Fintech One•On•One

Paulette Rowe, CEO of Stax, on winning in embedded payments

In this episode of the Fintech One-on-One podcast, we talk with Paulette Rowe, CEO of Stax, a payments technology company that's making waves in the embedded payments space by taking a fundamentally different approach than many competitors. Rather than simply reselling services from payment processing giants, Stax has built and acquired the technology to own their entire stack, from gateway to clearing and settlement. This strategic decision allows them to move faster, provide better data, and offer more flexibility to their clients, particularly in the vertical SaaS and ISV market where they are seeing rapid growth.Paulette, who brings a unique perspective from her extensive payments experience across both the UK and US markets, discusses how Stax differentiates itself in the competitive embedded payments landscape, their innovative Stax Connect Plus offering that helps ISVs dramatically improve payment attachment rates, and how AI is already transforming their customer support operations. The conversation also explores the future of payments innovation, including the potential for agentic AI in e-commerce and Stax's international expansion plans.In this podcast you will learn:Paulette’s career arc and the journey to the CEO job at Stax.How the US payments landscape differs from the UK and Europe.The comprehensive payments solutions provided by Stax.How they work with ISVs (independent software providers).The two acquisitions they have made in the past two years.Why they developed Stax Connect Plus.How Stax differentiates itself in the ISV embedded payments market.How they compete with the Stripes and Squares of the world.What markets Stax operates in today.Paulette’s thoughts on the new payments rails being developed.How they have been using AI internally and then, Benji for customer support.How they are preparing for Agentic AI for e-commerce.The biggest opportunities in the future for Stax.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Matt Potere, CEO of Happy Money, on building a great consumer lending business

As long-time listeners will know, I love the consumer lending space. So, I am delighted to welcome back to the podcast Matt Potere, the CEO of Happy Money, a position he has held since September 2024. Previously, Matt served as CEO of Sunlight Financial, which he took public via SPAC in 2021. With decades of experience in consumer finance across multiple asset classes, Matt brings deep expertise in credit cycles, risk management, and building successful lending platforms.In this episode, we discuss what differentiates Happy Money, their focus on credit unions, how they approach technology and underwriting, their big new forward flow agreement, the state of the consumer today, their use of AI, why culture is so important and much more.In this podcast you will learn:What attracted Matt to the opportunity at Happy Money.How he describes Happy Money today.What he learned leading Sunlight Financial that helps at Happy Money.Why they have focused on partnering with credit unions.Who is the typical customer coming to Happy Money.How their origination process works with their credit union partners.How they are using automation and AI/ML in their underwriting.Matt’s perspective on the state of the US consumers.The primary use cases for a Happy Money loan.How they differentiate themselves from other fintech lenders.Matt’s approach to scaling a lending business.How they are using AI tools in their operation.How the $500 million deal with Fortress and Edge Focus came together.What are his thoughts on an IPO.Matt thoughts about adding new products to personal loans.What they are focused on for the next 12 months.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Sam Lewis, CEO of Fruitful, with a new approach to financial advice

In this episode, we are talking personal financial management, but with a human twist. Sam Lewis is the CEO and Founder of Fruitful, a fintech company reimagining financial advice for millennials and Gen Z. Fruitful offers a $98 monthly membership that combines certified financial planners (actual humans) with AI-powered technology to create personalized "money systems" that automatically allocate incoming funds across bills, spending, and goals. Lewis discusses his background at Mastercard and how he witnessed traditional banks underserving younger customers, leading him to launch Fruitful in 2023.The conversation explores Fruitful's unique approach of maintaining human advisors rather than going fully AI-driven, their focus on "income allocation" over "asset allocation," and their transparent pricing model that forgoes hidden fees and even interchange revenue. Lewis explains how the platform serves mass affluent members who want to automate their financial lives while maintaining the human touch for trust and emotional connection in money management decisions.In this podcast you will learn:The big gap that Sam saw when it came to financial advice.The core product offering of Fruitful and what people get for $98/month.How their Certified Financial Planners (CFP) help their members build a money system.The suite of financial products that is included.Who they are working with on the banking side and why it is such an important relationship.Why they decided to have a human in the loop to help guide people through this.How Sam thinks about AI and its role in helping their members.What happens after the money system is set up.Who comes to Fruitful for help and what they are looking for.How they are getting new customers in the door.How they help their members with their investments.Why they have decided not pursue any other revenue streams beyond the monthly fee.How Sam is thinking about adding complementary financial products.What they are focused on for the next 12-18 months.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Arjan Schütte, Founder of Core Innovation Capital, on investing in financial empowerment

One of the fintech investing pioneers is Arjan Schütte, the founder and managing partner of Core Innovation Capital. He has been around fintech for more than two decades and has been an active investor for most of that time. I am way overdue in getting him on the show.In this conversation, we explore why 50% of Americans still live paycheck to paycheck despite fintech's growth, the dramatic transformation AI will bring to financial services (moving from advice to actionable help), and emerging opportunities in small business enablement, healthcare-finance intersections, and retirement solutions. Arjan also reflects on early investment wins like NerdWallet and Ripple, lessons learned from setbacks like Synapse, and how his recent year-long family journey around the world opened his eyes to innovative financial models like Australia's superannuation system that could revolutionize wealth creation for America's middle class.In this podcast you will learn:How Core is different from other VC firms.How fintech has improved the underbanked population in this country.Why fintech hasn’t made a bigger difference for financially fragile people.Some of the business models that work for serving this population.A look at some of his successful early investments.What he missed when he decided to invest in Synapse.What is different in the fintech space today than a decade ago.How he views AI when looking at early stage companies today.The different verticals within fintech where there is most interest today.Arjan’s perspective on the fintech IPO window.What he would do if he had a magic wand to help lower and middle income consumers.What he learned traveling around the world with his family for a year.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Tim Newell, CEO & Founder of GreenFi, on building a climate-friendly fintech

In this episode, I'm joined by Tim Newell, CEO and founder of GreenFi, a climate-focused fintech that emerged from the ashes of Aspiration's consumer banking business. Tim brings a fascinating fintech and climate tech pedigree, having previously sold a solar financing company to SolarCity, run financial products at both SolarCity and Tesla, and even survived five years working for Elon Musk. When Aspiration decided to pivot away from consumer banking to focus on global carbon markets in 2022, Tim saw an opportunity to acquire and restructure their consumer business. Through a complex licensing deal, he successfully transitioned over 98% of Aspiration's customers to his new platform while radically downsizing from 400 employees to just 40.GreenFi targets the 100 million Americans who cite climate as a significant worry, about 40% of U.S. adults, offering them banking products that guarantee their deposits won't support fossil fuels, automatically offset carbon from gas purchases, and enable tree planting through everyday transactions. We dive into how Tim thinks about the intersection of fintech and climate action, the challenges of building a sustainable business model in today's capital environment, and his ambitious vision to become "Patagonia for your bank account.”In this podcast you will learn:Tim’s deep background in financial technology and climate tech.What was involved in Aspiration’s pivot away from consumer fintech to the carbon markets.How Tim was able to spin out the consumer fintech business from Aspiration.How GreenFi grew out of that business.The product set for GreenFi and near term product roadmap.The huge percentage of deposits that moved over from Aspiration to GreenFi.The specific ways they are making their financial offerings carbon-friendly.Who makes up their target market.How the swing in Washington against climate initiatives is impacting GreenFi.How they restructured the business to a radically different cost base.How they are offsetting their own carbon footprint.The process for raising their $17 million seed round.Their different revenue streams.The scale that GreenFi is at today.Tim’s vision for GreenFi.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes