiosity and led him to Opportun and then to founding Flourish. Learn more about how Pedro discovered his passion in this episode of Crossing Borders.Pedro Moura's story is inspiring in more ways than one. Adapting to a new environment at a young age and thriving required perseverance and hard work. By following his passion, he took several career risks to serve the Latin American community. Join us to learn his story and what he is building at Flourish. Outline of this episode:[1:90] – About Flourish[3:35] – Pedro's move to the US[7:00] – Adapting to a new culture at a young age[8:30] – Advice on attracting talent[12:30] – From wealth management to Oportun[16:30] – Why starting a company was the natural next step[18:30] – How geography plays a part in the business[22:10] – What is Flourish's next step[23:20] – What advice would you offer your younger self?[25:30] – Where do you see Flourish 2 years from now?Resources & people mentioned:Pedro MouraFlourishBook: The Brain That Changes Itself

Hey all, Jason here.This Sunday, I have a “hybrid” post for you — both regular newsletter content and a special podcast conversation about banking-as-a-service and regulation, with guests Sankaet Pathak, co-founder and CEO of Synapse, and Shaul David, Head of Banking at Railsr.We had a wide-ranging conversation about the space, including:How banking-as-a-service can help bank/fintech partnerships to scaleWhy some banking-as-a-service platforms want to be regulatedHow to ensure customers funds are protected when a fintech (or bank, or e-money institution) failsPredictions for the future of banking-as-a-serviceand moreClick “Listen Now” above or find the show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen to pods.Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday:How Do Goldman Sachs' CFPB Complaints Stack Up?Last week, we learned that the CFPB is investigating Goldman Sachs, which issues co-branded cards with Apple and General Motors, over its “credit card account management practices, including with respect to the application of refunds, crediting of nonconforming payments, billing error resolution, advertisements, and reporting to credit bureaus.” Now, CNBC is reporting one possible source of the scrutiny is how Goldman handles chargebacks on its cards. Per CNBC (emphasis added):“When an Apple Card user disputes a transaction, Goldman has to seek a resolution within regulatory timelines, and it sometimes failed at that, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the situation. Customers were sometimes given conflicting information or had long wait times, the people said.Goldman got more disputes than it counted on, said one source. ‘You have these queues that you need to clear out within a certain amount of time. The business was getting so big, suddenly we had to create more automation to deal with it.'…Regulators are focused on customer complaints from the past few years, and the biggest source of those came from attempted chargebacks…”The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) requires card issuers to acknowledge receipt of a dispute within 30 days and to investigate and resolve them within two billing cycles (not to exceed 90 days).Goldman Sachs' Most Common ComplaintsSince launching its first credit card, the Apple Card, in August 2019, consumers have lodged just over 1,300 complaints related to Goldman's credit cards with the CFPB.While it is difficult to compare Goldman to other issuers on the absolute number of complaints, it's possible to compare the relative frequency of types of complaints.Since the launch of the Apple Card, the five most common categories of complaint about Goldman to the CFPB were:Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statementApplication deniedCan't use card to make purchasesProblem during payment processCard was charged for something you did not purchase with the cardSo how does Goldman stack up to other major card issuers?About 27% of all complaints to the CFPB about Goldman's credit cards were related to transaction disputes. While this may sound high, it's slightly below major card issuer Citibank, though above American Express, Capital One, and Synchrony.A typical complaint to Goldman about a dispute sounded something like this one (emphasis added):“I had made a purchase at a XXXX dealership for a service ( fixing my a/c ). I paid for the service up front, like the dealer requested. I had to leave town for work, when I came back the dealer sent back the parts for my car, so I spoke to the XXXX and he agreed to refund me for the services, given that I never received them. XXXX never refunded me, so I took it with XXXX XXXX Credit Card and dispute it.They returned saying that the dealership had enough proof that I made the purchase. However they refused to see that through the whole time I talked to them about the dispute, I mentioned several times, I never received the service. I made the purchase and never got the services. When requested proof of the investigation. They had none, only that I made the purchase. No proof of the dealership saying I received the services, the only thing I got was we can do nothing.”The two categories of complaint where Goldman really stands out from others are “Application denied” and “Can't use card to make purchases.” The high share of complaints about denied applications makes enough sense, given the high-profile launch of the Apple Card and unfounded complaints of gender discrimination.The complaints about not being able to use the card to make purchases — which accounted for just over 9% of all complaints about Goldman-issued credit cards, are a bit more unusual. For other major issuers, these kinds of complaints represented just 2-4% of complaints to the CFPB.Though the exact complaints vary, a common theme emerges, where a user's card is restricted for unclear reasons, and, when they contact Goldman, they're unable to get an answer as to why.Many complaints also referenced calling repeatedly, long hold times, and unfulfilled promises that consumers would be called back.For example, one customer wrote to the CFPB (emphasis added):“For exactly a month now, Apple restricted my Apple credit card and I have not been able to make purchases using this card because they said my account is ‘under review'.They said that someone would contact me to resolve the situation when the review is done, but they never did. When I tried calling back like every week (latest was on XX/XX/XXXX), Apple still told me the same thing ... to wait for a return call.”