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  • Why Storytelling Is Fintech’s AI Advantage With Angelique Strauss

    Why Storytelling Is Fintech’s AI Advantage With Angelique Strauss
    2026/09/01
    In the age of AI, access to powerful technology is becoming universal. Standing out is not.When every company can build faster, automate more, and deploy similar tools, the real competitive advantage becomes much more human: a clear story, a trusted face, and a reason for people to believe in what you’re building.Few people understand the intersection of storytelling and growth better than Angelique Strauss, Founder and CEO of ScaleX.Angelique entered fintech after immigrating to the United States and experiencing firsthand how difficult the financial system can be to navigate. Building credit, purchasing a first home, planning for retirement, and moving money across borders were unnecessarily complicated—even for many people who had lived in the country their entire lives.That experience shaped her belief that fintech is not simply about better technology. It is about making the financial system more accessible and helping people understand how financial products can improve their everyday lives.In this episode of Humans of Fintech, Nicole Casperson sits down with Angelique in front of San Francisco’s iconic Painted Ladies to explore why storytelling has become essential infrastructure for fintech growth.They unpack why founders must become the faces of their brands, how trust changes go-to-market strategy in the age of AI, and why major business relationships are increasingly moving from virtual channels back into physical rooms.Nicole and Angelique also go behind the scenes of building FTW San Francisco, following the success of New York FinTech Week. They discuss what traditional conferences get wrong, why smaller and more curated gatherings can produce better business outcomes, and how the strongest fintech ecosystems are built through collaboration—not competition.Angelique also shares the fintech company whose go-to-market strategy has caught her attention, why access to capital remains painfully difficult for small-business owners, and how stablecoins could make global remittances faster and more affordable.This is a conversation about storytelling, trust, access, community, and what it takes to build a fintech brand people will remember in a world flooded with AI-generated noise.Subscribe to Humans of Fintech for more conversations with the people building the future of financial services.YouTube Chapters / TimestampsIn this conversation, we dive into:00:00 Why financial access remains unnecessarily complicated00:45 Meet Angelique Strauss, Founder and CEO of ScaleX01:41 Why fintech is being overlooked in the AI conversation02:36 Angelique’s immigrant journey into fintech03:22 Has fintech actually become more accessible?04:20 Why financial data may be fintech’s greatest moat04:53 In the AI era, features are no longer enough05:30 How founders can build a memorable brand06:08 Why fintech companies need a human face06:27 Trust as the defining advantage in AI06:53 Why major deals are moving back into physical rooms07:18 AI is making people crave more human experiences08:37 Why modern growth requires digital and physical touchpoints09:04 Where fintech’s AI future comes to life10:28 Why Angelique said yes to building FTW11:26 What traditional fintech conferences are missing12:00 Why smaller rooms can generate better business outcomes12:27 Building a room for fintech’s “closers”13:00 Why companies grow faster through community13:57 Creating content that goes beyond product promotion14:54 Personalizing the conference experience15:33 What makes San Francisco’s fintech ecosystem different16:01 Why fintech and big tech need each other16:42 What Angelique wants attendees to take away from FTW17:15 The fintech company everyone should be watching18:04 Why access to capital still fails small businesses19:01 The future of remittances and global money movement19:56 Building a financial system that works across borders20:28 Subscribe to Humans of Fintech👇🏼 SUBSCRIBE + FOLLOW HUMANS OF FINTECHYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@humansoffintechApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humans-of-fintech/id1600731457Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zA6yUb3D7I5ZRbehlsdX7For more fintech news, founder stories, and FTW updates: https://www.fintechisfemme.co/
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    21 分
  • Can AI Make Financial Advice Available to Everyone? With Laurel Taylor

