Maja also recounts her experience of getting kicked out of boardrooms for discussing the use of airline engine electricity from GE to mine Bitcoin. She discusses the creation of FG Nexus, a company built to be cycler-resistant, and how it's not just a momentum play. 

Additionally, Maja gives a prediction on the price of Ethereum by the end of the year and explains her philosophy of being grateful even for the challenges she faces. 

Tune in for an insightful discussion on overcoming adversity, the volatile world of cryptocurrencies, and the future of blockchain technology.

Maja Vujinovic

X (Twitter): https://x.com/maja0G

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/majavujinovic/

Lloyd Wahed

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloydwahed/

Stay updated with Searching For Mana

Official website: https://mana-group.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mana1/

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Samani delves into the unique features that distinguish Solana from other blockchains, such as its high throughput and low transaction costs, and explains its rapid growth and adoption within the blockchain community. The conversation also covers broader topics, including Samani's investment strategies, the future potential of decentralised finance (DeFi), and the transformative impact of blockchain technology on the global financial ecosystem. 

Samani shares his perspectives on the challenges facing the blockchain industry and the innovations that could drive its future growth. 

Tune in for a deep dive into the innovative world of Solana, the dynamics of blockchain technology, and the impact of Multicoin Capital on the future of finance and technology.

Kyle Samani

X (Twitter): https://x.com/KyleSamani

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylesamani/

Lloyd Wahed

X (Twitter): https://x.com/LloydWahed

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloydwahed/

Stay updated with Searching For Mana

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mana1/

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The conversation covers the evolution of digital assets, the challenges of bridging traditional and crypto finance, and the importance of building trust and credibility in a rapidly changing industry. Kevin also reflects on the lessons learned from entrepreneurship, the value of discipline and humility, and his vision for the future of tokenisation and digital finance.

Tune in for insights on digital assets, scaling a fintech company, and what it takes to lead in a rapidly evolving industry.

Kevin de Patoul

X (Twitter): https://x.com/kevindepatoul

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-de-patoul/

Lloyd Wahed

X (Twitter): https://x.com/LloydWahed

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloydwahed/

Stay updated with Searching For Mana

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mana1/

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They discuss the groundbreaking potential of digital assets and blockchain technology in transforming the financial industry. Sandy shares her journey from a journalist to a thought leader in fintech, highlighting pivotal moments and the innovative directions Franklin Templeton is taking. They delve into the intricacies of tokenised money market funds, stablecoins, and the evolving landscape of financial regulation. 

Beyond her role at Franklin Templeton, Sandy is the co-chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission's Digital Asset Subcommittee and serves on the World Economic Forum Digital Assets Advisory Board. 

Tune in to explore Sandy's visionary insights and the future trajectory of digital finance.

Sandy Kaul

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-kaul/

Lloyd Wahed

X (Twitter): https://x.com/LloydWahed

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloydwahed/

Stay updated with Searching For Mana

Official website: https://mana-group.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mana1/

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From the early days of Volt’s seed raise to the complexity of global expansion — including their launch in Australia — Steffen shares what it takes to build a high-growth payments business without compromising on culture, product, or people.

He unpacks why talent retention and cultural alignment are key differentiators at scale, and how “extreme ownership” has shaped Volt’s internal DNA.

The conversation also dives into:

 – The future of Web3 in payments

 – How digital assets could accelerate infrastructure

 – Why Europe lags behind the U.S. in fintech innovation

 – And yes… even a few thoughts on tractors, habits, and consistency

Steffen’s calm, pragmatic approach is matched by a sharp clarity around product and growth — a CEO who codes, thinks, and scales with intention.

A must-listen for anyone building in payments, fintech, or digital infrastructure.
 

Steffen Vollert

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vollerts/

Daniel O'Riordan

X (Twitter): https://x.com/Dan_ORiordan

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-o-riordan-0636257b/

Sachin Doshi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachin-doshi-1b87094/

Stay updated with Searching For Mana

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mana1/

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Stani discusses the origins and growth of Aave, the significance of blockchain technology, and the innovative solutions his team is developing in the DeFi space. The conversation includes insights into Aave's pioneering lending and borrowing protocols, while also touching on the broader implications of tokenised real-world assets (RWAs), and the importance of security and scalability in blockchain networks. Stani shares his vision for a future where DeFi can provide equal financial opportunities to all, emphasising the importance of resilience and creativity.

Tune in to gain insightful perspectives on financial democratisation, the role of Ethereum, and the seamless integration of blockchain in mainstream finance.

Stani Kulechov

X (Twitter): https://x.com/StaniKulechov

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stani-kulechov-361284132/

Lloyd Wahed

X (Twitter): https://x.com/LloydWahed

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloydwahed/

Stay updated with Searching For Mana

Official website: https://mana-group.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mana1/

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Kanoo shares insights into his family's business legacy, the importance of professional management, and the role education plays in ethical leadership. The episode also tackles broader themes such as the socio-economic impacts of AI and the importance of community and respect in business. 

Tune in for a deep dive into the principles, challenges, and future trends in business and technology.

Mishal Kanoo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mishal-kanoo-14099111b/

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Discussing Cardano's resilience, decentralised governance, and long-term vision, Gregaard sheds light on how the Foundation's non-profit ethos drives innovation and social impact. The conversation touches on the challenges and successes faced by Cardano, its academic foundation, and the potential for blockchain to redefine global governance and economic identity. 

Gregaard also shares his personal leadership philosophy and vision for a future where blockchain empowers communities globally.

Don't miss this insightful episode to understand the intricate balance between technology, ethics, and the future of decentralised networks.

Cardano Foundation website: https://www.cardanofoundation.org/

Frederik Gregaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregaard/

Follow Searching For Mana to stay updated on our latest episodes.

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Discover Solana's evolution from a fledgling network to a blockchain powerhouse, overcoming hurdles like the FTX crash while cultivating a vibrant community and ecosystem with over $5 billion in TVL.

Lily’s perspectives on self-custody, economic sovereignty, and user-first blockchain products are a must for anyone following the evolution of digital assets.

Don't miss this episode for a glimpse into crypto’s future, the challenges and promise of blockchain, and the unique strength of the Solana community.

Solana website: https://solana.com/

Lily Liu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calilyliu/

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Since its founding in 2001, Earnix has led innovation with dynamic tools that transform insurer operations, from risk evaluation to real-time pricing.

The discussion explores strategies that have positioned Earnix as a key player in this evolving industry, covering global market expansion and complex regulatory environments.

Robin shares insights on how Earnix’s technology enables insurers to launch products faster, make smarter pricing decisions, and stay competitive. He also addresses the challenges of global scaling and navigating diverse regulations.

Tune in to discover the strategies positioning companies like Earnix at the forefront of industry advancements.

Earnix website: https://earnix.com/

Robin Gilthorpe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robingilthorpe/

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In this compelling episode of Searching for Mana, host Lloyd Wahed engages in a thought-provoking discussion with Jeremy Allaire, the visionary Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Circle.

Together, they explore the transformative journey of Circle and its flagship digital currency, USDC. Delving deep into the origins, challenges, and subsequent rise of Circle, the conversation sheds light on how stablecoins like USDC are pioneering the future of digital finance, providing a seamless bridge between cutting-edge blockchain technology and traditional financial systems.

From navigating the turbulent waters of ‘crypto winters’ to scaling operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, this episode highlights the resilience and foresight required to integrate blockchain technology with established financial systems, offering listeners a comprehensive look into the future of digital currencies.

Circle's website: https://www.circle.com/en/

Jeremy Allaire's profile on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyallaire/

Follow Searching For Mana to stay tuned into our latest episodes.

Website: https://manasearch.co.uk/browse-jobs/

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mana1

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Just months after the Mt. Gox hack in 2014, Erik launched the first non-custodial crypto exchange, ShapeShift. As Founder and CEO of ShapeShift, he led that to a successful exit for shareholders while also turning ShapeShift into a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) governed by its FOX token holders. He has been an outspoken libertarian and advocate for Bitcoin, talking openly about his concerns surrounding traditional monetary systems and taxation. 

He has been known to work with regulators on better understanding the decentralized financial system and improving the future of both TradFi and DeFi. He has been featured in the book Digital Gold and the Netflix documentary Banking on Bitcoin. He has publicly debated Peter Schiff, and Sam Bankman-Fried, and has been featured on Bloomberg, Fox Business, and numerous industry conferences. He has been interviewed by many crypto publications and podcasts - The Missing Link being one. This episode is a can't-miss! 

This podcast does not contain any financial or legal advice and you should not seek to rely on it as such. Opinions are the personal opinions of the speaker.

The Missing Link is a podcast produced by Nayms, our partner in the Searching for Mana podcast.

Nayms: https://nayms.com 

Mana: https://searchingformana.com

 Like this episode and subscribe to this channel if our content helped and inspired you! See you in our next episode!

How does open-banking enable the goal of accessible fiscal liberty for everyone, and what are Plaid doing to achieve that?

One of the tropes this podcast has covered across episodes is culture, and with Ripsy we explore how culture changes within a business as it scales, and what specific changes are necessary.

Lloyd also speaks with Ripsy on her background, with pivotal elements such as learning English through school and the freedom of choice in studies at university helping to shape a fantastic career.

Subscribe for more content, and please visit our website for other episodes.

[ 0:00 - 4:12 ] Trans-Atlantic Bridge, connecting US and Europe

[ 4:13 - 6:12 ] Humans make business happen

[ 6:13 - 14:33 ] Culture and change

[ 14:34 - 18:55 ] Plaid elevator pitch

[ 18:56 - 23:56 ] Value and potential in open banking

[ 23:57 - 26:12 ] Competition and collaboration

[ 26:13 - 32:38 ] Origin story

[ 32:39 - 38:06 ] Belief in optionality

[ 38:07 - 43:25 ] Goldman and McKinsey

[ 43:26 - 49:09 ] Apple in its early stages

[ 49:10 - 54:58 ] Family and perseverance

[ 54:59 - 1:04:17 ] Quick-fire round

[ 1:04:18 - 1:06:06 ] Hollywood outcome for Plaid

Now one of the most respected, outspoken and well-known leaders in web3, Lloyd walks us through Pascal’s founding journey and how he has scaled Ledger from zero to over 1000 employees. 

Pascal discusses the importance of Ledger’s hardware and software security, which offers complete protection for web3 digital assets. From psychology, to hiring, to thought leadership and entrepreneurship, Pascal offers insight for all those founding, looking to get into or curious about the blockchain space.

[ 0:00 - 9:45 ] Ledger’s product 

[ 9:46 - 17:47 ] UX and 100% web3 security  

[ 17:48 - 28:18 ] Size & Scale of Ledger, Apple inspiration & Ian Rogers 

[ 28:19 - 35:09 ] Pascal’s masterclass in hiring

[ 35:10 - 48:54 ] The origin story and Pascal’s career journey 

[ 48:55 - 57:00 ] The Mana Round 

[ 57:01 - 1:05:09 ] Future projections for Ledger and Web3

Former Venture Capitalist and trader Martijn sheds brilliant light into the state of UK FinTech, the pros and cons of private vs public companies, and how his contrarian style has fuelled his success.

Highly insightful, honest and always with a touch of humour, Martijn is a brilliantly entertaining guest, and example of how outlier experiences so often make brilliant entrepreneurs.

[ 0:00 - 8:32 ] An intro to Floww’s product

[ 8:33 - 20:35 ] The Macro Market & Working with the LSE

[ 20:36 - 30:52 ] The Big Vision for Floww

[ 30:53 - 40:02 ] Martijn’s background & contrariasm

[ 40:03 - 51:16 ] Trading, 2008 and entrepreneurship

[ 51:17 - 57:26 ] Martijn’s venture thesis

[ 57:27 - 1:07:33 ] The Mana round

[ 1:07:34 - 1:21:22 ] Crypto and Floww’s Hollywood outcome

Searching for Mana is about finding future category leading tech firms in real-time. Almost every business goes through ups and downs, and the path to the top is never completely smooth.

Bolt has scaled to great heights already, but also faced challenges, competing against the likes of Amazon, Shopify and Alibaba to create the future of e-commerce.

Lloyd dives into Maju’s background, from helping the family business during his childhood in India, how this gave him perspective and shaped his leadership style, to becoming CEO at a leading FinTech player.

Inspired by the Ride of a Lifetime, by Bob Iger, evening walks, and with a love of building, Lloyd dives into Maju’s psychology.

Please subscribe for more content and check out our website for other episodes.

[ 0:00 - 4:37 ] Size and Scale of Bolt 

[ 4:38 - 10:09 ] Commerce 3.0: Taking on Amazon, Shopify

[ 10:10 - 13:46 ] Decentralised commerce & crypto 

[ 13:47 - 21:43 ] Bolt: seamlessly managing the checkout experience 

[ 21:44 - 25:57 ] Quick-fire round 

[ 25:58 - 32:58 ] Walking, walking and more walking & Maju’s Mana

[ 32:59 - 39:10 ] Maju’s background and family shop 

[ 39:11 - 47:45 ] Competitiveness, Maju’s winning mentality and causing fundamental change

[ 47:46 - 54:58 ] Helping merchants and providing solutions for the modern consumer 

[ 54:59 - 59:18 ] The Hollywood outcome for Bolt

From humble beginnings, and an unusual path, Austin Allison, founder at Pacaso, has taken an unconventional path to the top. A self-proclaimed “troubled teen” and near high-school drop-out, Austin, on the back of an epiphanical moment, turned his life around to become a top performer at college, and become a multi-unicorn founder.

