The ramblings of a 20+ year FinTech Veteran
A year in the life of an Entrepreneur often feels like being on an eternal roller-coaster. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes (no I’m not channeling a song from “Rent”). And every one of them a chance for the up feeling that comes with good news or the depression and panic that inevitably accompanies bad news. A year ago […]
Forgive me (my few but loyal readers) for I have been busy. It’s been 3 months since my last post which is the longest period of inactivity since I started blogging a few years back. The excuses are many but in the grand scheme of things not important. What matters is that it’s time to get back on the wagon […]
Apologies for being so delinquent in posting but it’s been a busy start to the year. In addition to working on time intensive projects with a few of our portfolio companies, QED formalized a very exciting relationship with Fifth Third Bancorp. You might or might not have read about it (Fifth Third Bancorp Partners With QED Investors), but hopefully it explains […]
While I don’t like to admit it, I think I’ve finally become “that grumpy old guy”. To be clear, I’m still in my 40s and am generally upbeat. But, I’ve finally ticked all the major boxes that would qualify me as a curmudgeon. Box #1: In my early 30s I called the cops on a neighbor who was racing his […]
First, apologies to those dedicated fellow fintech junkies that actually read what I write. I’ve been very delinquent in posting recently but it’s been a busy time personally and professionally. Hopefully I’ll be able to post more regularly going forward….hopefully! With this said, having just returned from the Money2020 conference I thought I’d share a few thoughts on a topic […]
There are certain “truths” in life that are immutable whether one wants to believe them or not. In order for the motion of an object to change, a force must act upon it (Newton’s First Law of Motion). The total energy in a closed or isolated system is constant (Conservation of Mass-Energy). If you need n items of anything, you will have n – […]
Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as an absolute “good trait” or an absolute “bad trait”. There are times that being aggressive is a good thing and there are times that being selfless is a bad thing. Context matters. To this end, I wanted to share my thinking about a particular Entrepreneurial trait that most people believe […]
Those of you who know me well know that I have a history of challenging the norm. I’ve found myself called into many a boss’s office over things I did that didn’t conform to the rules. When faced with a problem or a challenge, I’ve always started by finding a solution that assumed away all constraints first. Only after I […]
“Tears come from the Heart, not the Brain” Leonardo da Vinci I’m sad. Not angry, not frustrated, not panicked. Just sad. The industry that I love so much is in the midst of a minor meltdown, and everyone wants to know if it’s a storm in a teacup or an extinction event. I’ve carefully articulated my perspective in recent posts, […]
As a longtime fan of Alice and her Adventures in Wonderland, I can’t help but draw upon the well-known imagery from time to time. And it just so happens that I find it appropriate to use for this post so feel free to smile like the Cheshire Cat and read on. At QED, we pride ourselves on being operators disguised […]
“I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.” John Newton For those of you involved in the lending ecosystem, you either were at LendIt or you should have been at LendIt. The annual gathering of “all things lending” was over 3,500 strong this year and the agenda was chock full of interesting topics and […]
Earlier this week an article I wrote appeared in the American Banker that laid out four simple questions that could be used to frame a lender’s chances of “surviving, thriving or dying” in today’s tumultuous environment. Based on the feedback, it seems to be resonating almost as much as my “Shipping Code = Life!” entry (best interaction by far). Based on the feedback I decided […]
Today, American Banker published a short piece I pulled together that you can find here: Answers to These Four Questions Will Determine Online Lenders’ Fate The piece describes a framework for thinking about what it will take to survive in today’s ever changing environment. Everyone I talk to seems nervous about something — be it the securitization markets or the […]
Why? It’s a very important question and one that isn’t asked enough. Investors need to be like that annoying kid that just keeps bugging everyone who’s willing to listen. Why is the sky blue? Why can’t we see the wind? Why does the moon keep changing shape? But many Investors don’t ask questions that are two and three layers deep. […]
I was talking to a former Capital One alumnus a while ago and we talked about a host problems that still needed solving in the financial services space. He made a very important distinction that’s stuck with me ever since. There are problems that can be solved by Entrepreneurs that possess skills in the strategic thinking and financial engineering […]
For those of you who have spent time with me, you know that I’m very much a “centrist” when it comes to the Banks vs. Innovators debate. It’s not difficult to imagine a world in which some Banks find ways to reinvent themselves, some Innovators become household names, and some companies work together in harmony to create a one plus […]
