Alex Johnson
@AlexH_Johnson • 27,598 subscribers
Writing and podcasting from the 🏔️ | @FintechTakes
Videos
Every dollar spent on sports betting cuts net investment by $2.13. Most banks still shrug. When I ask what they’ll do about this deposit flight, the answer is usually: “It’s the customer’s money. It’s none of our business what they choose to do with it.” But it is your business! You help customers store, move, borrow, and grow money. It's literally YOUR business! This clip is from a new Fintech Takes audiobook episode (our second ever) on how gambling has co-opted financial services. It’s a rant, but also a warning (with proposed solutions) and a plea: build products that make good decisions ... feel as good as winning. Listen here:
Alex Johnson93,451 Aufrufe • vor 8 Monaten
AWS made history by turning $20M data centers into a metered drip you never stopped paying for. The challenge was no one really knew what they were paying for at first (by design). In reaction, cloud computing became a monthly expense with a whole new set of tools designed to manage that expense (hello, DevOps). AI is going to follow a similar trajectory. LLM providers want AI to be a monthly cost we all mindlessly pay. Companies know they’ll need to get a handle on AI spend, just like they did with cloud computing, but there's a problem: The infrastructure doesn't exist yet. But companies can’t afford to wait. Simon Taylor and I dig into a company trying to solve this problem on Not Fintech Investment Advice, among other topics and areas! Watch the clip and listen to the full episode here:
Alex Johnson22,627 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten
Horizontal fintech never gave landscapers or restauranteurs an "aha" moment. Pipe CEO Luke Voiles nails why vertical SaaS is winning. When software actually understands the daily grind (inventory, scheduling, routing techs, ordering parts), it stops being a tool and starts feeling like a friend who has your back. This clip’s from the finale of our Vertical SaaS: Fintech Disruption by a Thousand Cuts miniseries, cohosted with Pipe. Increase Founder & CEO Darragh Buckley joins Luke and me for Episode 6, “Scaling Up,” where we unpack how specialized workflows, embedded finance, and smart infrastructure are rebuilding financial services, layer by layer. Watch the clip and catch the full episode here:
Alex Johnson17,016 Aufrufe • vor 8 Monaten
What happens when AI doesn’t just predict your behavior; it sets your price on the spot? FairPlay's Kareem Saleh paints a vivid (and slightly unsettling) picture: Your $5 latte becomes $20 because the AI knows you’re tired enough to buy it. In financial services, risk-based pricing already exists, but what happens when AI takes it to the extreme? In this clip from Model Citizens, we dig into the potential for a “surveillance capitalism” pricing regime. But that's just one slice! Check out the clip + catch our full discussion with Alana Levine (CRO, Fintel Connect) on Episode 4 of the Fintech Takes x FairPlay AI miniseries, Model Citizens here👇
Alex Johnson19,183 Aufrufe • vor 11 Monaten
Every time Simon Taylor meets a stablecoin founder, he asks them one question. This clip comes from a recent episode of Not Fintech Investment Advice (recorded around the time Kontigo.com was "hacked," and promised to reimburse affected users). Global by default isn't only about distribution; it's about exposure, too. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), correspondent banks, and law enforcement don't wait for scale. They start watching the moment the rails work. Watch the clip, and catch the full episode for the deeper Kontigo post-mortem, plus our takes on Givefront, beycome.com, and Cash App's slew of new features:
Alex Johnson10,620 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten
Vertical SaaS is rewriting the small business playbook. Nail salons, plumbers, and pizza shops can now manage bookings, payroll, and borrowing from a single platform, without ceding control. The scale may surprise you. These platforms are growing fast because they solve the real, daily challenges of SMB owners. That’s why it’s the topic of our new miniseries, Vertical SaaS: Fintech Disruption by a Thousand Cuts (sponsored by our friends at Pipe). In Episode 1, I sit down with Luke Voiles, CEO of Pipe, to unpack why vSaaS is the perfect channel for embedded finance. And how platforms like SpotOn and Housecall Pro have become operating systems for entire industries. Check out the clip of Luke defining vSaaS in the simplest terms👇 and catch the full episode here:
Alex Johnson16,197 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten
You can support consumer data access AND still think Chase has a point. In a recent Fintech Recap, Jason Mikula and I unpack JPMorgan Chase’s move to charge for API access and the the battle lines being drawn around open banking. On one side, fintechs and data aggregators argue that data access is a consumer right — and that Chase’s pricing is a power move to limit competition. On the other: banks counter that they've been on the hook for fraud, compliance, and misuse for years (and are footing the bill). They want liability protections and cost-sharing before continuing to subsidize fintechs' business model. Both sides have a point. What's happening right now is what you'd expect any dominant incumbent to do in the absence of rules that constrain them. Clearly this level of bare-knuckled capitalism was too much even for the Trump CFPB, which is why the Bureau is working to revamp rather than get rid of the rule. We'll see if the CFPB is able to strike the right balance between fintechs' interest and banks' interest on this question. 🎥 Clip below from the pod. Catch the full episode here and thank us later:
Alex Johnson16,442 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten
Most employers still treat housing costs as someone else’s problem. But if you want employees to live near HQ you’re going to have to get involved. That doesn’t mean buying real estate. It may mean making mortgages more accessible. Because in a world where salaries can't keep pace with housing costs, “mortgage-as-a-benefit” becomes a no brainer. It’s why some fintechs (like Multiply Mortgage) are making it easier for employers to offer mortgage benefits as a low-risk way to retain or attract talent where you want them to live). I talked through the pros and cons on the Fintech Takes podcast with Simon Taylor. Catch the full episode here: And share: what do you think? ↓
Alex Johnson15,898 Aufrufe • vor 11 Monaten
Parents aren’t supposed to have favorites. Businesses don’t get that luxury. That’s Bryan Solar’s lesson as CPO of SpotOn, a vertical SaaS operating system for independent restaurants. Choosing independent restaurants as SpotOn's primary customer segment means going deep instead of broad; obsessing over details like the wrong button in a bartender’s workflow (which can make or break a night) and knowing when to build vs. partner in embedded finance. Vertical SaaS wins because no one knows the customer better. Every product decision flows from that insight. In Episode 2 of Vertical SaaS: Fintech Disruption by a Thousand Cuts — a new miniseries sponsored by our friends at Pipe! — Luke Voiles and I sit down with Bryan to unpack what true customer centricity looks like in vSaaS, and how (when done well) it becomes a right to win. Watch the clip and catch the full episode here:
Alex Johnson11,908 Aufrufe • vor 9 Monaten
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