Son of a carpenter, with a clear entrepreneurial streak from a young age, selling birdhouses having seen the joy a birdhouse made by his father brought to his mother, Austin started his first business aged 8.

Fast-forward a number of years, and Austin has founded a business sold for 9 figures, and now founded the fastest-growing tech unicorn ever. From 0 to a $1B+ valuation in 5 months!

However, what stands out with Austin is his attention to culture.

Despite all this success, where Austin really takes pride is in the environments he has created and the room for his team to flourish. Infusing Pacaso with an Infinite Mindset, focused not on the short-term, nor even long-term, but aiming to build a business that outlives even himself, Austin’s mentality is inspirational.

A fantastic episode on how to build cultures, how to build sustainably in bear markets and really, a modern tech founder’s guide.

Book recommendations: 
The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz 
The Infinite Mindset - Simon Sinek 

[ 0:00 - 3:26 ] An introduction to Pacaso - the fastest growing tech unicorn of all time

[ 3:27 - 10:46 ] Fractionalised ownership of 2nd homes & angry Cornwall seagulls

[ 10:47 - 15:55 ] The How and Why of Pacaso

[ 15:56 - 22:01 ] How Pacaso went from 0 to $1Bn+ in 5 months

[ 22:02 - 28:38 ] The macro-market and building sustainably in a bear market

[ 28:39 - 33:08 ] Austin’s background, from humble beginnings to unicorn founder

[ 33:09 - 39:45 ] From being unproductive to maximum productivity

[ 39:46 - 44:28] Austin Allison’s Forbes: He earned it

[ 44:29 - 49:57 ] The cruciality of culture

[ 49:58 - 55:46 ] The Infinite Mindset

[ 55:47 - 58:59 ] The modern leader: vulnerable and empathetic

[ 59:00 - 1:06:11 ] Future projections & Closing thoughts

Solana really needs no introduction.

One of the most prominent and popular blockchain platforms, particularly amongst developers, Solana is able to run over 6,000 transactions per second and 30 million app transactions per day. For context, that’s more than all other blockchains combined!

Diving into the rise of Solana, as well as speaking honestly on the struggles along the way, Anatoly sheds amazing light into his founding journey, and the future of a platform at the forefront of the web3 charge.

From launching their new phone, to seeking to emulate the likes of Linux across web2, the sky truly is the limit with regard to where Solana can go.

A superb podcast, Anatoly’s self-belief and belief in the potential of blockchain is incredible.

[ 0:00 - 7:23 ] The power, potential and scale of Solana

[ 7:24 - 15:54 ] NFTs, Solana outages and redundancy

[ 15:55 - 20:39 ] Serum, SBF and increasing decentralisation

[ 20:40 - 27:22 ] Quick-fire Mana round

[ 27:23 - 33:28 ] Anatoly’s background, Qualcomm and encouragement from his wife

[ 33:29 - 39:38 ] Water Hockey, Anatoly’s Eureka moment and founding Solana

[ 39:39 - 44:44 ] The future of Social Media

[ 44:45 - 51:16 ] Solana’s Mobile Phone - Saga

[ 51:16 - 59:13 ] Venture Capital and the future of Solana

Having had FTX’s US President Brett Harrison on as our opening guest of the series, Amy is another individual leading this generational business, with a mandate of investing in further generational businesses.

Formerly a Partner at Lightspeed, where she served on the Board at FTX, Amy switched sides at the start of the year, moving to Bahamas to work full-time 10 feet away from Sam Bankman-Fried, the youngest billionaire on the planet, who Amy describes at the greatest decision-maker and businessman of a generation.

In this superb episode, Amy sheds light on her journey, from piano prodigy, to serving on the board of one of Asia’s largest e-commerce businesses at the age of 23, to becoming one of the leading venture capitalists in web3. 

Charismatic, engaging and highly insightful, this episode is not to be missed!

[ 0:00 - 4:45 ] FTX, The Bahamas & the state of crypto

[ 4:46 - 7:16 ] Decision-making at FTX Ventures 

[ 7:17 - 13:44 ] Bear Markets, M&A and SBF the visionary

[ 13:45 - 20:15 ] Amy the Piano Prodigy

[ 20:16 - 24:11 ] Insight Partners, mentors and appreciation of brilliance 

[ 24:12 - 28:15 ] Quick-fire round: Finding the right time to aggressively deploy capital

[ 28:16 - 36:45 ] Vibing with founders and being a female role-model in crypto & venture

[ 36:46 - 45:35 ] The role of a modern Venture Capitalist in Web3 & being on DAO boards 

[ 45:36 - 53:33 ] L1 wars, decentralisation and the timeframe of web3 mass adoption 

[ 53:34 - 60:14 ] Working for a generational business, investing in generational businesses

With a resume boasting a PhD in Network Security, working as an early employee at Square, and rounding out his skill-set at Docker, Diogo’s rise to the top has been meteoric.

Diogo is now in charge of a leading crypto custodial player that has raised upwards of $450m from the likes of KKR, A16Z, Visa, PayPal and Goldman Sachs. On a pathway to supporting 20% of the world’s economy in the next 5-10 years, Anchorage is primed to be one of the most influential tech leaders of this generation, taking on 200-year-old incumbents in the likes of JP Morgan and BNY Mellon.

Having already achieved incredible success, and clearly with so much more to come, maybe, just maybe, dreams of San Diogo will become a reality!

A truly amazing episode, with one of the most impressive and likable guests to date.

[ 0:00 - 4:57 ] San Diogo, Pirate Custody & helping institutions build crypto platforms

[ 4:58 - 8:39 ] Size & Scale of Anchorage and the Neumann Flow

[ 8:39 - 12:11 ] AngelList and StableCoins

[ 12:11 - 17:21 ] Angel Investing

[ 17:22 - 24:59 ] Growing up in Portugal, computing superpowers & making video games

[ 24:59 - 31:34 ] PhDs & Doctors decide dinners

[ 31:34 - 36:50 ] Square & working with Jack Dorsey

[ 36:51 - 41:08 ] Quick-fire round, Diogo’s worldview and mantra

[ 41:09 - 47:29 ] Diogo’s Mana, coffee and reading in the rain in Seattle

[ 47:30 - 53:40 ] The Nathan story = The Anchorage Story, Docker and founding

[ 53:41 - 57:40 ] Anchorage projections: supporting 20% of the world’s economy

[ 57:41 - 1:00:55 ] AI, morality and bear markets

Leading one of the most prominent and well-known consumer tech companies on the planet, SoundCloud sits at the forefront of innovation within the music industry. Empowering the next generation of artists to launch their tracks and musical career, SoundCloud is connecting communities of fans and artists to transact directly.

Lloyd and Mike walk us through the technology underpinning SoundCloud’s success, their culture that brings musical creativity into a technology company, kickstarting the careers of the likes of Post Malone and Billie Eilish, and what the future of the industry might look like.

With an acute fascination in music, going from aspiring guitar player to band manager, at a young age, Mike combines a close personal passion for music, with business acumen developed in his early career working on Wall Street. 

Whilst many of his cohort from Wharton pursued careers in finance, Mike went against the grain to follow this interest, serendipitously landing himself into this world, and working at iconic names including the likes of Vimeo, Viacom and Universal Music.

A truly brilliant episode to get into the mindset of someone driving innovation within the music industry, and leading the platform where the next generation of musical talent starts.

[ 0:00 - 5:41 ] SoundCloud, and enabling fans and artists to interact

[ 5:42 - 9:08 ] Post Malone, Billie Eilish and Lloyd & The Mana-ites

[ 9:08 - 12:33 ] Helping artists to launch a career, building communities and creating genres

[ 12:34 - 15:35 ] Size & scale of SoundCloud

[ 15:36 - 20:37 ] Building and evolving SoundCloud’s culture

[ 20:38 - 24:48 ] Communities, Web3 and NFTs 

[ 24:49 - 28:39 ] Quick-fire round, Mike’s Mana and steering the future of music

[ 28:40 - 31:48 ] Reading 2 hours a day and building habits

[ 31:49 - 36:38 ] Mike’s background and formative interest in music 

[ 36:39 - 40:29 ] Serendipity and starting a career in music 

[ 40:30 - 45:01 ] Mike the Marathon Runner, Cable TV & Mike’s journey to SoundCloud

[ 45:02 - 49:50 ] Predicting the Future of Music

Exceptionally eloquent and adept at forming narratives within high-growth tech businesses,  David joins Lloyd to walk through the cruciality of telling consistent and coherent stories.

With over 35 years of experience in communications, this episode represents an absolute  masterclass in storytelling, so critical to the success of entrepreneurs, both internally and externally, as David elucidates.

Lloyd guides us through David’s journey, how he was inspired from and incentivized by his  father from a young age into reading, his Master’s in Anglosaxon Language, and his rise to the  top, as a key leader within the Ocado Group.

With so many critical takeaways for all entrepreneurs and those who formulate narratives, this  episode provides fascinating insight into how to tell a story, as David describes humanity’s  intrinsic desire to tell stories, harking back to medieval times and before, and relating this into the modern tech world.

[ 0:00 - 4:14 ] Telling the story of The Ocado Group

[ 4:15 - 7:11 ] The size and scale of Ocado

[ 7:11 - 11:07 ] The USP of the Ocado Smart Platform & outdoing Amazon

[ 11:08 - 16:15 ] Ocado’s Hollywood scenario

[ 16:15 - 22:15 ] Future of the High Street

[ 22:15 - 26:04 ] The cruciality of storytelling for tech entrepreneurs

[ 26:04 - 33:42 ] How technology has affected Communications

[ 33:42 - 39:18 ] Frameworking narratives and articulating purpose

[ 39:18 - 44:18 ] David’s background and rise to the top

[ 44:18 - 51:42 ] Reading, reading and reading more

[ 51:42 - 56:05 ] Quick-fire round & David’s Mana

[ 56:05 - 59:58 ] The Mana narrative

[ 59:58 - 1:06:41 ] Critical analysis of the word, and the future of education

Lloyd and Illia guide us through the technical intricacies of the platform, the wider NEAR ecosystem, building a leading developer community and bringing mass user adoption to blockchain, impacting the future of work, and Illia’s own journey from Ukraine to Silicon Valley and now to Lisbon.

Developing a fascination with programming from a young age and becoming one of the top coders in Ukraine, Illia represents one of the most informed individuals on AI, having worked closely on Tensorflow prior to pivoting from one of the Big 4, and into his own entrepreneurial journey with NEAR.

In an enthralling conversation that spans the deeply technical discussion of DAOs, the NEAR platform and its similarities with Linux, with ideas around entrepreneurship, thought leadership and psychology, this episode is not to be missed.

On top of all of this, Illia is also at the forefront of Unchain Fund - an initiative leveraging blockchain and crypto to get money into the hands of those who desperately need it in the ongoing Ukraine war, which raised over $1 million within 24 hours. Links to Illia’s charity pages are below:

Donate: https://unchain.fund/#donate

Instagram with stories: https://www.instagram.com/unchain_fund/

[ 0:00 - 3:50 ] An intro to NEAR

[ 3:50 - 10:10 ] Running a Layer 1 blockchain platform

[ 10:10 - 16:04 ] How many winners will there be in web3

[ 16:04 - 19:54 ] Incentivising cross-chain communication

[ 19:54 - 24:07 ] Sweatcoin and onboarding users onto NEAR

[ 24:07 - 25:39 ] Illia’s Mana

[ 25:39 - 30:19 ] A winning mentality and the cruciality of communication

[ 30:19 - 34:39 ] Artificial Intelligence - friend or foe?

[ 34:39 - 39:07 ] Illia’s origin story and SciFi writings

[ 39:07 - 44:28 ] Diving deeper into code

[ 44:28 - 49:22 ] The future of education & universities

[ 49:22 - 58:21 ] Working at Google and Entrepreneurship

[ 58:21 - 1:02:41 ] Key skill-sets in web3

[ 1:02:41 - 1:09:18 ] DAOs and the future of NEAR

[ 1:09:18 - 1:16:05 ] The Ukraine war and the future of disaster relief

With a valuation of upwards of $8 Billion, following their latest funding round in May this year, Chainalysis is providing critical financial data to enable governments, banks and blockchain companies to understand how people are using cryptocurrency.

Drawing comparisons to Google - by indexing the blockchain industry, Bloomberg - through their creation of financial data, and Reuters through their leading content arm, Chainalysis is at the forefront of blockchain companies, already a market leader, with the potential to scale to astronomic levels.

Michael dives into his journey, from growing up in Denmark and developing a close early interest in computers, to his academic research, to an epiphanic moment stuck in a typhoon in South-East Asia and all the way to founding Chainalysis. His mentality, fascination with Wabi Sabi and seeking beauty in everything, as well as creating achievable routine habits provide amazing insight into the minds of a true modern tech leader.