…and another wrote (emphasis added):“I used my credit card within my limit as I normally would. The account has been restricted and I wasnt told why other than something triggered a response in their department. Ive called numerous times and my account is still restricted over a week later. Im not given a time frame of when I can usee my account. After reading about this companys practices online in similar cases, it looks like many people are restricted from using their cards for over a month.”CFPB Interpretative Rule Puts Google, Meta on Notice For UDAAP, Consumer Protection Violations LiabilityThe CFPB has put “Big Tech” on notice that they may be considered service providers to financial services companies that use their advertising platforms and thus “can be held liable by the CFPB or other law enforcers for committing unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices as well as other consumer financial protection violations.”The CFPB's statement released in conjunction with the interpretative rule draws a distinction between “traditional advertising,” like a TV commercial or bill board, and “digital marketing.” According to the statement (emphasis added):“Traditional advertising relies on getting a product or service out to as wide an audience as possible. A traditional marketer, for example, may try to purchase time and space for a TV commercial on the most watched station or show.Digital marketers, on the other hand, seek to maximize individuals' interactions with ads. They may harvest personal data to feed their behavioral analytics models that can target individuals or groups that they predict are more likely to interact with an ad or sign up for a product or service.”Because digital marketing platforms “go beyond” traditional advertising, they do not qualify for the “time and space” exception that a TV station or newspaper would enjoy, the CFPB says.The agency argues that targeting and optimization algorithms common in digital marketing constitute a material service to financial advertisers (emphasis added):“Digital marketing providers are typically materially involved in the development of content strategy when they identify or select prospective customers or select or place content in order to encourage consumer engagement with advertising.Digital marketers engaged in this type of ad targeting and delivery are not merely providing ad space and time, and they do not qualify under the ‘time or space' exception.”What does this mean in practice? While the CFPB doesn't name specific ad platforms in the interpretative rule nor in its statement, it's pretty clearly targeted at Google and Meta (Facebook).While the statement about the interpretive rule is broad, referencing potential liability for unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices, the most obvious area that could receive scrutiny is how ad platforms ensure compliance with ECOA or other kinds of unfair discrimination.The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits discrimination in access to credit on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, public assistance, or the exercise of any rights under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.This isn't purely theoretical — the Department of Justice recently reached a settlement with Meta on similar allegations that when its targeting algorithms were used for housing advertisements, the result was illegal discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act.In fact, CFPB Director Chopra referenced this case in remarks he gave last week coinciding with release of the rule. He closed those remarks by saying (emphasis added):“Today, relationship banking is under threat. In part, this is because our sensitive data is viewed as more valuable to firms than our actual selves. Advances in technology should help our economy and society advance, rather than incentivizing a rush to seize our sensitive financial data and to allow tech giants to evade existing laws that other firms must comply with. It is critical that we all work together to address this.”Digit to Pay $2.7 Million Penalty for Deceiving Users on OverdraftsSavings app Digit, which was recently acquired by small-dollar lender Oportun, has reached a settlement with the CFPB over its marketing and business practices that resulted in consumers overdrafting their accounts.The language in the press release announcing the order is notable for describing the company as “lying” to consumers:The Digit app links to a customer's existing checking account and then automatically determines an amount to transfer to a separate savings account.Digit promised that such transfers would not cause a user to overdraft their account and that, if they did, Digit would reimburse them.But, according to the consent order, that was not the case:“Falsely guaranteed no overdrafts: Hello Digit represented that its tool “never transfers more than you can afford,” and it provided a “no overdraft guarantee.” But instead, Hello Digit routinely caused consumers' checking accounts to incur overdraft fees charged by their banks. Hello Digit received complaints about overdrafts daily.Broke promises to make whole on its mistakes: The company also represented that if there was an overdraft, it would reimburse consumers. But the company often denied customers who tried to recoup their money. The company has received nearly 70,000 overdraft-reimbursement requests since 2017.Pocketed interest that should have gone to consumers: As of mid-2017, Hello Digit deceived consumers when it represented that it would not keep any interest earned on consumer funds that it was holding, when in fact the company kept a significant amount of the interest earned. Had Hello Digit kept its promise to not keep the interest on consumers' funds, consumers could have pocketed the extra savings.”For its part, Oportun, which acquired Digit, released the following statement (emphasis added):“Digit received a CID from the CFPB in June 2020. The CID was discussed with Oportun during the acquisition process. The stated purpose of the CID was to determine whether Digit, in connection with offering its products or services, misrepresented the terms, conditions, or costs of the products or services in a manner that is unfair, deceptive, or abusive.Through the investigation, it was found that with a success rate of better than 99.99%, Digit isn't ‘perfect,' meaning a Digit Save transaction caused an overdraft fee for one of our members less than 0.008% of the time.As a result, Digit owes 1,947 members approximately $35 each, for a total of $68,145. In addition, Digit will pay a civil money penalty of $2.7 million. While we disagree with the CFPB on this matter, we are happy to have it settled.”It's unclear how Digit's purported 99.99% success rate reconciles with the CFPB's claim that the company has received nearly 70,000 overdraft-related complaints since 2017.Other Good ReadsWhat's Going Wrong at Goldman Sachs' Marcus Consumer Bank (Business Insider)A PFM App By Any Other Name (Fintech Takes)Family Fortunes: The Origins and Growth of the Family Office (Net Interest)Contact Fintech Business WeeklyLooking to work with me in any of the following areas? Email me.Fintech advising & consultingSponsoring this newsletterNews tip or story suggestionEarly stage startup looking to raise equity or debt capital Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Sergio Torres is the Co-Founder and CEO of Alvva, a financial technology company whose mission is to help US immigrants achieve financial health. Prior to Alvva, he spent 15 years working to serve the financial needs of immigrant and underserved communities in innovative and tech-driven ways at Aura Financial, Oportun, and Fred Loya. He grew up in Tijuana, México and hold a BS in International Trade from ITESM in Monterrey, México.

