This article is part of Fintech Leaders, a newsletter with 50,000+ dreamers, entrepreneurs, investors, and students of financial services. I invite you to share and sign up! And, if you enjoy this conversation, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows so more people can learn from it.
In this episode, I sit down with Peter Hazlehurst, CEO & Co-Founder of Synctera, a Banking as a Service platform powering accounts, cards, payments, lending, and more.
Launched back in 2020, Synctera has raised close to $50 million from FinVC, Lightspeed, Portage, Mastercard, Max Levchin, Alexa von Tobel, and a long list of great fintech minds.
Peter has also built and sold more than one fintech company over the past 30 years and also held leadership roles at Uber, Google, and Yodlee.
Join the Fintech Leaders Job Board – whether you’re looking for a job or just exploring.
Are you looking to jumpstart your career in the exciting world of fintech? Or maybe you’re trying to break into the banking world? Check out our brand new Fintech Leaders job board. The perfect place to find your dream job or meet that ideal candidate you’ve been looking for.
In this episode, we discuss:
Banking as a Service: past, present, and future. Where the industry is going and why close attention to compliance is more important than ever.
“The interesting part about payments and banking is there's literally a person with a switch. And if you don't play nice, the person turns the switch and you're turned off. And it's actually not that complicated of a switch. And there's actually multiple places. Someone at the Fed can do it. Someone at MasterCard or Visa can do it. Someone at the bank can do it.”
Lessons for fintech builders. Peter launched his first fintech company in the early 90s and has seen it all.
“If you look at the phases of innovation, there was a whole chunk of innovation that happened after 2001 in general-purpose tech. FinTech innovation literally happened after 2008 and tons of great interesting companies got created at that time. And what I'm seeing right now is a bunch of really creative people coming to market right now.”
What company leaders should know when building a client onboarding and sales process for fast-growing companies.
“What works well is thinking about, how much time does it take from the moment you first talk to the customer to the time they go live, and then breaking down where the gaps of time are. For the early-stage [clients], it's not contracts... As they get more mature, the contracting phase becomes quite complicated.“
Fraud management, fundraising reflections… and a lot more!
“We had our first fraud attacks in August of last year. Which is awesome. You know you're in the right place when the fraudsters come. Now, it's a little bit terrifying for a team that hasn't experienced it. But what it means is, people understand that there's real velocity that's on the other side.”
Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.
Previous Episodes You May Enjoy:
Video Highlights You Will Definitely Like:
Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing 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.
Peter Hazlehurst, CEO & Co-Founder of Synctera - The Future of Banking as a Service & Lessons From 30 Years of Building Fintech & Tech Companies