[ 0:00 - 4:29] Chainalysis & how every company could become a crypto company

[ 4:29 - 10:51 ] Timeframe on crypto adoption

[ 10:51 - 16:01 ] Chainalysis user cases

[ 16:01 - 18:32 ] Bridging law enforcement and the unregulated world of crypto

[ 18:32 - 21:39 ] Size and scale of Chainalysis

[ 21:39 - 25:19] Raising money in a bear market

[ 25:19 - 27:43] Taking inspiration from Google and Reuters

[ 27:43 - 32:17 ] Remaining calm and maintaining perspective 

[ 32:17 - 37:32 ] 2 miles runs every morning and home-made cortados 

[ 37:32 - 40:23 ] Finding beauty in everything

[ 40:23 - 43:01 ] Michael’s Mana

[ 43:01 - 46:17 ] An early fascination with computers and building things

[ 46:17 - 52:07 ] Wanting to change the world

[ 52:07 - 54:43 ] Finding the meaning of life at Bangkok airport 

[ 54:43 - 56:01 ] Who is Satoshi?

[ 56:01 - 1:00:04 ] The Chainalysis Founding Story

[ 1:00:04 - 1:05:47 ] Turning Chainalysis from an idea into an empire

[ 1:04:41 - 1:07:58] Principles around culture

[ 1:07:58 - 1:13:03 ] Winning talent, mentality as king and furthering careers

[ 1:13:03 - 1:18:09 ] The Hollywood scenario for Chainalysis

[ 1:18:09 - 1:23:13 ] Considering Space & Michael’s approach to problem-solving

[ 1:23:13 - 1:26:04 ] Advice for a bear market

From here, Sendi built out expertise across global payments with marquee names, before  immersing herself in the world of blockchain, having recognised the pain points and pitfalls of  the traditional financial system. A “crypto gal” through and through, Sendi represents a  European and Global Crypto leader, providing invaluable technical insight into the crypto and  payments ecosystems, her love of the Argentine Tango and how she has risen to prominence.

00:00 - 1:24 - Introduction and Sendi’s Background 

1:24 - 3:53 - Who is and how big is Ripple?

 3:53 - 7:26 - The advantages of blockchain payments 

7:26 - 9:05 - Pain points of current cross-border payments 

9:05 - 10:53 - Market opportunity for Ripple

 10:54 - 13:40 - Cruciality of Partnerships across Web3 

13:40 - 15:38 - UK as a crypto hub? 

15:38 - 17:16 - Scale of Ripple 

17:16 - 21:23 - Ripple’s Culture & Sendi’s Upbringing 

21:23 - 24:53 - Economic benefit of Web3

 24:53 - 29:04 - Moving from corporate to startup 

29:04 - 32:08 - Volatility of tokens 

32:08 - 35:14 - Diversity within crypto 

35:14 - 41:44 - Get to know Sendi 

41:44 - 42:27 - Sendi’s Mana 

00:00 - An Introduction to Eileen & to Mana Search’s Diversity Report 

1:43 - Marquee investments made by Eileen

 4:23 - How to build a diverse team 

5:35 - What more recent trends are we seeing within diversity 

9:20 - Heroes and role models for young people 

13:38 - Monzo and Startup CEOs vs Bank Executives 

16:39 - Regulatory scrutiny whilst maintaining creativity 

18:20 - Eileen’s background 

20:15 - Eileen’s Mana 

22:41 - Influences on Eileen’s career 

25:38 - Sexist Cultures and historic workplace misogyny 

27:40 - Gendered children’s clothes & ingrained societal sexism 

32:53 - Diversity within Crypto & Blockchain

 37:15 - Clothing trends and homogeneity within VC 

40:55 - Eileen’s heroes and dream guest

Arik explains that the genesis for Rapyd lies in a fellow founder being stung on FX charges on a stag do to the Czech Republic.  It was a steep learning curve where they encountered ‘every single problem on planet earth’ before pivoting and establishing a B2B product rather than B2C.  The company continues to go from strength to strength, undaunted by the pandemic (Arik kept everyone working in the office believing working from home hinders productivity) and the potential of a recession (‘I love a recession’).

This is a great episode and a great example of true entrepreneurship with many career and life lessons highlighted.

1:49 – the story of Rapyd and its move into venture capitalism

3:43 – Getting ready for a macro turndown

6:19 – ‘I love recessions’

8:13 – Investing in clients

10:05 – SME trends

11:39 – Becoming an entrepreneur

14:01 – Understanding the early potential of computers

15:12 – The potential of blockchain

16:22 – The next big trend in tech

18:10 – Starting out in the military and learning ‘anything is possible’

19:46 – What push ups and tennis camp can teach you

21:43 – Starting his first company

23:00 – The first big mistake

24:19 – Lessons learned

25:34 – The birth of Rapyd (after an expensive stag do to the Czech Republic)

30:00 – The importance of failure

31:38 – How Arik’s role has changed as the company has grown

34:16 – Rapyd’s culture

35:40 – Calling BS on working from home

38:05 – Future goal for Rapyd

41:54 – Greatest achievement – and being fearless

Clearly not one for half measures, Wei also says she is obsessive to the point of it being ‘clinically inappropriate’ – but also credits this with her ability to dive deep into matters of personal and professional importance.  But this intensity is balanced by Wei’s humility, compassion and a mindset anchored in gratitude and collaboration.  Music also plays an important role in Wei’s life and in this episode Wei and Lloyd discuss why it seems to be a common thread among founders and pioneers.

As Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock, Wei is aware of the weight her role carries and discusses Blackrock’s approach to net zero as well as her view on the current market volatility.  It’s a great episode – inspiring and entertaining, and not to be missed.

Episode highlights:

7.32 – Wei Li’s role at BlackRock

14.52 – What’s the skillset needed to do her job?

15.35 – The importance of building a diverse team

20.10 – The impact of having a rich cultural tapestry for Wei personally and at work

21.55 – The power of introverts

24.20 – BlackRock’s approach to NetZero and ‘disorderly volatility’

30.10 – EFTs and the importance of compounding

36.10 – Wei Li’s life – in the beginning

37.20 – Winning the gold Olympic medal for maths

38.20 – Being a ‘dragony’ parent

40.43 – Becoming a karaoke monster

42.15 – The universal language of music – and the link to maths and entrepreneurship

45.24 – Life at Cambridge University

47.41 – Leaning in to capabilities

49.30 – Lucky to have great mentors

53.45 – Wei Li’s life advice

58.07 – Overcoming a fear of public speaking via an open mic night at the comedy club

1.00.40 – What does Wei Li do to relax (it includes running a marathon without training)

1.05 – Will she follow Larry Fink to the White House?

1.10.20 – What does the future of work, finance and tech look like to her?

1.18.50 – Being borderline clinically inappropriate obsessive

Oleg Fomenko, founder of health currency app Sweatcoin, is this episode’s guest on the Searching for Mana show.  Oleg has an eclectic CV: born in the Soviet Union, he started his career working for global corporate brands such as Coca-Cola and Mars, before coming to the UK and working at Boston Consulting Group, where he learned from other entrepreneurs’ failures.  He decided to create Sweatcoin after realising his own fitness, which once enabled him to climb Kilimanjaro three times, had declined to the point he could no longer run 5k.  And after watching a movie with his children about robots and obese humans…

In this episode Oleg talks about the importance of sticking to your vision and not being swayed by others’ opinions or ambitions.  He also discusses how Sweatcoin’s success lies in nature’s failure to award an orgasm for exercise - as well as choosing NEAR foundation as the protocol.

This is a wide-ranging interview with great insights into an entrepreneur’s mindset and journey to success.

2:00 The User case – how Sweatcoin came about

6:20 Nature’s failure to give humans an orgasm for exercise

13:44 Making the business case for Sweatcoin

17:00 Stopping the scammers

20:20: How Sweatcoin is bringing about behavioural change

24:15: Starting his career in corporate life – and how his values have changed

27 Becoming an entrepreneur…

28:50 Why Boston Consulting Group was an unhelpful experience

32 Build a business on a problem rather than an idea

37 The importance of staying focused and not getting distracted

40 The impact of Covid

42:25 The rational for choosing NEAR protocol

53:13 Encouraging people to keep moving

58 Oleg’s mana….

female leaders working in fintech. But it took some convincing for her to give up an established,

super successful corporate career; she was even told she was ‘full on crazy’ for considering it. As she

tells presenter Lloyd Wahed in this episode, she defied her critics to join Circle in 2015 where she

stayed until being inspired by another female CEO to move to banking app Mettle.

The trajectory to the top hasn’t been smooth: admitted into one of France’s Grandes Ecoles to study

computer science, Marieke discovered that she wasn’t good at coding and looked for alternative

career paths. A period of time living in China taught her how to be solution-orientated – a mindset

she describes as key to her success as well as a willingness to show weakness and be prepared to

fail.

As well as discussing her professional journey, Marieke also talks about her reason for joining NEAR

over its competitors, and the ground-breaking opportunities innovations such as Decentralized

Autonomous Organisations are offering the tech sector.1.23 – NEAR foundation’s mandate.

5.15 – What is it that appealed to Marieke about Near as a protocol

8.52 – Demand for good engineers outstripping supply

9’49 – Changing the narrative around Bitcoin

11.05 - Attracting a more diverse workforce

12.54 – The need for more talent – and not just engineers

14.34 – The power of Decentralized Autonomous Organsiations

18.57 – How have NEAR raised capital from some of the biggest VCs around

20.55 – How and when could the NEAR foundation become redundant?

22.57 – Marieke’s background

24.35 – How Marieke got into computer engineering – and learning that she didn’t like to code

26.08 – What China taught Marieke?

27.30 – The importance of a winning mentality

28.42 – Leaving Expedia – and believing Bitcoin was run by drugdealers…

30.28 – Joining Circle – and being called ‘full on crazy’

31.07 – The career decisions you make when you’re 8 years old

32.21 – Leaving circle and being inspired by a female CEO

34.45 – The diversity challenge in fintech

36.41 – Bringing your best self to work – and recognising that everyone has faults

38.11 – The importance of confidence

40.35 – The importance of family time

41.50 – Importance of family time

44.11 – Marieke’s mana….

Rodolphe enjoyed a peripatetic childhood moving around the world every three years due to his father’s career, and says this instilled in him a ‘sense of curiosity’.  

Combined with the ‘autistic boredom’ he felt growing up, Rodolphe had a desire to create and build things from an early age, skills he honed at engineering school.

It's clear in this episode that Rodolphe maintains the restlessness that characterized his younger years.  After founding and selling his first company (and learning from the mistakes), he joined the car-sharing platform Drivy as Chief Operating Officer before realising he was best suited to the agile, fast-paced start-up environment.  Spendesk was born and was built on two key values: freedom and trust.

This is a great episode with insights into how Rodolphe used his highly technical, entrepreneurial mindset to build one of France’s tech start-up success stories.

Watch & Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3sSnmMa

1:10 Spendesk’s mission

4:00 Lessons learned while COO at Drivy

5:55 Understanding the problem to create the solution

8:30 Money is about emotion and having control

11:17 Thinking deeply about becoming an entrepreneur again

15:50 Spendesk is built on two key values

19:25 – Rodolphe’s childhood and how it influenced his career

20:22 The joy of solving problems, and autistic boredom

23:09 What makes an entrepreneur mindset?

24’56 Getting over mistakes

27:04 What motivates him in the face of continued success

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/2Hhg4gB​​

 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3kKZQKl

Searching for Mana is a UK-based podcast which focuses on tech innovation in finance, and features interviews with influencers, leaders and founders in the fintech space, from unicorn companies to financial disruptors. 

Previous guests have included the Director of Growth at Oaknorth, the CEO of BCB Group (the UK’s first licensed crypto bank), the CEO of Innovate Finance (the industry body for UK fintech) and Ed Vaizey, the UK’s longest serving Minister for Technology. 

Each hour-long episode gains insight into how the guest got into fintech, what they’re currently focused on, what their companies are all about, as well as some of the important trends within the wider fintech sector. The show is presented by Lloyd Wahed, a London-born tech entrepreneur who has founded two recruiting firms, Athelstan Search and Mana Search and has successfully helped scale a number of unicorn technology companies. 

Follow Mana Search on Twitter: https://twitter.com/manasearchuk​​ 

Follow Mana Search on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mana-talent/

Zilch grew their team from 40 to 200 people in a year, and Philip believes his superpower is building teams through finding the best people and binding them together with a vision.

Like many entrepreneurs on the Searching for Mana Podcast, Philip was a restless student, not impressed with his university education that seemed more about regurgitating data than anything more creative or problem-solving. He had the good fortune to have a father who was an entrepreneur and shared his passion for technology and building products.

Philip found out as a young man that active engagement is the best way to learn, there is nothing wrong with trial and error, and not being afraid to pivot if that produces a better result.

His attributes in his own words include, “perpetual dedication to the cause” and “I work at it all the time”  his firmly held belief is that “no-one is special” but “put in the time and surround yourself with the right people” to find success.

For Philip, his opportunity came from the democratisation of money and free credit was the way for him to make a difference. He argues that there is nothing new in “buy now pay later”, however for most companies in that niche the retailer is the customer, but going directly to the consumer and enabling them to use any retailer through Zilch is the key to their strategy.

They see themselves very much as match makers and facilitators, bringing together developers with problems who will contribute to the ecosystem and profit from it. There are a couple of hundred developers in the ecosystem all over the world who know that they can make proposals with a high chance of making a difference for the good of all participants. Along the way they can take advantage of low fees and high capacity on the chain and know that the Tezos Proof-of-Stake methodology is eco-friendly compared to Proof-of-Work models.

The platform is built on mechanisms that ensure active community governance and participation. There is no CEO or hierarchy and making a proposal that turns into action requires an 80% majority, a level they feel is a clear mandate but with a healthy respect for the minority.