I will review the Oportun Visa Credit Card. Oportun, Inc. (aka Progresso Financiero) is a fintech company providing personal loans and other financial resources. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/progreso-financiero https://oportun.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/oportun-cardholderagreement-EN-2020-11.pdf https://oportun.com/locations/ https://wallethub.com/d/oportun-credit-card-3273c

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

Rochelle Gorey leads SpringFour, a Certified B, social impact fintech company that helps the financial services industry limit risk by empowering improved payment performance and increased customer engagement. Trusted by BMO Harris Bank, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Discover, M&T Bank, LendUp, Oportun, and more, SpringFour's solutions provide financial resources to millions of consumers. Rochelle's more than 25 years of experience in public policy and government relations led her to the fintech industry.  SpringFour has won numerous awards, including the 2015 Promontory Financial Group's Empowerment Award for Financial Innovation; 2017 Top Venture for the Points of Light Civic Accelerator Program,  winner of the BMO Harris/1871 Fintech Partnership Program, and named a finalist for the BAI Global Innovation Award in 2017 & 2019; finalist for the 2018 FinXTech/Bank Director's Most Innovative Solution of the Year and Women Tech Founders Social Impact Founder of the Year Award; 2019 finalist for LendIt's Partnership of the Year Award and named a Startup to Watch in 2021 by Chicago Inno. SpringFour has been recognized by Forbes, American Banker, Business Insider, Global Banking & Finance Review, and more.  About Innovate StateThe Innovate State Speaker Series brings both emerging and accomplished Spartans back to campus for a fireside chat-style interview. These 60-minute sessions offer the chance for guests to share their perspectives on a wide array of topics like innovation, startup life, investments, and career paths. These are stories of success, stories of failures, and stories of uncommon will—and you do not want to miss them. Innovate State is hosted and managed by The Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The events are free and start at 6 p.m. in the Larry & Teresa Gaynor Entrepreneurship Lab (lower level of the Minskoff Pavilion). Early registration is highly encouraged.----Like what you hear? Let us know and subscribe and share, we really appreciate it! Have ideas or comments for us? Email us at hatchcast@msu.edu. For behind-the-scenes content, check us out on Facebook and Instagram.   Hatchcast is made possible by the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Michigan State University in collaboration with the MSU Entrepreneurship Association & MSU Women in Entrepreneurship. Original Music by Kakia Gkoudina and Karina Stankowski Engineered & Edited by Gabe Hales  Co-created by Aaryn Richard, Tyler Mehigh, & Kurt Creger  Co-hosted by Gabe Hales, Gabe Berke, Diego Fernandez, Danielle Tice, Karina Stankowski, Charlotte Bachelor & Aaryn Richard 

Another action-packed fintech news show today with Todd Anderson and special guest Kabir Kumar. We hit on all the big news stories of the week discussing VanEck, N26, Upgrade, Inc., Amazon, Visa, Oportun, Digit, BlockFi, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Plaid, Crypto.com and more.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

This week we cover the following news stories: Coinbase is launching its own NFT platform to take on OpenSea NerdWallet IPO Filing Shows 21M Unique Visitors Per Month Crypto Lender Celsius Network Raises $400M in Bid to Reassure Regulators Tala grabs $145M to offer more financial services in emerging markets Crypto could cause 2008-level meltdown, Bank of England official warns Oportun pulls bank charter application, says it plans to refile Bank Dora: The First Neo-Credit Union in the U.S. New custom fintech stock market ticker launches from LendIt Fintech Jamie Dimon says bitcoin is ‘worthless' Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Miguel Armaza sits down with the very genuine Raul Vazquez, CEO of Oportun, a Nasdaq-listed company that provides responsible consumer credit. Founded 15 years ago, Oportun has extended more than 4 million loans and over $10 billion in affordable credit. Raul has been Oportun's CEO since 2012 and previously served as CEO of Walmart.com. Currently, he also serves on the board of Intuit and the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders. He is also a proud MBA graduate of our very own Wharton School. In this episode, we discuss - Raul's fascinating story and how the oldest son of Mexican immigrants became the CEO of a publicly traded company - Oportun's digital and retail hybrid approach and the importance of being a mission-driven company - The reasons why about 100 million people are not fully served by the US mainstream financial system and what Oportun is doing about it - Reflections of taking Oportun public and a deep dive into their IPO process - The power of compassionate leadership, management lessons, and the hardest business decisions he's had to make. - And a lot more! Raul Vazquez Raul has served as Oportun's chief executive officer and board member since 2012. His past experience includes leadership roles at Walmart, including three years as CEO of Walmart.com, and at high-growth startups. Raul currently serves on the boards of Intuit and the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, and he formerly sat on the board at Staples. He has been a member of the Community Advisory Board at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and chaired the Federal Reserve's Community Advisory Council. He holds a BS and MS in industrial engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the Wharton School. In 2018, he was named EY's Entrepreneur of the Year in financial services. Raul celebrates the good and bad, the small and big, with ice cream from Dairy Queen. About Oportun Oportun (Nasdaq: OPRT) is a financial services company that leverages its digital platform to provide responsible consumer credit to hardworking people. Using A.I.-driven models that are built on 15 years of proprietary customer insights and billions of unique data points, Oportun has extended more than 4 million loans and over $10 billion in affordable credit, providing its customers with alternatives to payday and auto title loans. In recognition of its responsibly designed products which help consumers build their credit history, Oportun has been certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) since 2009. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Editor Maggie Shein sits down with Lauren Zink, Security Training and Awareness Program Manager at Oportun for our special Women in Security 2021 edition of The Security Podcast. Listen to Zink's journey within security, her passion for security awareness and what that looks like at the enterprise level, as well as the evolving threat and risk landscape and how security awareness leaders need to adapt from a program perspective. She'll also dive into diversity and inclusion and getting more women leaders into security.

