2024 Top Episodes, Numbers, Learnings, and Future Goals

2024 was a great year. We published 52 episodes, featuring 42 net new guests and reached 3 million views across all platforms.

Dec 31, 2024

Fintech Leaders is a newsletter/podcast with 70,000+ builders, entrepreneurs, investors, regulators, and students of financial services. I invite you to share and sign up. Also, if you enjoy this conversation, please consider leaving a review on Apple, Spotify, or Youtube so more people can learn about us.

2024 was a pivotal year for fintech—a year of recovery, resilience, and reckoning. While the sector bounced back significantly, both in public and private markets, it remained a challenging regulatory landscape, marked by continued adjustments and significant M&A activity that is starting to reshape the industry.

Amongst this dynamic backdrop, at Fintech Leaders we delivered 52 episodes, featuring 42 net new guests and reaching 3 million views across all platforms. Our interviews spanned all categories of financial services and venture capital, and I’m especially proud we hosted several living legends as well as emerging voices.

Each conversation reflected the industry in 2024: from product obsession & customer focus, to leadership & culture building, to global expansion & market entry, to the latest of AI in financial services. I’m proud of every interview and the enduring lessons they offer into building world-class companies.

Goals

I’m excited to continue bringing you a weekly dose of fintech wisdom in 2025 and would like to check how I did against my 2024 goals and set some new ones for 2025.

2024 Old Goals

Shine a light on more living legends. Grade: Pass. Some episodes are extra special, especially when we get to hear from titans of industry. I wanted to increase the number of those episodes and I’m glad to have hosted amazing people like Alan Patricof, Howard Morgan, Nigel Morris, and Mikhail Lomtadze.
Increase international guest representation. Grade: Barely Pass. 31% of our new guests were non-US. While this is better than last year (23%), it’s still below my goal of 40%.
Beef up video content. Grade: Fail. Don’t get me wrong, our video engagement grew 3x, but it’s still way behind from where I want it to be.

2025 New Goals

More leaders from publicly traded companies. Some of the most popular episodes of 2024 featured CEOs and leaders of publicly traded companies. There’s clearly interest in public companies and plenty to choose from (I’m looking at you, Max Levchin).
Continue Increasing international guest numbers. My goal is to have 30-40% of the guests from non-US companies. These tend to be some of the most popular episodes and some of the most interesting ones too!
More video content. Youtube has become the #1 discovery platform for podcasts. Time to get serious about video content.
Launch Sponsored Partnerships. I’ve rejected every single sponsorship offer over the last three years, but I’m now open to work with the right brands. Please reach out if this resonate with you.

Top 10 Most LISTENED Episodes

These episodes captured the audience's attention - check out the top 10 most listened-to shows of 2024 and add them to your playlist now!

Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO of Kaspi.kz (Nasdaq:KSPI) - Substack | Spotify | Apple | Youtube
Oliver Hughes, Senior Leader of TBC Bank (TBCG.L) - Substack | Spotify | Apple
Jack Zhang, CEO & Co-Founder of Airwallex - Substack | Spotify | Apple
Sohail Prasad, CEO & Co-Founder of Destiny (NYSE: DXYZ) - Substack | Spotify | Apple
Pedro Arnt, CEO of dLocal (NASDAQ:DLO) - Substack | Spotify | Apple
Eric Poirier, CEO of Addepar - Substack | Spotify | Apple
Raimundo Morales, CEO of Yape - Substack | Spotify | Apple
Mike Seckler, CEO of Justworks - Substack | Spotify | Apple
Vishal Garg, CEO & Founder of Better.com (NASDAQ: BETR) - Substack | Spotify | Apple
Rujul Zaparde, CEO & Co-Founder of Zip - Substack | Spotify | Apple

2024 Fintech Leaders Books

Finally, I asked most guests this year to share their favorite books. We collected a total of 37 recommendations spanning 9 categories, with Business (26) dominating, followed by Self-Improvement (5) and Science (4).

Three books stood out, as they were recommended by multiple people. I’m including the links and description to the top 3 and I plan to write a separate post with the full list in a few days.

"Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey Moore (4 recommendations)

Recommended by: Mike Seckler (Justworks), Melissa Guzy (Arbor Ventures), Rujul Zaparde (Zip), and Jouk Pleiter (Backbase)

Why It's Popular: Readers specifically cited its practical framework for understanding market evolution and customer demographics. Rujul Zaparde mentioned it helped Zip think through how their customer demographics need to evolve over time. It's particularly popular among fintech leaders who need to bridge the gap between early adopters and mainstream customers.

"Shoe Dog" by Phil Knight (3 recommendations)

Recommended by: Mike Seckler (Justworks), Richie Serna (Finix), and Benjamin Fernandes (Nala)

Why It's Popular: Readers appreciate it for capturing the long-term entrepreneurial journey and challenges over a 10+ year period. Michael Seckler specifically highlighted how it shows the extended timeline of building something significant. It seems to resonate particularly with founders who are in it for the long haul.

"The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz (3 recommendations)

Recommended by: Vishal Garg (Better), Richie Serna (Finix), and Benjamin Fernandes (Nala)

Why It's Popular: This book stands out for how it's used - Vishal Garg's account of re-reading it every 6 months during Better.com's darkest moments is particularly striking. It appears to function almost like a crisis management manual, with leaders turning to it repeatedly during their toughest times. It's recommended specifically for its raw honesty about the difficulties of building companies.

Thank you for a great 2024 and I wish you a fantastic 2025!

Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.

Fintech Leaders