This is a platform to facilitate transactions, they are not obsessed by being an alternative to banking, but they are obsessed with solving problems and empowering creators and connecting them up with others who also want to solve a problem. Tezos facilitates the facilitators, providing the infrastructure to help problem solvers be successful. Tezos suits the smart and the curious, those who work off first principles and take nothing for granted, to some degree it’s a social technology driving a blockchain.

• Speed, as it sends money anywhere in 4 seconds
• Scale, to support billions of users without slowing down
• Security, to operate without any forks, and
• Transparency, as anyone can see how many Algo are in use

To add to that compelling mix of benefits the Algo takes no mining to use, so this is a green, carbon-neutral technology using consensus as an alternative. Here is a different type of platform to solve the blockchain trilemma of being fast, scalable and secure together.

Currently, there are 2m Algo transactions a day and Sean sees their role as part of a new generation of technologists with a vast array of opportunities in front of them and a “rising sea to lift all our boats”. Sean studied computer science before working through what he defines as a series of technology-driven waves that have transformed the way life and business work. The first wave was the internet driving new business models, and then social networks changed the way we communicate with each other, which was followed by the “sharing economy” enabled by the cloud and here we are now on a rising tide of transaction innovations increasing efficiency, transparency and security.

The Algo foundation invite applications from institutions around the world who want to use the Algorand blockchain, and Sean describes a project with the University of Cape Town, which they will be funding for some years to create a centre of excellence to apply blockchain solutions to digital currency and identity issues across Africa. This is part of the foundation's belief in education and helping the tokenisation of assets release the benefits of ownership and provide equitable financial assets to those that don’t have them. For Sean crypto assets create an economic model by engaging with communities wanting to leverage the blockchain to empower them through better owner models and frictionless ways to transact.

If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a review! And don’t forget to follow us on social media:

https://twitter.com/manasearchuk

https://www.linkedin.com/company/mana-talent/

The idea for Shares came from social investing, seeing friends chatting about their ideas and sharing views, having fun and learning from each other. He saw the opportunity to enable communities around making a safe space to explore opportunities with friends, sharing portfolio activity in real time.

Ben uses a comparison with Strava, which informs the community you connect with about the route you took and what you found, but you choose what you share and with whom, and for those that share that interest it’s compelling and often inspiring. Like many entrepreneurs Ben studied law but didn’t want to make it his career, however his creative spark surfaced at university as he created the student association at Le Sorbonne. Creativity has driven Ben to want to build things, he has surrounded himself with the best people to learn from and he is interested in all parts of the business. Solving problems is a creative act and seeing how the whole organic structure functions allows him to use that talent.

It’s vital to keep learning and Ben learnt very early on about the type of investors who could support him in the best way, and he clearly thrives in the company of those who can give him the benefit of their experience. The result is that Shares is only 8 months old, they have achieved their first raise, they have 60 employees, and the ambition, vision and belief come from Ben and everyone they hire. Each member of staff needs to demonstrate Ambition, the ability to Impact, the ability to take Ownership and think globally. They want to do business across the EU from March next year, they will add the UK imminently, and they expect to raise every 6 months.

Ben uses a chess analogy of thinking 5 steps ahead all the time, and part of making that work is building a strong community as a foundation to rapid growth. Every opportunity to publicise and play their part in the democratising of finance will be taken. He wants his people to have strong views, to be able to express them, but also to be able to listen to each other and understand their contribution and to be happy with the result of an exchange if it is the best way forward. No obstructive ego, learning is about being open to the ideas of others. Ben talks about what he learnt of the intensity of the US tech and scale up scene, and how taking a global view from day one works so well there. This company is very ambitious and Ben is leading the team at a fast rate to a prestigious position in a market they are helping to create.

Smarkets is on a mission to make betting online easier and less expensive “to get out of the way” of the consumer, and simplify what has become over-complicated, and to many inaccessible. Sport dominates online betting but he is a “politics junky” and his passion for politics and trying to understand political outcomes is clear and an important part of the Smarkets product range. The company has been steadily growing for 13 years, and Jason explains how his appreciation of how quickly time passes has changed as he has learnt and matured himself. He is a fearless optimist and was always ambitious to do something big but wasn’t sure what it should be, in fact, he went to university without knowing what he would do, but once in the world of work he looked at the betting industry could see how technology could solve the problem of complexity and user experience and his focus crystallised.

On that journey, he has found that people rather than technology have been his biggest area of interest. Understanding the people he works with and how they work with each other is interesting. He is fully appreciative of how a diversity of interests and abilities can exist together successfully in a thriving business, but he sees a weakness in how people are so often not good at the hard conversations that are necessary to move a project on. He wants to “get the most out of people and help them be the best they can be” and his role is to facilitate that, but he sees a weakness in our societal inability to engage in “respectful good faith conflict”. Jason’s view is that our society is at the teenager stage where we are uncomfortable sharing our own views and vulnerabilities, and as a result businesses can be slow to develop. Not everyone is driven in the way that an entrepreneur is but everyone can make the most of their opportunities with more frank and non-judgemental interaction, bound together through transparent targets for the future.

Claire exudes energy and enthusiasm and talks animatedly about her own journey which has been opportunistic and focused as she started out with a degree in chemical engineering but through an early exposure to sales and a passion for international travel and business, has taken her to a prominent position driving the commercial success of this market leader. She is a strong advocate of the need for leaders to have a vision for their businesses and their teams and being able to help everyone understand where they fit in. Claire is customer facing and coaching her people with a clarity of purpose and dynamism. “Find what you enjoy” is vital advice for career development, and she describes her appreciation for effective salespeople and culture, and in particular listening as a key skill in commerce.

Balancing an international commercial career, an infectious enthusiasm for making the most out of opportunities, being a mother and staying fit is an inspiring combination.

Bux has nearly 200 staff and more than half a million customers already through understanding the mindset of next gen investors who want simple and mobile solutions. Bux has created their own solutions where they needed to so that the customer journey is simple, and charges are kept to a minimum.

Investment carries risk, that’s a basic for opportunity, but the company tries to reduce risk through easy-to-read explanations of key terminology that de-mystify jargon, and they encourage investors to talk to each other through a platform while they provide alerts if it looks like an investor might be stretching their investments too far.

Bux has focused on investors in six European countries so far, which until the pandemic had been a tradition of low risk investment through savings accounts, but with negative interest rates a new generation of investors has demanded more from their money. Yorick explains that with such low returns from traditional banking and so much uncertainty about how to pay for the future, people are being “pushed to invest” and this is a driver to the growth of Bux particularly from younger, and often, first time investors. It will make its own revenues from scale, not from an expensive business model, so they are targeting growth in the number of “active fund clients”, who are engaged users investing and trading regularly. Breakeven is a couple of years off, but BUX are ambitious, and they want to be the No1 provider in their market.

Yorick’s own journey took a turn to entrepreneurialism in his early 30’s after a career in more traditional banking and was driven by a passion for making banking more affordable and accessible, and a great team that shares the same vision. He became CEO during a time of remote working and the biggest challenge was to hold onto and develop the culture, but as a tech company based in the cloud the “new normal” means that he expects people to meet more than they did during pandemic but not full-time office based for all. Yorick has a global ambition to become a sustainable company and market leader. Their timing is good and the demand for “affordable and accessible” looks set for the long term. 

Griffin is building a Banking as a Service (BaaS) platform to support the fintech ecosystem, and as a new player it can look forward rather than having to be slowed by legacy. The best supplier is one that enables you to do what you do best, and that will support you with an expertise that you don’t have and don’t need to have. Businesses rely on complex services that they cannot possibly always be experts in. Finance, Technology, Recruitment, Law and so many other fields of specialist knowledge can be bought as a service that is leading-edge, compliant, cost-effective and user friendly. That is what Griffin is bringing to the rapidly expanding and entrepreneurial world of fintech. They enable fintech’s through operating solutions for embedded finance. They build the tech stack and create the products and services their clients will need. For every solution, they create there is a product to be defined and marketed externally.

David shares with us that Griffin can look forward in order to build what clients will need, not what they have needed, so new operators hit the ground running with Griffin solutions. Driving this is a team of experts, constantly building their intellectual property and domain expertise, tech nerds and professionals with authorisation experience. 

From there, the conversation dives into David’s background and how he grew up partly in Japan, UK and US, and how he learnt about finance from his father and how that world works in those different cultures. We learn about the family’s strong work ethic and entrepreneurial streak that David reflects on. He became an analyst, who learnt coding and became a software engineer in Silicon Valley with the likes of Airbnb or CircleCI. He has added to this background the ability to define a vision based on his view of how the middleware market can be better and he has the energy and intellect to drive a solutions business, build a team and attract the funding they need. David has taken full advantage of a favourable environment in the UK to build a banking business and looks set to change the world of Banking as a service.

David’s book on ClojureScript language: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/learning-clojurescript/9781785887635/

Rafa Plantier, Head of UK & Ireland at Tink describes to Lloyd Wahed how Tink is product growth led and their innovation is driving a rapid development in networks and services to providing accessibility for millions of people to the trusted institutions that hold and manage our money. One institution with decades of “trust capital” is Visa, who recently announced to acquire Tink, that will further their “network of networks” concept faster than they could have hoped a few years ago, opening up a global opportunity. You can feel the excitement from Rafa when he describes the opportunities that are presenting themselves around the world as markets open up.

Rafe worked at Stripe prior to joining Tink and so he has seen twice recently how a company can “grow out of a crowded market” and in open banking he is able to be part of “optimising the foundations for growth” at enterprise level. In Europe there is work to be done with the EU over regulation as the “currency of open banking is trust” and that needs suppliers, enterprises and states to be aligned.

Tink has nearly doubled it’s headcount in two years and because most of that time has been in the pandemic there are a significant number of staff who have not worked from a Tink office or met their colleagues face to face. Tink managers prioritise understanding the individual challenges of each staff member and this is also key to helping the integration of acquired teams. The nature of open banking is collaboration so one cultural pillar comes from the market, but there is no room for complacency, as the changes in work induced by the pandemic are unprecedented.

After receiving a biochemistry degree at the University of Oxford, Myles developed his expertise in finance and retail building up the charge and credit facility for Marks and Spences in London and Ireland. In the midst of the financial crisis in 2008, he founded CorporatePay offering pre-paid card programs for corporates, turned into supplier payments and supplier disbursement platform. Fast forward to 2016, Myles founded Modulr, backed by Blenheim Chalcot that powers leading Fintech companies with API payments infrastructure. To date, an excess of over 70 billion pounds worth of value has been transacted on the Modulr platform.

In this episode, Lloyd and Myles discuss the ways Modulr support other fintechs to build out new products, lend to SMEs, or access multiple payment methods before outlining the benefits of automated B2B payment flows. Later they delve into Myles’s entrepreneurial experience and learn about his Mana!

Episode Highlights:

03:22: How Modulr enables access for businesses into the payment systems?

15:31: Journey to Profit

17:47: Processing 4 billion GBP monthly

19:03: Journey to entrepreneurship

30:11: Setting up a fintech company  in 2008

37:39: More than open finance

43:38: Universities and fintech partnerships

58:15: Myles Mana

Bitstamp is the world's longest-standing crypto exchange, continuously supporting the Bitcoin economy since 2011. With a proven track record and mature approach to the industry, it provides a secure and transparent venue to over four million customers and enables partners to access emerging crypto markets through time-proven infrastructure. The platform allows companies and individuals from all around the world to buy and sell over 30 available cryptos.

Tokenguard is the first automated rating agency for Ethereum and other blockchains. The technology aggregates the best techniques for ICOs / smart contracts automated verification, allowing investors, VCs and banks to check the project they want to invest in. 

Together with Blockhunters - the mother venture of this project, it has previously received a whopping $2.3M grant from the EU European Regional Development Fund for their R&D activities within the blockchain security space. Touching on everything from crypto and DAOs Kamil and Mimi talk everything blockchain has to offer. Then they dig into Kamil’s fascinating past as a hacker and his entrepreneurial journey including setting up a hardware startup.

Find more episodes on blockchain with previous guests from Binance, Kraken, Celsius Network, Gemini, Luno, Eterna Capital and more on searchingformana.com

Episode Highlights:

01:38: Automating due diligence

15:15 How to regulate blockchain?

25:14: EU grants for blockchain R&D

37:24: The hacker’s past

41:50: Kamil’s Mana

Romi Savova, who founded PensionBee in 2014 to simplify pension savings in the UK, following a difficult pension transfer experience of her own. As the Chief Executive Officer, she has played a pivotal role in advancing consumer standards in the pensions industry, from reducing transfer times to campaigning for the full abolition of exit fees. Romi is also a member of the government’s Pensions Dashboards Programme Steering Group, which was set up to advise on the delivery of pensions dashboards.

Joe Parkin, Managing Director, Head of Banks and Digital Channels in the UK at BlackRock. In his role he is responsible for BlackRock's relationships with Private, Retail and Neo Banks, as well as Digital Channels in the UK.

Big thanks to our co-organizers Erlang Solutions, the éminence grise behind some fintech projects of Klarna, Mastercard, Bloomberg LP. 

This week we are presenting a very special panel session as part of Fintech Week London 2021 broadcasted live from Barclays Rise. We’ll have Chris Skinner, author of the Finanser, Marcus Treacher, board director of ClearBank/ ex-Ripple, Haydn Jones, PwC Director and Blockchain Specialist and the very Simon Taylor, co-founder and blockchain lead at 11:FS.

