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In this episode, I head down to sunny Miami for a conversation with Steve McLaughlin, Founder of FT Partners, an investment bank focused exclusively on the financial technology sector, launched from Steve’s San Francisco apartment back in 2001.

If you’re in fintech, you definitely know FT Partners and, chances are, you’ve worked with them or have been to one of their amazing Money2020 events over the years

We discuss:

Making sense of the current fintech market – what led us here?

“Over the last 20 years, things did get overheated. The level of FOMO, the level of valuations, the level of people just collectively buying into the fact that any company could become stripe.”

FOBI – Fear of Being In. Why are most investors sitting on the sidelines?

“A lot of the investors that created the big run-up, were the ones that used to be public market investors, and they started private investing. So just as quick as they went into private investing, and went very deep in that, they’ve shifted back to public.”

Steve’s expectations for 2023. Will it be an active year for financing rounds, M&A, and IPO activity?

“This whole notion of ‘oh, there's so much money on the sidelines, and it has to get back to work’ – yeah, eventually, but maybe not in the window that you need the capital.”

Miguel Armaza stops by Steve's home in Miami

What the next decade of fintech might look like and some of the trends that could power the future of our industry around the world… and a lot more!

"The silver lining in these kinds of moments is it teaches everyone what didn't work, right? And there are a lot of ideas that are great ideas, but just not the right timing.”

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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.

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Steve McLaughlin, Founder of FT Partners …