The Irish Tech News Podcast

After more than a decade of crossing paths at conferences and following each other’s work, Theodora Lau finally gets the opportunity to host Sarah Biller, Co-Founder & Member Board of Directors of Fintech Sandbox, and Bank Director and Investor of Thread Bank, on the One Vision Podcast. 
In this episode, Sarah talks about building innovation ecosystems beyond traditional hubs, including her work in West Virginia and the influence of leaders like Brad Smith and John Chambers. Sarah describes what she looks for in founders. It’s about digging deep, listening closely, and finding solutions that truly matter. 
The conversation turns to AI’s rapid adoption in financial services, the shift to agentic AI, risks of replacing human judgment in regulated credit decisions, and the need to prioritize understanding and human-centered outcomes over speed and efficiency. The real constraint on a better financial future isn't AI, it's data, and whoever controls access to it controls the upper hand. 
And the episode closes on something both Sarah and Theo keep returning to in their work: the fragility of the household balance sheet, the millions of Americans who are one flat tire away from financial distress, and the choice in front of an AI-enabled industry — to widen that gap, or close it.
If AI is the most transformative technology any of us will see in our lifetimes., whose financial future are we actually building?
🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

📍Hot take: “ The next generation of financial services, if it is to correctly harness the power of AI to get there, it's not speed that matters, but understanding. And AI has to understand like you and I do as humans.” 

Keywords: AI, Fintech, Open Banking, Data, Future Of Work, Podcast 

Timestamps
00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro
01:42 Building Ecosystems in Appalachia
07:00 Traits of Great Founders
12:04 Data Access and Open Banking
17:22 AI Hype vs Human Impact
18:40 Agentic AI and Relationship Banking
29:42 Friction Matters in Money
33:45 Midyear Surprises and What’s Next
39:30 Closing Thanks and Farewell

More about our guest 
🌐Sarah Biller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbiller/ 
More about our host and One Vision Podcast 
🌐Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 
🌐Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (book): https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 
🌐Unconventional Ventures (company): https://www.unconventionalventures.com/ 
🌐Listen to all One Vision Podcast episodes by visiting: https://shows.acast.com/one-vision

Magnet+, the leading independent provider of enterprise connectivity, cloud-based voice solutions and managed services, is seeing a significant increase in the uptake of Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) by businesses nationwide at the moment. Magnet+, part of Speed Fibre Group, serves over 7,000 customers across Ireland and Europe, including 70% of the world’s leading tech companies located in Ireland.
The increase in DIA uptake (1G and up) is due to the fact that more and more organisations across Ireland are accelerating investment in cloud-based systems and platforms, real time data and collab tools, AI, cybersecurity and multi-site / hybrid working environments. 
To find out more about DIA and its uptake I spoke to Patrick Masterson, MD of Magnet+. Patrick talks to me about his background, what Magnet+ does, DIA, digital transformation and more.
More about Patrick Masterson, MD of Magnet Plus:
Patrick Masterson was appointed MD of Magnet Plus three years ago. With over 20 years of experience across a variety of areas including commercial, sales and marketing, Patrick’s reputation for driving commercial activities and improving overall business performance is a key asset to Magnet Plus.
Prior to joining Magnet Plus, he held several Commercial Director and Chief Commercial Officer roles in leading Irish companies across the Retail, Healthcare and Technology sectors. He also has an MBA with Henley Business School in the U.K.

What happens to a deposit when the account holder dies — and why are banks so unprepared for the one moment they know is coming?
In this episode of the One Vision Podcast, Theodora Lau sits down with Martha Underwood, Founder and CEO of Prismm and author of the new release: The Death of Deposits. Drawing on 25+ years across IBM, Silicon Valley, and BBVA Compass, Martha talks about the unspoken assumption in banking — that the user will always be there — and how that assumption is now colliding with the largest generational wealth transfer in history.
Together, Theo and Martha unpack the retention illusion, why the beneficiary field is the richest unused lead list sitting inside every bank's core, and why deposit attrition at death is an infrastructure problem, not a marketing one. They dig into the operational reality, the cultural reality, and the human reality, and why AI's real job is orchestration under pressure (not more automation). 
A deeply human conversation about deposits, design, and what it really means to extend a banking relationship beyond a single account holder.
 
📍Hot take: “You cannot out-campaign demographics.”
📍Hot take: "If you don't design for the transfer, you're going to lose the relationship."
Keywords: AI, Wealth transfer, Wealth management

More about our guest 
🌐Martha Underwood on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marthaunderwood/ 
📘 The Death of Deposits by Martha Underwood: https://a.co/d/07TBuFvC 

More about our host and One Vision Podcast 
🌐Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 
🌐Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (book): https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 
🌐Unconventional Ventures (company): https://www.unconventionalventures.com/
🌐Listen to all One Vision Podcast episodes by visiting: https://shows.acast.com/one-vision

Irish Tech News is at Dublin Tech Summit and over the 2 days Ronan will be doing various podcasts. Our sixth and last podcast is with John Wilson CISO and President of Forensics at HaystackID, and Jeff Shapiro Managing Director of Europe  at HaystackID. John and Jeff talk to Ronan about their backgrounds, what Haystack does, their Dublin Tech Summit talk and AI deep fakes.

Irish Tech News is at Dublin Tech Summit and over the 2 days Ronan will be doing various podcasts. Our ffith podcast is with Alvina Antar Chief Digital Officer at F5, an American technology company providing global scale and industry-leading converged application delivery and security platform offering unrivaled insight into the challenges and threats facing modern and legacy apps in the AI era.
Alvina talks to Ronan about her background, embracing new technology, what F5 does, AI and getting the Grace Hopper award the night before Dublin Tech Summit started.