Big thanks to our co-organizers Erlang Solutions, the éminence grise behind some fintech projects of Klarna, Mastercard, Bloomberg LP. 

Who this panel is for:

• All invested in the London FinTech ecosystem
• Decision-makers in financial services
• CEOs and founders setting the pace in the FS startup space
• FinTech scale-ups looking to accelerate growth
• CTOs, lead architects & senior developers wanting to share and gain domain knowledge

Why you should listen:

• To discover where the real business value exists from blockchain away from the hype
• Learn from those at the cutting edge of the tech powering FinTech’s next steps
• Find jargon-busting real-world use cases from tech and business level experts to reduce costs, improve processes and gain competitive advantage

Find more episodes on blockchain with previous guests from Binance, Kraken, Celsius Network, Gemini, Luno, Eterna Capital and more on searchingformana.com

Find more episodes on blockchain with previous guests from Binance, Kraken, Celsius Network, Gemini, Eterna Capital and more on searchingformana.com

Episode Highlights:

02:27: Simplifying cryptocurrency investments

03:43: Can blockchain revolutionise traditional finance?

11:32: On altcoins

17:45: Building a Rocket Internet’s venture in Belarus from scratch

34:36: Berlin and Paris experience

40:22: Sam’s Mana

45:28: On the ads controversy

47:40: On the future of crypto

After their Series A funding of £7.6 million, mojo has excelled, recently being the finalist at the British Bank Awards 2021. With their acquisition by RVU (the owner of Uswitch, Confused.com and Money.co.uk) underway, this is set to be a monumental deal that will enable mojo to set its vision to scale faster and have a greater impact.

Richard has over ten years of experience in the financial services sector, this, combined with his passion for technology, is the driving force behind Mojo. On the podcast, Richard and Lloyd discuss the reason Mojo didn’t just focus on the mortgage broking service, and expanded into the development of their own suite of APIs, the creative and musical traits that make so many great founders and what it takes to disrupt the archaic mortgage sector. Plus, Richard shares his favourite books and how to balance family life whilst leading a successful fintech startup.

For more episodes on founders, fintech and careers please visit: searchingformana.com

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Episode Highlights:

02:12: The Acquisition annoucements

04:44: The potential of UK mortgages 

13:48: The first mortgage broker with the API suite

17:49: Who’re the right people to be on the right problems 

24:37: From music to a fintech founder

33:34: A book guide for founders

42:21: Disrupting the mortgage industry

51:43: Richard’s Mana

After entering the industry as a consultant with the Big Four, Chris leads now a UK-based fintech company that reached in 18 months 25,000 users with £25m of assets under management. The company is on a mission to give people more visibility and control over the environmental or social impact of their pension investments.

In this episode, Lloyd and Chris discuss the motivations behind his journey to revolutionise the pension landscape, the opportunities to serve the UK SMEs and self-employed sectors, and Penfold’s partnership with Starling Bank or Just Eat, reaching their 300k SMEs and 18k riders customer base. Later they delve into Chris’ journey as an entrepreneur and the experience of leading a fintech company in midst of the COVID-pandemic.

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Episodes Highlights:

01:32: Reaching 25,000 users in 18 months

06:47: Building an end-to-end backend tech platform

09:42: How can we track our old pension investments?

13:37: Balancing the sustainability goals with performance

21:18 Partnerships with Starling Bank and Just Eat

30:05: Journey from management consultant, M&A to entrepreneurship

40:01: Future plans 

44:31: Chris’ Mana

A ex-Paralympic swimmer, Chris won nine gold, five silvers and one bronze Olympic medal across four Games, including a record haul of six golds at Barcelona 1992.

Touching on everything from the importance of community building in fintech, UK financial landscape potential, Chris and Lloyd talk everything fintech and crypto has to offer. Then they dig into Chris’ career to provide inspiring advice: how to win gold medals, how to take feedback effectively, the importance of teamwork and other valuable lessons!

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Episode Highlights:

02:15: Passing financial services bills 

09:35: Why should fintech IPO in the UK?

13:38: The UK fintech talent pipeline

16:36: Chris’ passion for tech

20:08: Winning Olympic gold medals

33:59: Predictions for the crypto space

48:50: Chris’ Mana

Kraken is one of the world's largest and oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, with more than $1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies stoked to date. Touching on everything from the importance of the centralised side of DeFI, Jakub and Lloyd talk everything crypto has to offer. Then they dig into Jakub’s career to provide crucial advice: how to improve your own career algorithm, how hardworking is the core of many successful stories, how to cold email Revolut’s CEO for a job and other valuable lessons!

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Episode Highlights:

02:30: Kraken’s strategic development in APAC

11:55: Should we regulate DeFi and digital assets industry?

17:59: The cyclical nature of the cryptocurrencies’ market

21:08: Building own career’s algorithm and the next-day flight ticket to Malaysia

26:40 Working with Nik’s from Revolut

28:28: Building a company from scratch in Hong Kong

36:46: Angel investing, the traits of best founders and future of fintech

43:44 Jakub’s Mana

And Nick has a unique perspective on the subject. Since 2008, he joined the tech giants like Microsoft or Facebook (pre-IPO stage), and later worked at Stripe closely with their founders Patrick and John. Since then, he's become an early-stage investor, non-exec director and board advisor in Fintech companies and the mini-CEO for CircleCI EMEA region.

Lloyd and Nick discuss how Nick joined tech from a law degree, the VC and investment landscape in Europe, and differences between leading at large tech organisations versus early-stage startups. Plus, Nick tells us how software can be a catalyst for innovation and how investing can affect social impact with high leverage.

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Books:

Accelerate

Outliers

Bounce

Episode Highlights:

01:32: How can we optimise software development?

06:59: Global expansion with regionalisation and localisation

12:47: Trends in software engineering

18:52: Early-career and joining the tech industry

25:36: DIfference between launching and scaling a fintech in the US vs Europe

30:34: Lessons from working with Facebook engineers

34:39: Working at early-stage startups and large organisation

42:34: Nick’s Mana

51:44: CircleCI’s growth plans and the future of software development hiring

And he should know. Throughout his 30 years long career, Mark built his banking experience in a major incumbent bank - HSBC, and later resigned from the CEO position of first direct - one of the earliest adopters of digital UK banking - to take the first step on the next bold phase in his career, In 2014, he founded Atom Bank (with ex-Metro Bank co-founder) - UK’s first mobile bank built, with no branches, and the first digital-only challenger bank to be granted a full UK regulatory licence.

In this episode, Mark and Lloyd talk about who actually finances the UK banking sectors, why the current account system is broken, can we process a mortgage application in under 15 seconds, as well as the journey of building a company from employee one to +400. Plus, he shares with us, how is it to work with Atom Bank’s strategic advisor - Will.i.am.

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Episode Highlights:

03:04: How is the current banking system broken, and who is financing the banking sector

09:06: Why we shouldn’t have all banking products from one provider

14:35: How to process a mortgage application under 15 seconds

22:32: The need to change the banking industry and resigning from the firstdirect CEO role

27:36: Building a company from employee one to +400 and the importance of the organisational culture

35:19: The vision for the next 10 years

40:32: Mark’s Mana

As Founder and CEO of Clearco, Andrew made his name raising hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital and is an adviser and investor to companies such as WealthSimple, Properly, and Tulip Retail. Since graduating engineering and working for McKinsey, he’s joined Chamath Palihapitiya in his venture right after his exit from Facebook in 2010, meeting the teams behind Instagram (before being Instagram) and Slack (before being Slack) whilst being in the Andreessen Horowitz’ fund. Today, he runs Clearco, an equity-free startup lender that has reached a $2B valuation.

To kick off the episode, Andrew walks Lloyd through Clearco's aim to offer founder-friendly capital solutions for e-commerce, mobile apps, and SaaS founders; as well as access to a powerful global network, insights and data, and recommendations through their Angel branch, the conversation dives into the ways Andrew’s entrepreneurial journey since the age of 10, and how couples that work, can work.

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Couples that Work, Professor Jennifer Petriglieri

Episode Highlights:

02:42: The difference between traditional venture capitalists and Clearco

08:57 Why the world doesn't need another VC firm

11:04: Clearco’s $2B valuation

14:43: How Clear Angel offer founders access to a powerful global network, data, and mentorship

17:24: How data can help to get through business volatility

20:54 How to keep sane as a co-founder of a rocket ship

26:17: Being an entrepreneur since the age of 10

28:24: The difference between an engineer and a strategy consultant

29:38: How was Silicon Valley in 2010

41:00: How to leverage the geographic diversity of talents and founders

43:55: The issue of the distribution system of capital / Why half of the world is overweight and half still starving?

48:31: Couples that work

58:24: Andrew’s Mana

And he should know. With his background in computer science and special forces in the military, Shachar has co-founded innovative digital challengers since 2001. He later took on an MBA at INSEAD, and joined a then-10-person startup Checkout.com as Head of Product in London. In 2015, he founded Curve, which simplifies personal finances with a single bank card for multiple accounts from different providers. In 2019, Curve has smashed Crowdcube - the world’s leading equity crowdfunding platform - records after raising £4M within 42 minutes. Almost 10,000 people backed Curve, reaching the highest number of investors in a raise on Crowdcube.

In this episode, Shachar and Lloyd talk about Shachar’s path from a military soldier to founder at Europe’s fastest growing fintech, as well as the importance of patience and the right employee culture.

Pre Register for Curve’s second 2021 crowdfund

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Episode Highlights:

02:37: Curve is going crowdfunding again

08:32: Explaining the convergence and rebundling

13:05: What Formula 1 car do you need to build for fintech?

20:06: From a soldier to an entrepreneur

28:28: Is it worth taking an MBA?

39:12: Growing the team of 400 employees

52:10: Shooting for the stars

1:00:00: Bonus Story: How Curve successfully migrated away from Wirecard after the outage in less than 60 hours and over the weekend.

After entering the industry as an investment banker, Rob developed his expertise in small-business lending at such companies as Wonga, Everline (UK’s first digital SME lender) and Newable BusinessFinance (responsible finance provider backed by the British Business Bank). In 2015, he joined Liberis, which helps SMEs get working capital without fixed repayments, through partnerships with the likes of Worldpay, Sagepay, or Xero. To date, Liberis has provided over $800 million of funding in more than 40,000 transactions across 7 countries.

In this episode, Lloyd and Rob discuss the ways Liberis has already helped companies weather pandemic-related crises before outlining the benefits of revenue-based financing with repayments linked to the cashflow, and embedded finance through establishing fintech partnerships. Later they delve into Rob’s entrepreneurial experience, highlighting the value of investing in people and sharing Rob’s story of being the youngest pilot in Netherlands and his dream of becoming an astronaut!

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Episode Highlights:

2:48: How SMEs are switching from in-store to e-commerce

7:02: What is embedded finance and how flexible repayments work?

10:46: The neural network behind the credit decision science

14:45: Throwback to Rob’s being one of the first guests of the Mana’s podcast

16:42: The dream of becoming an astronaut and Rob’s journey to an entrepreneur

24:00: SME lending through partnerships being the embedded finance market worth $3.6Tr

29:20: The power of the team and investing in people

30:30: Looking forward

36:29: Rob’s mana

After starting his career in product at Microsoft in the 2000s, Jed moved into finance leading Paymentsense, and into the venture capital sphere with Antler. Since 2020, he joined Airwallex as EMEA GM with huge ambitions to grow the company’s London presence this year - aiming to double the headcount in just a few months and grow the team by over 500% by the end of the year. Following the recent $100M at its Series D funding round, raising a total of $500M in capital from investors including Seqouia Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and Horizons Ventures, Airwallex is now valued at $2.6B. In 2018, it has knocked back $1B offer from Stripe.

In this in-depth conversation, Jed tells us all insights and experience Jed has gained as an investor and former CEO, currently serving as a Venture Partner for Antler, and how this has provided him with key insights into startup lessons, failures and how to approach growth; what are the challenges of building Airwallex’s infrastructure in a market at a different stage of growth compared to its presence in Australia and China, and what lessons can be learnt from this.

Plus, Jed lets us in on how is it to study the BA major at Stanford, which produced the likes of Reid Hoffman, Marissa Mayer or Mike Krieger, and training for improv theatre that led to performing at the Fringe Edinburgh Festival.
 

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Books recommended by Jed:

Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation: AmazonSmile: Halpern: Books

Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up eBook: Madson, Patricia Ryan: AmazonSmile: Kindle Store
 

Episode Highlights:

02:10: Airwallex raising $100m reaching a $2.6B valuation

13:45: How to leverage the global team and remote hiring

19:00: Techie at heart, and experience at Stanford University BA Symbolic Systems

25:00: How to apply agile thinking mindset in other processes?

28:00: Product at Microsoft in the mid-2000, and Bill Gates’ writing team experience

30:50: Cambridge University and fintech experience

33:25: Venture Capitalist experience and career with impact

36:16: Improv theatre as 🧠 muscle training

39:00: What the future of finance looks like as lockdown measures start to ease and why the market is more prime than ever for disruption

42:25: Jed’s mana

After entering the industry with Prudential, Julie developed her expertise in banking and finance leading at such companies as Egg, and later Barclays, or Noodle - now Credit Karma. In August 2020, she joined Smart Money People, which is UK's #1 review and insight platform for financial services.

