Fintech Chatter: Conversations with Fintech Leaders

If you're scaling a fintech leadership team, start at tieronepeople.com

Andy Taylor is the founder and CEO of ASX-listed Stakk Limited (ASX: SKK), an embedded trust and fraud prevention platform used by Chime, Robinhood, T-Mobile and H&R Block. 

In this episode Andy breaks down Stakk's proposed US$63 million acquisition of document intelligence firm ParaScript, and how the deal turns a decade of building into an AI-powered fraud detection engine. 

I ask Andy about Stakk's pivot from consumer neobanking under the Douugh brand into B2B infrastructure. He shares where the business is headed next as it expands into healthcare.

Before Stakk, Andy co-founded SocietyOne, Australia's first peer-to-peer lending platform, and later founded Douugh, an AI-first neobank that listed on the ASX pre-revenue. He has spent close to two decades building fintech businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Find out more - https://stakk.tech/

Chapters
00:00 Welcome to FinTech Chatter
01:16 Introduction to Stakk and Andy Taylor
03:44 The Journey of Stakk: From Douugh to Success
10:54 Reflections on Society One and Early FinTech Days
17:17 Navigating Challenges in the Current FinTech Landscape
23:15 Consumer Behavior Shifts and Market Dynamics
25:55 Future Expectations for Stakk
34:55 Advice for Founders Facing Adversity
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Steve Hind is the co-founder and CEO of Lorikeet, an Australian AI startup that has raised more than $50 million USD to build AI concierges for high-regulation businesses in fintech, healthcare and energy.

Lorikeet's customers include Airwallex, Linktree and Eucalyptus, the telehealth company recently acquired by Hims & Hers in a deal worth up to $1.15 billion.

Before founding Lorikeet with former Google Brain researcher Jamie Hall, Steve worked in product roles at Stripe and climate tech company Watershed, following an earlier career at BCG and Bridgewater Associates and an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

He first connected with Dexter in 2019 while working in Silicon Valley. Here's what they discuss in this episode:

00:00 Introduction
01:32 Understanding Lorikeet and Its AI Concierge Solutions
05:54 The Origin of Lorikeet and Its Founding Story
09:50 Navigating the AI Landscape and Company Growth
12:49 Regulatory Challenges in FinTech and AI Compliance
15:12 The Role of AI in Compliance and Customer Relationships
20:03 Steve's Career Journey and Lessons Learned
23:51 The Art of Startup Hiring
28:34 Navigating AI's Impact on Work
33:36 The Future of Work and Leadership
39:05 Optimism in the Age of AI
41:57 Advice for Aspiring Founders

Find out more about careers - https://www.lorikeetcx.ai/careers
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Clayton Howes is the CEO of MONEYME (ASX: MME), an Australian non-bank lender that has originated over $5 billion in consumer credit and now manages a $1.9 billion loan book across personal loans, credit cards, and car finance. In this episode, Clayton walks through the full 13-year journey: bootstrapping from a desk-sized office, listing on the ASX in December 2019, acquiring SocietyOne during the Ukraine invasion, and engineering the Horizon technology platform that now powers everything.

0:00 Introduction
1:34 What MONEYME does and 13 years of milestones
3:37 From corporate to founder
5:32 Why consumer finance over any other vertical
9:53 Why consumer fintech is the hardest category
11:25 The ASX listing decision
14:38 The SocietyOne acquisition
19:53 The Horizon technology platform
23:00 Leadership evolution from player to coach
28:37 Staying close to the front line
32:28 Why the office is always full
36:18 Product innovation and the path forward
42:10 Careers at MONEYME

Links
Clayton Howes LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claytonhowes/
MONEYME Website: https://www.moneyme.com.au
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Michelle Bagnall is the CEO of BankFirst, a mutual bank with 92,000 members and $4.7 billion in assets that exists to serve nurses and teachers in Australia. In this episode she tells Dexter the origin story of a bank that started with $480 in a shoebox, explains why nobody at BankFirst gets paid a bonus, and makes the case that mutuals were the original fintech startups.

00:00 Introduction 
03:08 The Origins of Bank First and Peer-to-Peer Lending
05:30 Understanding Mutual Banks and Their Model
10:54 Competing with Big Banks and Neo Banks
14:24 Leadership and Culture at Bank First
21:15 Finding Passion and Purpose in Banking
31:04 Bank First's Role in Supporting Members During Economic Challenges
36:00 The Complexity of Financial Solutions and Collaboration
40:47 Opportunities at Bank First

Links
Michelle Bagnall LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-bagnall/
BankFirst: https://www.bankfirst.com.au
Tier One People: https://www.tieronepeople.com
Dexter Cousins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dextercousins/
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Fintech Chatter is presented by www.tieronepeople.com - executive search for Fintech.

In this episode Dexter chats to Jamie Twiss CEO of Beforepay Group (ASX: B4P) and Carrington Labs. Jamie joined Beforepay pre-IPO, turning them from a startup into a profitable ASX-listed fintech writing 40,000 small loans a week with a 99% repayment rate. 
Jamie and Dexter discuss why Beforepay is on a mission to disrupt the payday lending sector, and provide a fairer system based on advanced credit risk models.
They also discuss the other business of Beforepay Group, Carrington Labs. Jamie explains their expansion into North America, supporting US lenders with the Beforepay credit risk platform, and why he believes AI will fundamentally rewire financial services.

01:00 Introduction to BeforePay Group
02:50 Understanding Consumer Lending and Risk Management
06:13 The Role of BeforePay in Economic Challenges
09:03 Product Evolution: From Pay Advances to Personal Loans
12:10 Carrington Labs: Expanding into the US Market
14:54 Journey into FinTech: From Big Banks to Startups
17:58 Navigating Market Changes Post-IPO
21:12 The Importance of a Diverse Educational Background
23:50 Company Culture and Leadership Values
26:59 The Future of AI in Lending
30:09 Looking Ahead: What’s Next for BeforePay Group

Find out more - https://www.beforepay.com.au/
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