    Can AI Make Financial Advice Available to Everyone? With Laurel Taylor
    2026/08/25
    Student debt in America isn’t just a balance sheet problem. It can delay investing, homeownership, entrepreneurship, starting a family, and decades of compound wealth creation.Few people understand that better than Laurel Taylor, Founder and CEO of Candidly.Laurel founded Candidly after living the problem herself. She grew up believing higher education was the path to economic mobility, but she and her mother also experienced the long-term cost of financing that dream: years spent paying down debt instead of building wealth.That experience eventually led Laurel to help create what she describes as the 401(k) for student debt, enabling workers to pay down qualifying student loans while still receiving employer retirement contributions.But student debt was only the beginning.In this episode of Humans of Fintech, Nicole Casperson sits down with Laurel as Candidly celebrates ten years and enters its next chapter: building personalized, AI-powered financial guidance across debt, retirement, savings, college planning, and wealth.They unpack why traditional financial wellness is too fragmented, how workplace-connected data can create a powerful advantage for financial guidance, why enterprise AI requires a much higher trust threshold than consumer AI, and what happens when technology can finally help answer one deceptively simple question:What should I do with my next dollar?Laurel also reflects on a decade of entrepreneurship, fundraising through difficult markets, leading with kindness, and why founders sometimes need an almost irrational level of conviction to keep going.This is a conversation about debt, wealth, AI, trust, and what it would take to make personalized financial guidance available to far more people.Subscribe to Humans of Fintech for more conversations with the people building the future of financial services.YouTube Chapters / TimestampsIn this conversation, we dive into: 00:00 Why student debt is really a wealth problem00:51 Laurel Taylor and the $1.7T student debt challenge02:10 10 years of building Candidly02:42 The problem Laurel saw before the market did04:33 Why the name “Candidly”?05:24 Inventing the 401(k) for student debt06:23 Building wealth while paying down debt07:45 How AI changes financial guidance09:21 Why trust is becoming fintech’s defining advantage11:20 Candidly’s enterprise distribution model13:00 The “sacred truths” of enterprise AI14:58 Why financial institutions need customer-facing AI16:17 You don’t get to simply declare yourself AI-native17:25 Why fragmented financial wellness is broken18:00 Building personalized AI financial guidance20:40 Moving fast when the margin for error is zero22:25 Turning financial guidance into action24:55 What 10 years taught Laurel about leadership26:39 The irrational conviction founders need28:40 The responsibility of reaching millions of workers29:14 Why Laurel still defines success as kindness31:21 Kindness is not the same thing as being nice33:22 What’s next for Candidly👇🏼 SUBSCRIBE + FOLLOW HUMANS OF FINTECHYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@humansoffintechApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humans-of-fintech/id1600731457Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zA6yUb3D7I5ZRbehlsdX7?si=42f10417f6e44983For more fintech news, founder stories, and FTW updates: https://www.fintechisfemme.co/
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    34 分
  • AI Is Making Software Easier to Build. So What Still Creates a Moat?

    AI Is Making Software Easier to Build. So What Still Creates a Moat?
    2026/08/17

    AI is making products easier to build.

    So what actually separates the companies that win?

    In this episode of Humans of Fintech, Nicole Casperson sits down with Drew Glover, Co-Founder of Fiat Growth and General Partner at Fiat Ventures, at the Golden Gate Bridge to unpack the next phase of fintech in the AI era.

    Drew argues that as software becomes easier to replicate, the strongest moats left are data, distribution, storytelling, and community.

    The conversation explores why fintech may be uniquely positioned in the AI economy, why every scaled technology company eventually starts looking like a fintech company, how founder-led marketing is replacing faceless B2B brands, and why the companies sitting on decades of proprietary financial data may become some of the most important players in AI.

    Nicole and Drew also go behind the scenes of FTW: San Francisco, September 29–October 1, and discuss why the next generation of fintech events should feel less like giant trade shows and more like curated rooms where executives, founders, investors, and operators can actually build together.

    Because in the AI era, technology may be easier to create.

    Trust, distribution, data, and community are not.

    Subscribe to Humans of Fintech for more conversations with the people building the future of financial services.

    In this conversation, we dive into:

    00:00 What still creates a moat in the AI era?

    00:54 Drew Glover returns to Humans of Fintech

    01:13 Why fintech is missing from the AI narrative

    01:59 Every fintech company is becoming an AI company

    03:54 Why financial institutions have an AI data advantage

    04:19 Build vs. partner: the legacy fintech dilemma

    05:57 Is proprietary financial data the real moat?

    07:11 Why fintech still struggles to look “sexy”

    08:41 Drew’s unconventional path into fintech

    10:48 Financial inclusion after the DEI boom

    13:43 The B2B fintech storytelling problem

    14:48 Why B2B brands now need mass-market storytelling

    15:50 The rise of founder-led marketing

    17:41 “Data and distribution are the only moats left”

    18:43 Why storytelling still gets founders funded

    18:53 What FTW: San Francisco is building

    20:00 Big Tech × Fintech in San Francisco

    21:06 Why curated rooms create better business

    23:33 Fintech company Drew is watching

    24:28 Why Drew joined FTW: San Francisco

    24:48 Community as a moat

    25:22 What’s broken about traditional conferences

    27:57 Drew’s final takeaway: “I can’t do it alone”

    👇🏼 SUBSCRIBE + FOLLOW HUMANS OF FINTECH

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@humansoffintech

    Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humans-of-fintech/id1600731457

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zA6yUb3D7I5ZRbehlsdX7?si=42f10417f6e44983

    And for more fintech news, founder stories, and FTW updates:

    Fintech Is Femme: https://www.fintechisfemme.co/

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    31 分
  • Growing Global with Fundbox’s Rina Jariwala, Katy Ryan of Orrick, and Ontop’s Sergio Cordoba.