In this episode, Lloyd and Jacqueline discuss the ways Smart Money People delivers industry leading customer insight through the power of consumer reviews and how the British Bank Awards has already been voted for by 90,000 consumers to unearth UK’s best financial companies. Later they delve into Jacqueline’s view on the fintech landscape, the power of fintech influencers, online events, and Jacqueline’s growth mindset!

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Mentioned in the episode: https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/04/hopin-confirms-400m-raise-at-5-65b-valuation/

Episode Highlights:

06:29: How Smart Money People and the British Bank Awards shape the UK’s fintech landscape

13:45: Customer focus at the heart of fintech

15:57: The power of fintech influencers

20:19: Would BBA go online

27:44: Jacqueline’s Mana

Dave is an ideal guest to comment on it all. He is named one of WIRED magazine’s global top 15 favourite sources of news from the world of business and finance and was ranked the no.1 influencer in European emerging payments by Total Payments magazine. Listed in the top ten Twitter accounts followed by innovators, along with Bill Gates and Richard Branson (PR Daily); he is also ranked in the top three most influential people in London’s FinTech community (City A.M.), and voted one of the European “Power 50” people in digital financial services (FinTech Awards).

To kick off the episode, Dave walks Stefan through his latest book The Currency Cold War. From there, the conversation dives into the ways Dave affects financial regulation and digital currencies, the idea behind the synthetic hegemonic currency, and digital identity.

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Dave's new book: The Currency Cold War

Episode Highlights:

02:19: The currency Cold War

12:20: The cryptocurrency boom

17:00: Bitcoin versus the tulip bubble

20:53: On Digital currencies

25:47: On Digital identity

38:53: Digital diligence and financial transparency

41:12: Shared ledgers versus blockchain

In this chat, Max tells us why neo-brokers democratising access to the stock market has opened a major opportunity to empower retail investors with new forms of information, and how Finimize is helping retail investors make informed investment decisions. Plus, he lays out how he attracts talent from top tier investment banks to work at Finimize full-time, and why it’s important that Finimize content is written by ex-Goldman Sachs or Fidelity analysts.

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Episode Highlights

02:15: Empowering retail investors to make informed investment decisions

11:00: Max’s journey as an entrepreneur

14:30: The power of snowball effect and serendipity leading to Passion Capital’s investment

18:55: Lessons from being a founder

21:40: Why company culture and priorities matter?

27:45: Creating premium content from ex-Goldman Sachs or Fidelity analysts

42:13: New opportunities on the market

43:58: Max’s Mana

Since joining Caxton FX in 2016, Michael has shown an impressive knack for predicting developments in the foreign exchange markets. In this episode, he shares the economic outlook after Brexit and vaccination programmes and tells us how the equity market will change in 2021. Plus, Michael warns us about zombie businesses, the potential buyer’s remorse on the housing market and the dangers of late stimulus packages.

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Episode Highlights:

05:29: Brexit so far

09:04: Currency market outlook

12:00: How will we travel this year?

17:45: Future of office working

21:11: Michael’s big advice for this year

23:30: Equity Market: Stay-at-home stocks versus Reopening stocks

28:00: Is your pension investing in Bitcoin?

29:20: UK house prices and potential buyer's remorse

32:55: Zombie businesses and unemployment

After entering the industry with his Computer Science degree from Imperial College London, he co-founded Policy Portfolio with his father from their family’s dining room table and became the youngest Director of a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange. He was later a founding CEO of PruProtect, the first life insurance company in the UK to reward healthy behaviour, which later became Vitality Life. Following his personal experience and passion, he is now a Founder and CEO of YuLife - the world’s first lifestyle insurance company, with personal wellbeing at its core.

In this episode, Lloyd and Sammy discuss the ways YuLife transforms traditional life insurance and employee benefits into life-enhancing experiences - including mental wellbeing, financial wellbeing and social wellbeing with a healthy dose of gamification. Later they delve into Sammy’s entrepreneurial experience in the life insurance industry since the age of 21, sharing his life changing personal experience that has transformed his values and life ever since.

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Episode Highlights:

02:00: Intersecting life insurance & tech & wellbeing

11:37: Mental, financial and social wellbeing

24:45: A paradigm shift in employee protection and wellbeing

28:42: The starts of Sammy’s entrepreneurial journey

36:00: YuLife as a purpose-driven company, Serendipity and Gratitude

43:15: Looking forward in life post-COVID

Josh graduated Oxford University in Mathematics, was subsequently a Research Fellow at Harvard University in Economics and Game Theory before his MPhil in Statistics at Cambridge University.

After starting his career with strategic consultancy McKinsey, Josh moved into the venture capital sphere with Dawn Capital, which offers B2B Series A/ Series B companies’ funding. In this in-depth conversation, Josh tells us what he looks for when investing in a company, his investment in iZettle that led to a 2.2 Billion deal with PayPal, and why headhunting will become a bespoke, very tailored solution, which requires human knowledge and understanding.

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Episode Highlights

2:59 Dawn Capital’s thesis

11:30 Who does Dawn Capital invest in?

19:40 The future of headhunting

26:10 How management consulting equips future leaders

30:45 Reflections on the formation of a VC fund

44:00 Where are the next Fintech hubs?

On the podcast, James tells Lloyd about his entrepreneurial journey from setting up a T-shirt printing business, through founding Brightsparks, a staffing business that has employed over 20,000 people from his dorm room, to raising $270 million with Hastee on a mission to allow workers to immediately access up to 50 percent of their earned pay at any point during a month.

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Check out Hastee’s 2020 Workplace Wellbeing Study

Episode Highlights

03:20: The Workplace Wellbeing Study

06:45: Payment cycles and it’s impact on our productivity

13:19: Biggest challenges for James so far

16:12: The power of financial flexibility and discipline

23:20: The journey of an entrepreneur

29:23: James’s mission and mana

After serving as Law Clerk to the Honorable John Biggs, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, she became the second female law professor on the East Coast (after Ruth Bader Ginsburg), teaching Antitrust Law and Government Regulation of Business at Rutgers University Law School. Using that knowledge capital, before age 30 Betsy had founded a shipping business in Hong Kong, a leasing company in Brazil, and a joint venture with a bank in Spain, and co-founded a Philadelphia law firm that specialised in representing financial institutions and industry clients in complex real estate and financial matters. In March 2021, FTAC Hera Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: HERAU), where she is a chairman announced pricing of its upsized IPO for gross proceeds to the company of $800,000,000.

In this special episode for #internationalwomensday2021, Lloyd and Betsy discuss the ways SPAC can help companies to raise money. Later they delve into Betsy’s illustrious career in finance, leadership experience, outlining the importance of priorities, family life, and the mana of a great leader.

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Episode Highlights:

02:59: Explaining one of Wall Street’s hottest trend - SPAC

12:23: What is the next big thing in finance and tech

14:40: Betsy’s career in reflection

20:39: Couples that work

25:34: How to be a good leader?

Focusing his research and his MBA class at Harvard University on the mistakes and missteps of entrepreneurs, for the first time, he reveals his findings, and - most importantly - how you can avoid them.

During their conversation, Tom tells Mimi about the potential failing patterns of early - and late-stage startups, debunking common Silicon Valley / Elon Musk / Rupert Murdoch’s mythologies. Plus, they delve into the changes over the last two decades in the MBA programme at Harvard Business School and discuss the future of innovation leaders training.

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Buy Tom’s book, The Fail-Safe Startup

Episode Highlights:

02:09: The concept of “betting the company” and Rupert Murdoch’s empires

05:08: What spurred Tom to study entrepreneurship failures?

10:29: The failure patterns in early-stage startups

21:00: Why the right resources are key and why we need to hire for attitude?

24:00: The failure patterns in late-stage startups

23:37: Ethics and MBAs

46:15: Combining MBA, engineering and design

After entering the industry as an actuarial consultant, Ben leads now a UK-based fintech company offering workplace ISAs with 87,000 customers and £300m of assets under management. The company is on a mission to bring innovation to workplace savings, launching a pension that is net zero from today.

In this episode, Lloyd and Ben discuss the motivations behind his journey to revolutionise the investment sector, the importance to consider climate emergency now, not later, and how climate-aware funds work. Later they delve into Ben’s journey as an entrepreneur juggling family life with leading a rocket-ship.

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Episodes Highlights:

03:58: Launching a world’s first net zero pension

06:09: How current retirement funds contribute to global warming through carbon emissions

11:38: Capital markets benign a potential agent of change

17:25: How do climate-aware funds work

20:08: Ben’s journey as an entrepreneur

26:51: Family life of an entrepreneur

38:45: Cushon’s vision

Lukasz tells Mimi about the company’s game-changing work on cloud, automation and robotics, why management consulting needs to incorporate design thinking and why talent is the main asset of any company. Plus, he fills us in on why excelling in leadership skills at Stanford University can help senior-level managers advance faster and collaborate better on innovation ideas.

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Episode Highlights:

01:30: The Rise of insurtech

05:50: Design thinking in management consulting

13:20: Skillsets and the job market

18:15: Startups and their competitive advantage

22:38: Stanford University experience

35:29: Journey to becoming Managing Director at Accenture

37:45: Lukasz's Mana - the human side of a leader

As Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Talis, Matus has overseen early-stage investments in such FinTech giants as Onfido, iwoca, PriceFX and many more. Talis is also a leader in mental health amongst VCs. Recently, the firm announced a new initiative that offers mental health support to founders at its portfolio companies.

On this episode, Matus tells Lloyd why Talis is such an unconventional fund, why the company has focused largely on infrastructure investments, and why he avoids investments in consumer P2P lenders. Then they discuss the mental health burdens of founding a company, why support networks are critical and how the pandemic has affected employers' mental health.

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Learn more about Talis Capital's mental health initiative

Episode Highlights:

08:11: How Talis finds cutting edge infrastructure companies

16:12: Why Talis is an unconventional fund

19:15: What Matus loves about venture capital

25:12: Why Talis doesn't invest in consumer P2P lenders

31:46: The mental health burdens of starting a company

38:32: COVID-19 and mental health

46:40: Why success and unhealthy behaviour are not synonymous

50:09: Lloyd's advice for founders

54:10: The importance of self-care for founders

And Vaughn has a unique perspective on the subject. In 2005, he joined Google as a Product Marketing Manager and later worked on projects such as AdWords and Google Maps. Since then, he's become a leading voice on innovation in the culinary sector, advising organisations like the Wellcome Collection and becoming an Assistant Professor at UCL.

Mimi and Vaughn discuss how Vaughn joined Google without a computer science degree, the leadership skills he learned at Mountain View, and why restaurants are great models for innovation. Plus, Vaughn tells us what companies can learn from messenger RNA and how to embrace uncertainty when hiring.

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Check out Vaughn's new book, The Uncertainty Mindset

Episode Highlights:

05:24: The innovative way Google approached product

10:25: How to lead without institutional authority

14:20: How efficiency can be the enemy of success

19:00: Spurring creative collaboration in the age of remote working

23:15: Restaurants as biomes for innovation

27:24: The lessons FinTech companies can learn from kitchens

33:23: How to hire with an uncertainty mindset

40:36: The one trait that has helped Vaughn succeed

42:49: What's next for Vaughn

Since launching in 2018, Eterna has provided seed and early-stage funding to blockchain innovators like Algorand, Borderless Capital, DFINITY and more. Forbes has named it one of the top three boundary pushing blockchain investing firms, and Andrea has been named to the publication’s Top 30 Under 30 list.

In their conversation, Andrea and Lloyd wonder whether blockchain will have the same revolutionary impact as the internet, identify the key trends that will shape the sector’s development and question how it will drive adoption of central bank digital currencies. Plus, Andrea outlines the industry's biggest  hotspots and tells us why community-building is essential for blockchain investing firms.

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Check out the book Andrea mentions, Albert Wenger's World After Capital

Browse Andrea's art

Episode Highlights:

03:16: Why Eterna’s first fund focused heavily on blockchain infrastructure

09:13: Digital ownership and traceability: the key trends fueling Eterna’s second fund

14:07: How can blockchain fuel adoption of central bank digital currencies?

19:42: Why blockchain is philosophically inclined toward positive social change

22:06: What drew Andrea to the blockchain space

26:45: Do you need to live in San Francisco or London to work in blockchain?

32:02: The role of community-building in blockchain-related companies

38:47: Why Andrea avoids structured approaches to work

This week, we have tidbits from an additional roster of amazing guests: Romi Savova, (PensionBee), Zihao Xu (Octopus Ventures), Alf Rehn (University of Southern Denmark) and Christian Busch (NYU & World Economic Forum). Plus, Lloyd gives us the key take-aways from each chat and shares the most interesting things he learned from our guests.

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Episode Highlights:

01:14: Romina Savova, PensionBee

05:41: Zihao Xu, Octopus Ventures

14:11: Alf Rehn, University of Southern Denmark

19:27: Christian Busch, Author of Serendipity Mindset, NYU & World Economic Forum
 

And what a line-up it is! Listen through for amazing conversations with FinTech luminaries such as Conrad Ford (Funding Options, Allica Bank), Joe Parkin (BlackRock), Ned Phillips (Bambu), Adam French (Scalable Capital) and Romi Savova (PensionBee). Plus, Lloyd discusses each guest and the unique insights they brought to the show.