Pedro Moura, Flourish: Building the tech infrastructure to help people make better financial decisions, Ep 144   Pedro Moura moved from Natal, Brazil to the US at a young age, overcoming many challenges while always trying to build a better future for himself, his family and his region. His perseverance and grit guided him to create a company that he is truly passionate about. In this episode of Crossing Borders, Pedro tells the story of his career path and how taking a risk on what he really believed in led him to found Flourish, a B2B SaaS company that empowers people to establish positive money habits.    In this episode, I sat down with Pedro to discuss how he landed on the idea for Flourish, what companies can do to attract foreign talent, and how to think of a business from a global perspective.  Finding a fit in financial inclusion Pedro's story is truly inspirational. He moved to Northern California from Brazil when he was young, and his mother worked tirelessly for the family. Pedro attended UC Davis, studying Economics and International Relations, then venturing into Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley. However, he soon realized the position was not the best fit for him. After joining Opportun, a startup dedicated to making financial services more accessible, Pedro realized his passion for financial inclusion and decided to start Flourish.    Listen to this episode of Crossing Borders to learn more about Pedro's career path and what led him to Flourish.  Attracting talent overseas A key part of Pedro's story was his decision to ‘cross a border' to build something great. With talent today more mobile than ever before, some countries are still more hesitant than others to recruit from out-of-country. Despite political immigration boundaries, the culture of international collaboration is healthy and thriving.    Find out more about the opportunities that lie in hiring across borders in this episode of Crossing Borders. Chasing your passion While Pedro was still working at the bank, he saw a TV program that inspired him to learn more about companies that were driven by social issues: specifically, the disparity between the Latin American community and the world of financial services spoke to him. This experience sparked Pedro's curiosity and led him to Opportun and then to founding Flourish.    Learn more about how Pedro discovered his passion in this episode of Crossing Borders.   Pedro Moura's story is inspiring in more ways than one. Adapting to a new environment at a young age and thriving required perseverance and hard work. By following his passion, he took several career risks to serve the Latin American community. Join us to learn his story and what he is building at Flourish.    Show Notes: [1:90] - About Flourish [3:35] - Pedro's move to the US [7:00] - Adapting to a new culture at a young age [8:30] - Advice on attracting talent [12:30] - From wealth management to Oportun [16:30] - Why starting a company was the natural next step [18:30] - How geography plays a part in the business [22:10] - What is Flourish's next step [23:20] - What advice would you offer your younger self? [25:30] - Where do you see Flourish 2 years from now?   Resources & people mentioned: Pedro Moura Flourish Book: The Brain That Changes Itself

Nina Mohanty is a "visionary". Specifically speaking, she is one at the upcoming "Women's Economic Empowerment TechSprint & Conference", which she now showcases in our podcast, providing awareness to our audience on this great initiative brought by the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR) in partnership with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We invited Francesca Hopwood Road and Jo-Ann Barefoot to tells us the goals, operations, and available resources created by this initiative to our audience. More on the initiative here: https://regulationinnovation.org/womens_empowerment_sprint/ More on our guests:Jo-Ann BarefootJo-Ann is the CEO & Founder of AIR - the Alliance for Innovative Regulation and host of the global podcast show Barefoot Innovation. A noted advocate of “regulation innovation,” Jo Ann is Senior Fellow Emerita at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government. She has been Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, partner at KPMG, Co-Chairman of Treliant Risk Advisors, and staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. She's an angel investor, serves on the board of Oportun, serves on the fintech advisory committee for FINRA, is a member of the Milken Institute U.S. FinTech Advisory Committee, and is a member of the California Blockchain Working Group Advisory Board. Jo-Ann chairs the board of directors of FinRegLab, previously chaired the board of the Financial Health Network, and previously served on the CFPB's Consumer Advisory Board. She was a co-founder of Hummingbird Regtech.Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbarefoot/ Francesca Hopwood RoadFrancesca leads the FCA's RegTech and Advanced Analytics function responsible fordeveloping and embedding data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence tools and capability across the organization. She also runs the FCA's RegTech activities, including the FCA's TechSprint events, the first of their kind convened by a financial regulator. Since joining the regulator in 2010 she has led a number of strategic transformation programmes. Prior to joining she worked in the third sector and private sector using data and intelligence to identify and mitigate harm for consumers.Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-hopwood-road-ab040b15/

Oportun Financial Corporation, Q4 2020 Earnings Call, Feb 18, 2021

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.

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In this episode, Miguel Armaza sits down with Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO & Founder of the Alliance for Innovative Regulation and host of the podcast Barefoot Innovation. Jo Ann is a famous advocate of “regulation innovation,” and is one of the most active and visible fintech leaders working to improve and modernize financial regulation around the world. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government and in the past was Deputy Comptroller of the Currency of the United States and a staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. Jo Ann Barefoot Jo Ann Barefoot is CEO & Founder of AIR - the Alliance for Innovative Regulation and host of the global podcast show Barefoot Innovation. A noted advocate of “regulation innovation,” Jo Ann is Senior Fellow Emerita at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government. She has been Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, partner at KPMG, Co-Chairman of Treliant Risk Advisors, and staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. She’s an angel investor, serves on the board of Oportun, serves on the fintech advisory committee for FINRA, is a member of the Milken Institute U.S. FinTech Advisory Committee, and is a member of the California Blockchain Working Group Advisory Board. Jo Ann chairs the board of directors of FinRegLab, previously chaired the board of the Financial Health Network, and previously served on the CFPB’s Consumer Advisory Board. She was a Cofounder of Hummingbird Regtech. About Alliance for Innovative Regulation AIR is a nonprofit dedicated to modernizing the financial regulatory system. We believe that the regulatory framework needs to migrate from a largely manual to a Digitally-Native Design. This will ensure financial stability, protect consumers from harm, promote financial inclusion, curtail financial crime, and enable continuous innovation. AIR works at the intersection of technology, innovation, and regulation to help regulators better understand emerging technologies that can help improve financial health. Examples like cash-flow underwriting can expand safe and affordable credit to people with no credit history, increasing credit access and a creating a more fair financial system. AIR’s Regtech Manifesto Financial regulation needs to convert from analog to digital design. This seminal thought piece calls for gradual, but urgent, conversion of the financial regulatory system to a “digitally-native” framework. The Manifesto is a Request for Comments (RFC). It calls for discussion about a system that will be rebuilt over time to leverage the power of digitization and make regulatory outcomes better, faster, and cheaper, all at once. Join the conversation.

Oportun Financial Corporation - Q3 2020 Earnings Call - Nov 10, 2020

Today Business Property Pro Mike Gioioso heads to the "City of Brotherly Love" for a Retail Market update from Commercial Real Estate thought leader, Rob Samtmann. Rob Samtmann has been active in the commercial real estate industry as a Tenant Representation Broker or Landlord Representation Broker in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area since 1995. At present, he is now a managing Principal with Equity Retail Brokers - www.equityretailbrokers.com In Rob's career at Equity Retail Brokers he has been fortunate to work with retailers including ShopRite Supermarkets, Shoe Carnival, Gander Mountain, BJ's Wholesale Club, Babies R Us/Toys R Us, Lowe's Home Improvement, Starbucks, Friday's, Party City, Sleep Number Beds, Vitamin Shoppe, Pep Boys, Firestone, FedEx, Pet Supplies Plus, Quaker Steak & Lube, Wendy's, PDQ, Wells Fargo, Travinia, Ten Thousand Villages, Thirsty Lion, Rite Aid, Alton Lane, Capriotti's, Empire Beauty, Arby's, PNC Bank, Verizon Wireless, Sleep Number, Lou Lou Boutique, Pet Valu, Primrose Schools, Red Robin, Rumble Boxing, Applebee's, Lime Fresh, Pancheros, Outback Steakhouse, Ruby Tuesday, TGI Friday's, STS Tire, Banfield Pet Hospital, Blue Pearl Pet Hospital, C2 Education, Oportun, Rumble Boxing, Noah's, and Kindercare. Rob and Mike frequently collaborate through their participation in the Retail Brokers Network (RBN) - www.retailbrokersnetwork.com , an association of 60+ Independent Commercial Real Estate firms throughout the United States and Canada. In today's episode we chat about what's on trend in the retail drive through and pad universe, what Rob witnesses working in the current Pandemic-hobbled state of Retail, and we collect some beginner tips on Rob's favorite tech toy.... his DJI Drone! For more Business and Commercial Real Estate insider insight, please subscribe! or follow me on social @businesspropertypro. www.businesspropertypro.com Business Property Pro is the blog of Mike Gioioso, Vice-President of Brokerage at MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services. Mike is committed to serving clients in hopes of achieving their customized goals, whether or not those goals require brokerage assistance. IT'S ALL ABOUT FULL SERVICE MacKenzie's seven firms provide clients a competitive, full-service platform of offerings in leasing, sales, investment sales, tenant and landlord advisory services, corporate and business consulting, development, general construction, property and asset management, multifamily management, debt and equity capital placement, and GIS/data analytics. With more than 225 employees, MacKenzie is one of the largest, non-affiliated full-service commercial real estate firms in the Mid-Atlantic. Together, our associates prove time and again why we are the company you keep. Let's chat : hello@businesspropertypro.com