    Growing Global with Fundbox’s Rina Jariwala, Katy Ryan of Orrick, and Ontop’s Sergio Cordoba.
    2026/06/24

    Live from Las Vegas: the Fintech Penthouse is back!

    Nicole Casperson sits down with guests Rina Jariwala, Chief Operations Officer at Fundbox, ​Katy Ryan, Partner at Orrick, and Sergio Cordoba, Chief Acquisition Officer at Ontop. During this special live recording of Humans of Fintech at Fintech Meetup 2026, the group discusses’ what it takes to expand past your home market and how compliance, infrastructure, and trust play a role in it.

    🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

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    35 分
  • Bread Financial’s Jyoti Menon is Building Product to Change Consumer Habits

    Bread Financial’s Jyoti Menon is Building Product to Change Consumer Habits
    2026/06/17

    From helping launch Apple Pay at Citi to leading product across servicing, engagement, rewards, and customer experience at Bread Financial, Jyoti Menon has had a front-row seat to how financial services actually evolve.

    Jyoti has spent her career building at the intersection of finance, payments, and product — long before “fintech” became the industry it is today. Nicole Casperson and Menon sit down live on the showroom floor of Fintech Meetup in the Humans of Fintech podcast booth to discuss her career path, product development strategies, and the evolving role of AI in fintech.

    🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

    SPONSORED BY FINTECH MEETUP

    Fintech Meetup brings together leaders from banks, fintechs, credit unions, and investing firms for 50,000+ one-to-one meetings designed to drive real partnerships and real ROI.
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    39 分
  • Orrick’s Katy Ryan Is Helping Fintechs Grow Through Regulation

    Orrick’s Katy Ryan Is Helping Fintechs Grow Through Regulation
    2026/06/10

    Katy Ryan is a Partner at Orrick, a global law firm focused on serving tech companies, but she’s also a builder, an operator, and someone who’s actually sat on both sides of the table as a founder herself.

    Filmed on the showroom floor of Fintech Meetup, Nicole Casperson sits down with Katy to discuss one of the most misunderstood — and most powerful — intersections in fintech: regulation and growth.

    🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

    SPONSORED BY FINTECH MEETUP

    Fintech Meetup brings together leaders from banks, fintechs, credit unions, and investing firms for 50,000+ one-to-one meetings designed to drive real partnerships and real ROI.
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    42 分
  • Building at the Intersection of Healthcare and Fintech with Danny Friday

    Building at the Intersection of Healthcare and Fintech with Danny Friday
    2026/06/04

    Danny Friday isn’t your traditional fintech founder. Originally a software engineer, Sail was born out of necessity to create accessibility in our healthcare system’s reimbursement process.

    Filmed at the Fintech Penthouse in Las Vegas during Fintech Meetup, Nicole Casperson sits down with Sail’s Founder and CEO to unpack one of the most complex, high-stakes, and misunderstood systems in our economy — and how Sail is building the infrastructure to fix it.

    🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.

    SPONSORED BY FINTECH MEETUP

    Fintech Meetup brings together leaders from banks, fintechs, credit unions, and investing firms for 50,000+ one-to-one meetings designed to drive real partnerships and real ROI.
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    39 分
  • Emerald 360° Powered by FIS

    Emerald 360° Powered by FIS
    2026/06/03

    Everyone is talking about AI in banking. But the real question isn't whether the technology works.

    It's whether we can trust it to make decisions about money.

    That's a harder question. And this year, it moved from theoretical to operational.

    Filmed live at FIS Emerald in Orlando, Nicole Casperson goes inside the conversations, announcements, and leaders defining what AI actually looks like inside the financial system — including a backstage exclusive with FIS CEO & President Stephanie Ferris on what this moment really means for banks, for fintech, and for the infrastructure layer being built underneath the AI economy.

    This is the story behind the headlines.

    🎧 Hit play.

    SPONSORED BY FIS

    Learn more: https://www.fisglobal.com/

    Hosted by Nicole Casperson

    Founder & CEO, Fintech Is Femme

    Creative Direction by Anton Briones

    Head of Production

    Luke Hezekiah Walter

    Head of Digital

    Aubreyne Brizette

    Art Direction

    Francisca Civit

    Motion Graphics

    Elijah Rooney

    Styling for Nicole Casperson

    Keltoum Mazid
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    28 分