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Episode Highlights:

01:21: Conrad Ford, Founder of Funding Options

06:15: Joe Parkin, MD at BlackRock

11:53: Ned Phillips, Founder and CEO of Bambu

19:25: Adam French, Founder and CEO of Scalable Capital

It’s an episode that touches on finance, technology and entrepreneurship, all of which are Andrzej’s specialties. After studying computer science and business in the US, Andrzej gained extensive experience as a portfolio manager, IT specialist and CEO. Each of those qualifications comes in handy with Billon, which uses DLT to streamline everything from back office solutions to digital currencies.

To kick things off, Lloyd and Andrzej dive into the obstacles facing central bank digital currencies, whether there’s room for competition in the blockchain space and how Billon could allow banks to exchange coins more efficiently. Plus, they discuss Poland’s promising programming scene and discuss how blockchain and digital currencies will evolve over the next five years.

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Episode Highlights:

01:45: Does crypto represent a Bolshevik-style revolution in finance?

07:02: Which obstacles stand in the way of central bank digital currencies?

12:04: Is blockchain a zero-sum game?

17:20: How Andrzej came to study in the US, and how the promise of blockchain changed his life

22:53: Why honesty is crucial for founding teams

27:25: How Billon is fundraising for its future

31:54: What reading history has taught Andrzej about failure

35:57: How will blockchain evolve over the next five years?

After starting his career with such vaunted names as JP Morgan and UBS, Morten turned his attention to socially responsible finance. That’s how he got involved with Aryze, which aims to leverage blockchain and DLT to take the cost out of moving money around the world.

To kick off their conversation, Morten and Lloyd go through Aryze’s journey from its founding to its present day. They touch on the difficulties of transferring money internationally, why Aryze has adopted an ethos of corporate responsibility, and how tokenisation can reduce costs for end users. Plus, Morten shares how he became JP Morgan’s third most successful salesman worldwide and lets us in on how DLT will allow smaller financial organisations to gain a foothold in the industry.

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And who better to ask than Ayman? With product experience at tech giants like PayPal and smaller firms like Hudl, he knows how to optimise product teams at companies of all sizes. And as a lecturer for INSEAD and a mentor at Seedcamp, he’s helping great start-ups hire product managers effectively.

To kick off the episode, Ayman and Mimi talk about the future of product management, why companies need to build product-first cultures, and how employers can find the perfect product professional. Plus, they discuss how CEO and CPO roles overlap and why fintech is ahead of the game on product.

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Episode Highlights:

05:27: Why traditional product management techniques are ineffective

12:15: The problem with how companies hire product managers

15:32: Why hiring a CPO is so daunting

21:08: When it comes to product, why is fintech ahead of the curve?

27:28: How INSEAD helped Ayman find a job at PayPal

29:55: Why product people need experience at big and small companies

35:00: How teaching helps Ayman strengthen his product knowledge

As Founder and CEO of Arbinet, Alex made his name in the ‘90s as a pioneer of VOIP. From there, he went on to found eight more companies that raised a total of $1 billion in funds. Today, he runs Celsius Network, a P2P crypto lender that boasts more than $1 billion in deposits.

In their wide-ranging conversation, Alex tells Lloyd why traditional finance is ripe for disruption and why he believes crypto will bring about that change. They also discuss why COVID will be a driver of new career opportunities, how Alex creates unusually successful companies and the forces that motivate Alex to constantly shake up established industries.

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Episode Highlights:

02:11: The reason Alex wants to share Celsius’s yield with his customer base

11:00: The reasons traditional finance is ripe for disruption

16:34: Why Alex left a successful public company to start Celsius

21:37: How job creation will accelerate in the wake of COVID

24:33: The promising future of crypto

29:40: How Alex creates unusually successful start-ups

34:09: Why Alex feels so responsible to the Celsius community

39:44: How the best patents tell a story

44:25: Big predictions on the future of finance

The Director of NYU’s Global Economy Program, Christian has extensive experience with social entrepreneurship. He co-founded the Sandbox Network, a global hub for young innovators, and has advised companies like TED and Haier. And with The Serendipity Mindset, he’s exploring how the world’s best CEOs cultivate luck to gain a competitive edge.

During their conversation, Christian tells Lloyd about the differences between smart and dumb luck, how to turn rejection into an opportunity, and why saying “no” can still leave you open to serendipity. Plus, they delve into the incident that sent Christian on an intense search for meeting and tackle unconscious bias in tech.

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Buy Christian’s book: The Serendipity Mindset

Episode Highlights:

03:29: The Serendipity Mindset: how to attract smart luck

09:07: How to say “no” and still be open to opportunity

14:04: How to allow serendipitous connections to happen

20:28: Reframing: how to turn rejection into an opportunity

27:03: Why staying true to your north star ultimately helps you get ahead

31:18: The event that spurred Christian’s search for meaning

35:41: How can people network healthily online?

40:17: Combating unconscious biases in tech.

44:00: What’s next for Christian

From becoming the youngest university chair in Finland to serving as a chairman to a Gold Lion-winning ad agency, Alf has led a vast and varied career. Today, he’s a professor of innovation, design and management at the University of Southern Denmark and the author of Innovation for the Fatigued: How to Build a Culture of Deep Creativity.

On this episode, Lloyd and Alf discuss what companies are getting wrong about innovation, why fatigue is set in and how to fix it. Alf also explains why the biggest icons are those who are free to take risks and outlines the three attributes of successful CEOs. Plus, hear about the big company Alf missed the boat on and hear what he learned from meeting GE magnate Jack Welch.

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Buy Alf’s book, Innovation for the Fatigued

Episode Highlights:

04:17: The surprising lesson Alf learned from meeting GE executive Jack Welch

09:00: The three attributes of successful CEOs

10:55: Innovation fatigue and how neobanks contribute to it

16:00: Why big companies aren’t necessarily bad innovators

22:17: Innovation as a balance of curiosity and perseverance

28:30: Why the most innovative companies lead by example

32:00: How the opportunity of a lifetime thrust Alf into an existential crisis

40:24: Why contrarians continue to fascinate Alf

46:41: Alf’s advice for climbing the career ladder

Louise is an ideal guest to comment on it all. Since completing her PhD in just 15 months and working as a consultant for Capgemini, she’s led a versatile and varied career, making an early investment in Funding Options and advising organisations from Bottomline to TechUK and Pay.UK. Louise holds a number of prominent roles in UK FinTech, and even chairs a podcast company, Message Heard, on top of it all.

To kick off the episode, Louise walks Lloyd through her early experience and tells us why she’s never worried about making her career look good on paper. From there, the conversation dives into the ways Louise affects regulatory change, why Funding Options is such an intuitive company, how to make innovation accessible to businesses and which companies are best positioned to capitalise on open data.

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Listen to the I Can Be podcast

Check out the full roster of Message Heard shows

Check out a few of the companies Louise works with, including:

Bottomline

Funding Options

TechUK

Pay.UK

Episode Highlights:

02:45: The Starling vs Monzo news and why Catherine Zeta-Jones should play Anne Boden

08:51: Why Louise has never tried to make her career look good on paper

12:32: How increased diversity improved business at Capgemini

20:25: How Louise helps companies get ahead of regulatory changes

27:05: Why Louise is suspicious of innovation books

32:30: Want to understand Open Data? Think of a daisy

40:20: How the government can enable progress within the FinTech community

47:06: The secret superpower that fuels Louise’s career

After starting his career with renowned strategic consultancy Roland Berger, Zihao moved into the venture capital sphere with Octopus, which identifies “unusually talented entrepreneurs” and offers early-stage funding. In this in-depth conversation, Zihao tells us what he looks for in an entrepreneur, how he determines the potential of products that haven’t even been built yet, and why effective staffing is the most important thing in building a successful enterprise. 

Plus, Zihao lets us in on what the next decade of fintech has in store and whether the shift to fully digital currencies is inevitable. 

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Episode Highlights:

05:55: What constitutes unusual talent and how does Zihao identify it?

08:52: How Octopus prioritises product in early-stage investments

17:48: The importance of staffing effectively in early-stage businesses.

21:52: How the internet is spurring major changes in finance

29:30: What does the next decade of finance have in store?

35:35: Why Octopus is investing in crypto derivatives

39:40: Zihao’s path into (and out of) consulting

43:29: How Bitcoin spurred Zihao to follow his passion

49:45: What Zi does to be the best venture capitalist possible.

39:10: How to increase executive diversity in FinTech

41:05: How to build a purpose-driven culture

That’s the idea behind PensionBee, which Romina founded after working at behemoths like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. When she tried to consolidate her pensions in one place, she found the task impossible and received little to no help from financial advisors or her provider. That led her to found PensionBee, which has partnered with some of the sector’s biggest money managers, including Legal & General and BlackRock.

In a far-reaching chat with Lloyd, Romina tells us about the advice gap in pensions, the rising demand for responsible investments and why sustainability and strong ROI aren’t mutually exclusive. Then she lays out her career trajectory from law to finance, outlines which types of businesses should pursue venture capital, and tells us how to build a purpose-driven culture.

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That’s a topic Georg has plenty of first-hand experience with. After developing one of Iceland’s most popular video games, Georg moved into tech, partnering with Nokia on an early mobile internet venture. That led him on to Harvard Business School before he founded Meniga, a digital banking company that boasts over 40 implementations with some of the world’s premiere retail banks.

In his chat with Lloyd, Georg tells us why incumbents are actually making open banking possible and how the lines between banks and fintechs are blurring. Plus, he lays out how to have difficult conversations about founding equity, striking a balance between personal and business development, and how to maintain virtual relationships in a post-pandemic world.

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Episode Highlights:

06:34: How Meniga is so much more than a core banking solution

09:20: Why financial literacy is the key to career advancement

14:12: Why have incumbents been hesitant to embrace open banking?

20:30: Maintaining sustainable growth at Meniga

26:13: How Georg created one of Iceland’s most popular video games

31:53: Georg’s biggest tip for nw founders

36:55: How Georg deals with leadership stress

43:55: The best ways to balance work and personal life

47:47: The trait that helped Georg succeed

51:30: How to maintain virtual relationships

56:20: Teasing Europe’s next up-and-coming tech hotspot

So what accounts for Adam’s tremendous career growth? After interning with Goldman Sachs, he quickly moved up into director roles within the bank’s trading division. But his relentless pursuit of self-betterment led him to leave the investment giant to make a go of it with his four partners. Together, they founded Scalable Capital, a wealthtech company that boasts a $460 million valuation and a close partnership with BlackRock.

On the podcast, Adam and Lloyd discuss the reason Scalable is moving beyond robo-advising, the traits that make so many Goldman alums great founders and what it takes to raise funds for new ventures. Plus, Adam shares insights from his collaboration with BlackRock and explains why investing firms need to start targeting millennials.

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Episode Highlights:

02:16: What Scalable Capital’s up to and how it’s broadening its proposition

10:53: The importance of a solid founding theme

15:33: Why Scalable was founded without a CTO

23:53: Adam’s biggest opportunity at Goldman Sachs

28:42: Why Goldman alumni make such great FinTech founders

36:04: The long road to regulatory approval

39:08: How Scalable fostered user trust so quickly

45:43: Establishing the partnership with BlackRock

53:54: The traits that differentiate Scalable from other wealthtechs

58:54: Why millennials need better investment platforms as they age

After starting out as a London insurance salesman in the early 1990s, Ned found success in the east as Etrade’s Managing Director for Asia. Since then, he’s become a leader in the global WealthTech space, providing solutions to HSBC, Standard Chartered, Franklin Templeton and more. And he’s only just getting started.

On the podcast, Ned tells Lloyd about the skyrocketing demand for robos amongst banks and why he wants the name ‘Bambu’ to be synonymous with WealthTech. He also explains why he never hires anyone who’s rude to a waiter, why salesmen should always work as a team of two, why a positive attitude is everything, and how FinTech is poised to be a pillar of the Singaporean economy,

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Check out Ned’s podcast, WealthTech UnWrapped

Episode Highlights:

03:20: Ned introduces us to Bambu and explains why he wants to rule the world of WealthTech

11:55: Big demand from banks: why so many companies are seeking out robo advisors

20:05: Turning Bambu into THE global WealthTech company

22:30: How Ned determined his career path

27:31: Ned’s superpowers: competitive spirit and relentless positivity

35:30: Why Ned prioritises attitude above skills when hiring

40:10: Lloyd’s advice for job interviews: “Be disgustingly well prepared”

46:15: Be the solution: Ned’s tips for being a great leader

50:25: How fintech could become the fourth pillar of Singapore’s economy

After entering the industry as a remittance processor, Julie developed her expertise in small-business lending at such companies as Bibby Financial Services, HSBC and Growth Street. In January 2020, she joined Rapid Cash, which helps SMEs get loans in a matter of days rather than months.

In this episode, Lloyd and Julie discuss the ways Rapid Cash has already helped companies weather pandemic-related crises before outlining the benefits of establishing fintechs at major financial institutions. Later they delve into Julie’s leadership experience, outlining the benefits of small, agile teams and sharing Julie’s lessons from a perilous polar expedition!