The weather is getting more extreme by the year and conversations about climate change are growing along with it. So when Michael Moore made the movie ‘Planet of the Humans’, criticizing the corporate co-optation of the green movement, he came under attack from well-connected activists. Lee Camp reports on how Bill McKibben, one of the targets of Moore’s movie, has adopted a role of helping some of the worst industries and institutions out there to greenwash their images. In an op-ed from a year ago, McKibben used his platform to rehabilitate the image of the US military. The reporting in this opening comes from Max Blumenthal at the Grayzone. Camp then covers the kangaroo court extradition trial of Julian Assange, and how Bob Woodward waited to release information proving that President Donald Trump knew the coronavirus was dangerous but downplayed it. Natalie McGill reports on the lender Oportun, which markets itself as a compassionate payday lender for Latinos, but preys on that same population. Oportun has initiated a record-breaking number of lawsuits against borrowers who fall behind on their payments. They targeted Latino populations because they’re less likely to find lawyers to fight the lawsuits. Camp ends the show in memoriam of activist, writer, and lawyer Kevin Zeese, who died suddenly last week.

¡Oportun-crisis! De los mensajes motivacionales en los sobrecitos de azúcar a las revoluciones de nuestra Independencia... Subí que te llevo. 

Glen talks with Oportun COO Matt Jenkins about extending small dollar credit to the “un-scorable” and the challenges of maintaining a mission like Oportun's as a public company. Also- a bizarre coin shortage, and signs of small merchants returning to cash.

Title: Employee Security Awareness Description: This episode of the Information Security Podcast features an interview with Lauren Zink from Oportun  @Oportun with host Rob Nettgen (@Robert_Nettgen).  This episode's conversation discusses the importance of “Employee Security Awareness” as part of an organization's overall Cyber Security Strategy. Key Discussion Points and Actionable Items: The importance of understanding the meaning of “Employee Security Awareness” Defining the elements of a “Employee Security Awareness” Program and how it should be orchestrated within an organization Understanding that “Employee Security Awareness” is not a “one-time” event but starts at the time an employee is hired and evolves as they move through an organization The risk organizations assume when technology is the only line of defense and does not incorporate “Employee Security Awareness” Integration of third-party vendors and contractors that are part of an organization into the “Employee Security Awareness” Program “Employee Security Awareness” is the responsibility of the entire organization, including Human Resources, Training, and Compliance, and is not limited to the Cyber Security Team. Sponsored By: ASMGi (@ASMGi_CLE) and https://www.asmgi.com/ Briteskies (@NoBrownCow) and https://www.briteskies.com/ Recorded and Production By: Evergreen Podcasts (@StreamEvergreen) at https://evergreenpodcasts.com/ and production assistance provided by Frank Yako (@fyako). Additional Information and Resources: For additional information on the Information Security Summit, please visit us on the web at https://www.informationsecuritysummit.org/ or on Twitter (@InfoSecurSummit).  Planning is underway for the Summit 2020 scheduled for October 26 through October 30, 2020, please join us!

U.S. Hispanic Market: Growing Fast and Grossly Underserved Sean Salas, Camino Financial Daniel Chu, Tricolor Auto Group Matt Jenkins, Oportun James Gutierrez, Aura Moderator: Emmalyn Shaw, Flourish

The CFPB estimates there are 45 million adults in the US today who have little or no credit history. Consequently, these people are terribly underserved by traditional finance. But some companies are making inroads into this market and are doing so profitably. My guest on Episode 101 of the Lend Academy Podcast is Raul Vazquez, […] The post Podcast 101: Raul Vazquez of Oportun appeared first on Lend Academy.

The CFPB estimates there are 45 million adults in the US today who have little or no credit history. Consequently, these people are terribly underserved by traditional finance. But some companies are making inroads into this market and are doing so profitably. My guest on Episode 101 of the Lend Academy Podcast is Raul Vazquez, […] The post Podcast 101: Raul Vazquez of Oportun appeared first on Lend Academy.

Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

In addition to our podcast, please take a look at Raul's keynote at the EMERGE Forum. I am constantly amazed by the fascinating and unpredictable course of our conversations on Barefoot Innovation - and what a fun one I had with Raul Vazquez, CEO of Oportun. I always like to ask my guests to tell us how they, themselves, keep up with technology. With Raul, I asked this just as I thought we were wrapping up, and the question launched us on a whole new conversation. He's definitely my first guest to bring up potential uses of virtual reality in financial services, not to mention the first to describe virtually interacting with bison.  He thinks we're heading to a "transformative" ability for "anyone, regardless of their incomes" to be able to immerse themselves in a virtual world to try out products and experiences. As sometimes happens as I get to know great innovators, this is a second podcast with the same company -- click here to listen to our prior discussion with Luz Urrutia, Global Head of Retail. Oportun is based in Silicon Valley and was formerly called Progresso Financiero. It leverages advanced data analytics and technology to provide affordable, credit-building loans to U.S. Hispanics and others with limited or no credit history. The company's proprietary platform risk-scores loan applicants, calculates each one's ability to repay, approves the loans it believes can be paid back, and sets loan amounts and terms to fit individual budgets. Customer accounts are also reported to credit bureaus to help establish credit history. The goal is to combine a highly personal experience with back-office efficiency. Between 2006 and 2015, Oportun helped more than 689,000 customers, disbursing more than $2.2 billion through more than 1.3 million small dollar loans. Raul joined Oportun in 2012 after nine years in senior leadership roles at Walmart, including as EVP and President of Walmart West, President and CEO of Walmart.com, and EVP of Global eCommerce for developed markets. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Staples, Inc. and is a member of the Federal Reserve Board's Community Advisory Council. He's a graduate of Stanford University with BS and MS degrees in industrial engineering, and also earned an MBA at the University of Pennsylvania. This is one of those fun episodes where we could have kept talking for hours if we hadn't run out of time. So...enjoy my conversation with Raul Vazquez! To learn more about Oportun Financial, click here. Click here to Opor-tune in to Raul's presentation at last year's EMERGE conference about Oportun's four key learnings so far. To register for this year's indispensable Emerge in June in New Orleans, click here. And here's my favorite Wired article on voice technology: "We're on the Brink of a Revolution in Crazy-Smart Digital Assistants" A note on the podcasts - A buck a show! I've decided to distill a lesson from the popular podcast series Hardcore History, by emulating their habit of asking everyone to send them "a buck a show." Some years ago, the show's host Dan Carlin realized the podcast was taking over his life - much as Barefoot Innovatoin has been doing with mine! He hit on the idea of asking listeners for "a buck a show," and eventually reached the point where he can devote himself to producing the series. Barefoot Innovation is produced part-time by me and two young, very talented helpers. One of them has a day job and the other is a full-time graduate student. If all our listeners will chip in a buck a show, we'll be able to expand our interviews, accelerate our pace (believe it or not, we currently run at a four- to five-month backlog from recording date to posting!), and be able to do some fun new things we have in mind for you. We'll appreciate any and all help to keep the show going, and growing! And remember to post a review on ITunes. Support the Podcast A note on my Regulation Innovation videos and the most important writing I've ever done Also click here to watch the new Regulation Innovation videos we've posted and read the new articles. These are currently a free sample but will soon become limited to subscribers. Every month, I'm creating a short video briefing and then backing it up with a deep article that shares what I've been learning about financial innovation, and also shares my hard-earned secrets about how I've been learning it. The articles are rich with links to resources -- everything from news reports and white papers to statistical trends to my very favorite Ted Talks. My goal is to use this pairing of videos and deep articles to repackage my consulting advice, so it can reach a wide audience affordably. In essence, I'm searching the fintech world and curating the best insights for you. As a series, it's a journey through this changing landscape, finding the keys to thriving on disruption with me as your guide. I've done a huge amount of writing over the years - I've published hundreds of articles. These are the most important, valuable writings I've ever done. Again, these are currently free - I hope everyone will try them out.   Upcoming shows We have terrific shows come up - the amazing Blythe Masters, the very innovative founders of Bee, and much more.  Join me then! Subscribe To Our Mailing LIst Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Email Address Sign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you!

