The ramblings of a 25+ year FinTech Veteran
Ask just about any Venture Capitalist what they think about a company and I bet you’ll get a very confident answer in return. Companies are “good” or “bad” to most VCs and fall into one of these two categories based on a variety of metrics like how quickly they’re growing, how much funding they’ve been able to attract, what the […]
I find myself apologizing once again for being so delinquent in my posts and it feels like what I imagine good Catholics go through in the Confessional Booth (which is funny because I’m Jewish). “Forgive me Twitter for I have been busy. It’s been four months since my last post…” With that off my back, I did want to share […]
What if I told you that I had a business that built machines that were designed to miraculously transform sums of money into greater sums of money? You put money in one end and more money comes out the other end. Amazing! Being the business person that you are, of course you ask to see the machines and want to […]
Like most children who were growing up in the early 1980s (I’m dating myself fiercely), one of my life’s goals was to be able to solve the Rubik’s Cube. Sure, I could have easily bought a book that mapped out the various solution methods (a book was required since YouTube wasn’t around then!), but I wasn’t that type of kid. […]
I have to admit that I was surprised by the reception to my last post. It was shared and discussed literally 10X more than my typical posts. It spread through the core Banking ecosystem as well as the startup community and was being used by Executives, Entrepreneurs and Investors as a framework to discuss a critical and age-old topic —- […]
As difficult as it’s been, I’ve tried to beg borrow and steal time from my schedule about once a year to pull together a thought piece on something I find interesting that’s happening in the Fintech ecosystem. The first was a pretty long piece on the history and evolution of the Personal Loans space (The Hourglass Effect). The second was […]
One of the most common questions that people get asked regularly from friends, family and co-workers is: “How was your day?” The question is about as basic as a question can be but because it requires context to answer our typical response is rarely “good” or “bad”. Instead, the question becomes code for “tell me about your day” and usually […]
If you were to spend enough time with me you’d very quickly realize that I’m a bit of a broken record when it comes to giving advice. I’ve found that some of the concepts that I’ve been able to crystallize into simple phrases over the years seem to apply very broadly in the business world. I’ve shared most of these […]
Rabbit holes and parentheticals can be quite annoying and I know I’m guilty of one here. Part III of my “Ramblings About VC Investing” will be coming out next week but I thought it would be worth sharing a few observations about the LendIt Conference given it just ended and is fresh in everyone’s mind. To be very clear, I’m […]
Every Investor eventually finds his or her sweet spot in terms of sector, stage and traction and typically does best by sticking to a personal strategy and process for investing. For instance, I’m an early stage Fintech Investor and love backing companies that still have a lot to figure out. It’s where I can be differentially helpful to companies and […]
Time is a very precious commodity so I do my best to be as succinct and clear as possible everywhere I can. But, occasionally time=time and there’s no way around it so if you want to hear a solid hour of my perspectives about a variety of fintech topics, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Christian Rolon for […]
Believe it or not, one of the most profound pieces of advice that I’ve given over the years when someone I know and like is facing adversity is to “go ahead and quit”. Taken out of context, this might sound like a horrible piece of advice, but I truly believe that presenting the option of quitting is almost always better […]
Have you ever gone to a party and “that guy” showed up who everyone wanted to be around because of their fascinating stories and charisma? To be clear, I’m not that guy. Not even close. My cocktail conversation go-tos include topics like how to fix the federal student lending program, the emerging opportunity to invest in back-office technology companies that […]
I’m broken. Broken with a capital B. The type of broken that can’t be fixed. Humpty Dumpty had it easy compared to my type of broken. I’m FUBAR broken (look it up) and it’s taken me decades to come to terms that there’s nothing I can do about it. But instead of starting with the conclusion, I’ll do my best […]
For those of you who had the privilege of growing up in the ‘70s, you’re probably familiar with the amazing Schoolhouse Rock videos that were sandwiched in-between various cartoon and TV shows on Saturday mornings. These videos taught kids of the ‘70s about grammar (Conjunction Junction), science (Interplanet Janet), history (I’m Just a Bill) and math (My Hero, Zero). But […]
I write because I like writing. Putting words to paper (if that concept exists anymore) is very cathartic and a way of extracting nagging stories and concepts from my head and etching them in stone (if that concept exists anymore). The process of writing helps crystallize half-formed thoughts and sharpen them until they can stand alone and defend themselves in […]
Confessions of a FinTech Junkie 