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Episode Highlights:

06:34: How Rapid Cash helped small businesses get the money they needed to make PPE during the pandemic

16:15: Why customers need increased choice of SME loans during COVID-19

25:00: The future of work: why smaller teams will place a greater emphasis on the customer experience

34:20: How banking became more entrepreneurial over Julie's career

41:23: How Julie remains ridiculously optimistic in trying times

45:27: Career paths: rapid rises vs sustained success

54:00: The hardest moment Julie faced on her South Pole expedition and how she overcame it

Since joining Caxton FX in 2016, Michael has shown an impressive knack for predicting developments in the foreign exchange markets. In this episode, he shares why traders are bracing for a no-deal Brexit and tells us which currencies to invest in for Q4 2020. Plus, Michael warns us about of COVID-related economic shocks, a W-shaped recovery for the housing market and the dangers of negative interest rates at the Bank of England.

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Episode Highlights:

02:43: Why traders now predict a no-deal Brexit.

04:19: Don’t go below zero: predicting the Bank of England rate cut

08:55: Can the UK control a second wave of COVID-19?

11:20: The hot currencies traders should invest in for Q4 2020

13:44: Michael's biggest economic fear

15:40: Taxing big tech giants: should the UK do it?

17:25: How did Michael form his passion for economics?

20:48: Why Michael didn't go to university

24:32: How AI can (and can't) improve foreign exchange

30:22: Michael’s big advice for forex traders

And he should know. Throughout his career, Richard has moved seamlessly between major incumbent banks and innovative digital challengers. He served as a Managing Director at Barclays and as COO at HSBC, but he has also thrived as a banking CEO at both OakNorth and Revolut. Recently, Richard took the first step on the next bold phase in his career: launching Allica Bank, a digital challenger that hopes to disrupt the underserved world of SME lending.

In this episode, Richard and Lloyd talk about Richard’s path from tree surgeon to executive at Europe’s fastest growing fintech, as well as the importance of achieving both scale and profitability. Plus, they tackle the big question: are salary deposits the best sign of success amongst digital challengers? 

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Episode Highlights:

02:20: Explaining SME lending and the issues incumbents face in this sector

10:22: From tree surgery to KPMG: how Richard got into banking

21:50: Do you have to drive a Jaguar to succeed in banking?

29:22: Richard's experience with Revolut

32:05: Why profitability has become catnip for investors

37:26: The traits you need to thrive at the UK’s biggest fintechs

40:15: Revolut as super app: why getting salary payments is no longer objective number one.

52:48: Fixing the UK post-COVID and Brexit: what Richard wants to do with Allica.

After building up impressive experience with a major US bank (JP Morgan) and a Big Four consultancy (EY), Greg has made waves as Baringa’s Director Finance, Risk and Compliance. He tells Lloyd about the company’s game-changing work on climate risk, why major banks need to work collaboratively and why regulators need to adopt commercial mindsets. Plus, he fills us in on why working abroad can help senior level managers advance faster and shares the one soft skill he looks for when hiring.

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Episode Highlights:

08:05: Why outside teams offer better regulatory recommendations than their in-house counterparts

15:40: How Baringa is changing the game on climate change risk exposure

20:30: The secret to Greg's success: applying a commercial mindset to regulation

29:00: Why big banks need to work together to survive global regulatory change

35:00: The regulatory potential of blockchain technology

45:05: The one trait Greg looks for in a candidate

53:50: The final frontier: what promise does space hold?

Since collaborating at the University of Sydney, Beatriz and Vivianna have used their Theory U framework for measuring and imparting leadership skills in students. Joining us from Australia, the duo explains how to prevent personality clashes in interdisciplinary teams, the benefits of mindfulness at work and how team members can overcome vulnerability to communicate effectively.

The conversation also turns to employee engagement and why the best leaders are master psychologists. And it all concludes with a chat about the key takeaways from working through COVID-19!

Mana Search on Twitter

Mana Search on LinkedIn

Episode Highlights:

02:00: Beatriz and Vivianna discuss their credentials and research

06:43: How Theory U instills key leadership skills

16:20: Tolerating different ways of working in interdisciplinary teams

26:20: The ways in which leaders create productive environments

30:55: Why safe spaces are the key to effective collaboration

41:30: How much time should be spent in meetings?

51:00: Keeping employees motivated and engaged with their work

56:45: Why companies can’t take a top-down approach to their values.

1:03:55: How to enact change in large organisations

01:09:00: Creating optimal working conditions during COVID-19

Sitting down with Lloyd and Mana Search Co-Founder Mimi Nguyen, Jyo tells us about his journey with McKinsey, whether it’s better to have four specialists or four jacks-of-all-trades, and why designers need to turn in work quickly while developing other skills. Plus, he digs into ethnography’s significance in crafting effective user experiences and shares how the Big Four consultancies are still succeeding without working on-site.

Check out Jyo’s graphic novel project here

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Mana Search on LinkedIn

Episode Highlights:

07:13: How companies can use design to understand customers’ needs

15:13: Why Monzo succeeded and Pingit didn’t

20:00: Are small teams inherently better for fostering disruption?

25:00: Why designers need to strike a balance between iteration and other skills

33:20: Repercussions of scale: how designers can take on an adoption mindset

41:16: Ethnography and its importance in the design process

48:40: How design can help alleviate fears around COVID-19

54:45: How the Big Four are adjusting to remote working

In a wide-ranging chat that touches on politics, education and leadership, Lloyd and Nicky talk about achieving optimal performance, the frustrations of being and MP and the ways in which young people are still limited in their career options. Plus, Nicky tells us about the two types of people you meet in politics and divulges the “mana” of such notable leaders as David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.

Mana Search on Twitter

Mana Search on LinkedIn

Nicky on Twitter

Nicky on LinkedIn

The books Nicky mentioned on the show:

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

Taught Not Caught 

Episode Highlights:

05:00: Why politics is a 24/7/365 job.

15:00: Nicky describes the superpowers of colleagues such as David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.

23:40: The problem with careers – why too much still depends on who you know.

36:45: What’s the answer to massive student debt?

44:19: Why students need better career counselling prior to university.

54:30: What are Nicky’s three main career drivers?

01:00:00: The promise of UK FinTech.

Touching on everything from the importance of community building to tokenisation’s potential for financial inclusion, Teana and Lloyd talk everything crypto has to offer. Then they dig into Teana’s career to provide crucial advice: how to forge your own career path, how to take feedback effectively, how to find the right mentor and other valuable lessons!

Episode Highlights:

06:10: Teana walks us through her experience with big banks.

10:50: How Binance offers a customer-centric approach to blockchain.

16:40: Why crypto companies need to deliver on the promise of tokenisation.

24:55: Teana shares her vision of the future of crypto.

32:10: How Binance contributes to the growth of the crypto asset community.

39:50: Why it’s crucial to bring your authentic self to work.

44:10: Teana’s tips for finding the right mentor.

In a wide ranging discussion, Lloyd and Joseph talk about the role education plays in career advancement, why mechanical engineering is a great specialty for future managers, and why FinTech companies are so exciting right now. Plus, Joseph shares his best advice for young professionals and tells us why the consultancies of the future will need to prioritise culture.

If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a review! And don’t forget to follow us on social media:

Mana Search on Twitter

Mana Search on LinkedIn

Joseph George on LinkedIn

Episode Highlights:

[08:11] Joseph outlines how his cultural background instilled the importance of education from an early age.

[18:38] How mechanical engineering preps professionals for management roles.

[26:30] Why Joseph came to study in the UK rather than the US.

[33:30] The best advice Joseph ever got in university.

[44:10] Why experience is more important than education in the UK.

[54:25] How the significance of data caused Joseph to jump from Deloitte to Dufrain.

[01:02:15] Why culture is the future for financial consultancies.

[01:14:50] How the financial services industry embraced data, and why SMEs are just catching up.

[01:25:25] Why FinTech companies are so exciting for Joseph right now.

[01:28:30] Joseph’s tips for young professionals.

If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a review! And don’t forget to follow Mana Search on Twitter and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the study Lloyd discusses at 21:45, click here: https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins

Show Notes:

[02:10] Karen walks us through her experience and credentials.

[13:40] Explaining the theory of trust.

[23:40] Why working collectively makes leaders better.

[31:25] AI’s blackbox issue: if complex machine learning systems can’t be explained, how do we get consumers to trust them?

[35:45] Why consumers don’t always want emotionally intelligent bots.

[53:32] Karen tells us why we don’t see more collaboration between academia and business.

[01:05:16] Which courses can help students get ahead in FinTech?

[16:20] After raising $40 million for a company he founded in his room, what challenges does Charlie continue to face?

[30:50] Charlie explains how his approach to company culture has changed over the course of the past year.

[39:35] How Charlie went from picking fruit to earning £400,000 in his first term at university.

[53:20] ‘Do I love it enough to actually work there full time?’ The questions Charlie asks when he considers investing in a company.

7:21 iwoca in 2020 funding last year over 1 billion. Culture being a big part of iwoca

9:45 Mission of SME lending and what is iwocaPay?

22:45 How is technology supporting the underwriting process?   The balance between machines and humans in the decision process.

24:50 How did COVID-19 affected iwoca and it’s clients?

30:00 Fintech 2.0

32:32 Lara’s background and what brought her to fintech

39:15 Lara’s mana - what has shaped her career

48:27 What makes a good researcher?

[00:18:30] We learn more on Addleshaw Goddard and how the practice breaks down

[00:27:45] Fiona and Lloyd talk about the opportunities still to be uncovered in the Middle Eastern Tech market

[00:34:00] Lloyd begins to dig into Fiona’s biography - when did she first want to be a lawyer? Her experiences at Oxford and beyond!

[00:55:00] Covid and how regulation will take even more of an important role57m - What lessons does Fiona try to enstill on her children?

Before joining CF:G Anna was the CEO and co-founder of Founders Factory incubated EdTech startup Frisbee.

Prior to that, Anna was the Commercial Director of Lynda.com and LinkedIn. When LinkedIn acquired Lynda for $1.5 Billion in April 2015, she became part of the fourth-largest acquisition in social media history and subsequently contributed to the creation of LinkedIn Learning.

As always, please remember to like, share and subscribe to the show - it genuinely makes a huge difference!

This week we were delighted to be joined by noted entrepreneur and inventor of e-commerce, Nick Ogden

From building the first online shop in 1994, Nick has since founded 4 businesses - Worldpay, Cashflows, Clearbank and RTGS.

Nick spoke fascinatingly about his entrepreneurial genesis on the Channel Islands and pitching his first idea to Sony executives in Japan, to founding Clearbank - who became the first clearing bank in the U.K. for 250 years.

With many multiples of industry accreditation’s and awards to his name - Nick is a true giant of global entrepreneurship

Recorded from his amazing ‘work from home’ shed and giving Lloyd surely the most unique opening to a show he’s had so far, Peter speaks in-depth about how Wagestream is truly helping people to manage their finances by utilising open banking to stream their wages into their bank account as they earn.

We learn of Peter’s nomad upbringing, as his parents lectured and taught across the world - his first forays into 90’s tech and how he was the CEO of a company that Bill Gates described as the best acquisition that Microsoft ever made!

Oh and he’s also part of a world record-breaking sports team…

Surely that’s enough to make you delve deeper into the latest episode of ‘Searching for Mana!’

Pssst…..Thank you to everyone who has listened, subscribed and shared our shows so far - this week we were recognised as one of the top 8 UK Fintech podcasts by the Growth Gorilla Fintech Marketing Agency global list https://growthgorilla.co.uk/best-fintech-podcasts-2020/

Please continue to like/share/subscribe and tell your friends!

Charlotte Crosswell is the CEO of Innovate Finance - the industry body for UK Fintech.

Charlotte speaks passionately about the need for financial wellbeing education in schools, how Fintech can emerge from the current crisis and accelerate the need for digital adoption and transformation.

We learn of Charlotte's rural childhood and how that formed a ferocious work ethic which has propelled her into leadership roles, firstly at the London Stock Exchange and then as President of NASDAQ.

This week kicks off 3 weeks celebrating UK Fintech and the role it now plays given recent events - find out more here https://www.innovatefinance.com/events/

During his time as Minister, Vaizey oversaw a major expansion in fixed and mobile broadband coverage; helped the UK become a world leader in tech investment, working with companies such as Google and Facebook, as well as supporting the start-up ecosystem.

Ed was educated at Merton College, Oxford. After university he worked as a political researcher, before training and practising as a barrister.

A letter to the Treasury: https://blog.fundingoptions.com/covid-19/letter-to-the-treasury

Previous roles...

- Partner and co-founder at BGF Ventures.
- Partner at MMC Ventures.

Previous investments include...

- Software: NewVoiceMedia (acquired by Vonage plc for $350m), Triptease, Marvel, Masabi, Reevoo, Somo, Brightpearl, Base79 (acquired by Rightster plc).
- Marketplace: Appear Hear, LoveHomeSwap (acquired by Wyndham), Hubbub.
- Consumer: Gousto, AlexandAlexa (acquired by The Luxury Kids Group), Wool and the Gang (acquired by Crafts Group Holdings), Pact, Tyres on the Drive, PayasUgym.

In the podcast we cover everything from Ray's 15 incredibly successful years at award-winning PPS - including a recent partnership with Visa; his insight into the future of FinTech; and all the bits in between his career that make him such an engaging and fun personality, like being the base player in his own band! (check out one of his songs here: https://spoti.fi/3bxeKAs)

I loved having Ray on the podcast and you'll definitely enjoy listening to him.

Don't forget to leave us a rating/comment if you can!

Azimo is created with the explicit mission of cutting the costs of sending money home. Its international money transfer platform allows to send money either to a bank account or to over 270,000 cash pick-up points around the world and is accessible via mobile devices.