Welcome to Barefoot Innovation and to a new dimension in the topics we explore. We've talked with many startups in lending, payments, and managing personal finance. Today, we're looking at the most exciting change underway in the investment space - "robo-investing." My guest is Jon Stein, the founder and CEO of Betterment. We met in their fast-growing offices in New York, a converted warehouse steeped in industrial character and with mouth-watering aromas wafting from a very substantial food bar that lined one end of the busy open space, and offering the special charm unique to businesses where people bring their dogs to work. In our conversations, Jon told me the story of his personal journey. He graduated from Harvard and - since, as he says, no one was recruiting for jobs with the description of "making people happy" - went into finance. Eventually he went on to Columbia Business School, gained Series 7, 24, 63 certifications, and become a CFA, Chartered Financial Analyst. He expresses respect for traditional financial businesses, but became frustrated by their transactional focus, and also by his own financial life - he had 7 brokerage accounts, invested in Enron, and finally concluded that the industry encourages the wrong investor behaviors, especially in trying to "beat the market." He'd studied both economics and human behavior in college (before behavioral economics caught on) and realized that his interests lie at the intersection of behavior, psychology, and economics. He remembers a professor saying "how crazy people can be, and how very often they would get in their own way, and how even when we wanted to do the right thing, we would do the wrong thing." He also says he always knew he wanted to do "something big." So in 2008, he founded Betterment. Betterment is now the largest independent "robo-advisor," with $4.3 billion in assets under management and 150,000 customers. I've interviewed many founders of startups on Barefoot Innovation, but this is the first one that runs commercials on television. Betterment aims to optimize investment through automation that produces sound advice for the long term, and that also makes the process both easy and more affordable. It builds around what Jon considers the MOST important advice -- which is too often overlooked, namely -- "How much to save?" The company has also taken on the "behavior gap" in financial advice - Betterment has the lowest in the industry and is trying to drive it to zero. They are also constantly driving for efficiency gains (his colleagues say if you want to sell Jon on an idea just tell him it will increase efficiency), and for fee transparency. They think this combination of strengths - being advice-centric, transparent, and hyper-efficient -- will revolutionize the investment world. They also think their model, over time, can be applied to a much broader set of financial services. As Jon's biography puts it, "What excites him most about his work is making everyday activities and products more efficient, accessible, and easy to use." One highlight of our conversation is his insights on the thorny questions of how these innovations should be regulated, including on the advice given, how data should be used to be sure it's helping customers, and how performance should be measured.   Note on upcoming podcasts Click below to donate your "buck a show" to keep Barefoot Innovation going and growing. (If you didn't hear my explanation on this, it's at the end of the previous episode, with Raul Vazquez of Oportun). Support the Podcast Upcoming shows are going to be so interesting. Keying off Jon Stein's thinking on human behavior, we'll have an episode with one of America's top experts in how behavioral economics impacts investment and retirement savings, Harvard Professor Brigitte Madrian. I'm delighted to say Brigitte is also my faculty advisor on the book I'm writing on financial innovation and regulation for my Harvard fellowship this year. We're also working on a fascinating show on innovation emerging in the insurance sector, dubbed, "insure-tech." Other guests in the queue include some of the country's most thoughtful bank compliance officers, and the very thoughtful founders of Bee. Note on Regulation Innovation Briefing Series Meanwhile, click here to explore my Regulation Innovation briefings, while you still can for free!  The briefings are short monthly videos, each paired with a deep article about the twin and intertwined challenges of financial innovation and regulation. They are still free for a few more weeks, and then the series will be for subscribers, so please check it out. As I said last time, these articles are the most important and valuable thing I've ever written. I hope you'll join the journey. Subscribe to Our Mailing LIst Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Email Address Sign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you!

James Gutierrez is one of the more interesting people I have come across in this industry. He has already started one alternative lender, Progreso Financiero (now Oportun) focused on the Latino market and now he is looking to expand lending across a much broader cross section of this country. James, my guest on Episode 50 of […] The post Podcast 50: James Gutierrez of Insikt appeared first on Lend Academy.

James Gutierrez is one of the more interesting people I have come across in this industry. He has already started one alternative lender, Progreso Financiero (now Oportun) focused on the Latino market and now he is looking to expand lending across a much broader cross section of this country. James, my guest on Episode 50 of […] The post Podcast 50: James Gutierrez of Insikt appeared first on Lend Academy.

Luz Urrutia, the global head of retail at Oportun, has been carrying the same credit card in her wallet for 30 years. Having moved from her native Venezuela to the U.S. to study finance at Georgia State University, Luz was thrilled when she landed her first job in the banking industry – only to have her credit card application rejected by the same bank where she worked! Having little or no credit can make adjusting to life in a new country extremely onerous. In our conversation, Luz points out that anything from getting a job to renting an apartment and hooking up utilities is often impossible without a FICO score. Currently, almost half of the Hispanic community in the U.S. is underserved. Luz decided years ago to help the 25 million individuals who represent the un- and under-banked in her community by offering responsible credit-building and affordable loans. Before moving to California to broaden her mission, Luz co-founded and served as President and Chief Operating Office for El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad in Atlanta. Since then, her career has been characterized by a relentless drive to use technology and creative techniques to “score the unscorable” and serve those overlooked by traditional financial institutions. Oportun, formerly Progreso Financiero, was founded in 2005 with the same goal of empowering underserved Hispanic consumers. Its proprietary technology platform scores applicants, even those who do not have credit, and enables Oportun to provide a highly personal experience with back-office efficiency. Headquartered in Redwood City, CA, the customer experience at Oportun is designed with the Hispanic customer in mind. This experience is disseminated through a network of more than 160 stores in five states, often conveniently co-located with or near Hispanic grocery stores, are open 7 days a week into the evening, and staffed by team members who speak Spanish. In recognition of Oportun’s goals of increasing economic opportunity for its clients, promoting community development, and serving low-income or underserved communities, Oportun was certified by the United States Department of Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution in November 2009 and re-certified in October 2013. I spoke with Luz at the Center for Financial Services Innovation’s (CFSI) EMERGE conference in Austin, on whose board she has served since 2004 (full disclosure, I am also on the board). Luz has often been recognized for her commitment to improving the lives of underserved financial consumers, including being named as 2009’s Latina Business Woman of the Year and American Banker’s “Community Banker of the Year” in 2006. Perhaps the greatest reward for Luz, however, is the joy she feels pursuing her mission every day. In our interview you can gladden in her words imbued of passion and excitement (you’ll just have to trust that they were accompanied by a brilliant smile!). I am happy to offer this episode of Barefoot Innovation as a pick-me-up for anyone who needs a reminder of the unique work being done throughout the industry to use innovation to enhance the lives of financial consumers, and what revolutionary breakthroughs a strong drive to help one’s community can render. To learn more about Oportun Financial, click here. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes HERE or open your favorite podcast app and search for Jo Ann Barefoot.