PayFacs come with a multitude of benefits by allowing businesses to inject themselves into the fund flow. With the ability to spin off various products like payroll, merchant cash advances, fast-funding, and expedited underwriting, while remaining compliant, PayFacs are highly customizable and open a world of possibilities for businesses across industries. On this episode, we speak with Don Hartley, Head of Payments at Squire. As a self-described payments nerd, Don shares what he’s learned throughout his 25 years in fintech and payments creating products and systems for the world’s top payment ..read more

Enter the ever-evolving world of financial fraud prevention and IDV. We sat down with Prove, whose at the bleeding edge of fraud prevention, to discuss the customer experience, rising trends in fraud, and best efforts to move towards a password-less system. Additionally, we talk about best and worst career advice, emphasizing the importance of staying true to yourself and your goals. Tune in to hear more about the intersection of technology and security in the financial world, and how to navigate your career with authenticity. Prove provides a trust layer for the internet, using a methodology ..read more

The world is quickly changing. So should the way we interact with it. That’s one of the main takeaways from this conversation with Chuck Yu, Chief Executive Officer at VGS. Here you’ll hear Chuck’s thoughts on how the ecosystem has experienced consolidation, and his predictions of how the future of partnerships in payments will involve companies mastering certain areas of the ecosystem, rather than trying to be a one-stop-shop for everything. We’ll talk about how the evolution of technology and the internet has impacted the way we conduct business and interact with each other, and why the need ..read more

On this episode of Descoped, we explore the emerging "Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)" space. Our guest and co-host on this show together explore how BNPL has changed how consumers purchase products. With transparency in fees, people can complete online purchases with a clear understanding of exactly how much they will pay over a set amount of payments. BNPL also offers credit and privacy protection not found in traditional loan and credit card products. But where is BNPL in the development cycle and widespread adoption today? And why are some companies finding great commercial success while others ..read more

In this episode, we explore the power of partnerships and community in the Cristina Ciaravalli, Head of Community at This Week in Fintech and New Business & Partnerships at Unit, and Saira Rahman, VP of New Investor Initiatives at Fundrise.  We discuss the role of partnerships and community in driving innovation and growth in fintech, and how collaborations between companies can help address challenges, while also meeting the evolving needs of customers. We also delve into the importance of building trust and fostering strong relationships between partners, as well as the potential fo ..read more

We have renamed the show Descoped: The Payments Security Podcast, rebranded it, and we have a new host (Megan Powers on our marketing team) to kick-off our second season with this latest episode! VGS enjoys keeping up with trends and sharing what matters in the data security, payments, and fintech space. At the end of 2022 our own Ken Geers, PhD, wrote a retrospective on trends for the year, and then recently wrote one about trends to look for in 2023. Ken came on the podcast as our first guest of season two to chat about these emerging trends. “FinTech companies should invest in security, pri ..read more

When should your company think about monetizing payments? Are you missing a potential profit opportunity? In this episode, Founder & CEO of Tilled Caleb Avery explains how he found success in the payments ecosystem and eventually launched Tilled, a PayFac-as-a-Service company. Join us as we discuss: - When businesses should monetize their payments - Changes in the payments ecosystem - Best practices when selling a nuanced payments solution /// For more insights, practical advice, and the latest trends in payments security, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast app or check us out ..read more

Brandon Hoffman is a Managing Partner of Sunset Ventures, which invests in fintech and commerce. He draws from various roles in his career: from retail banking at JPMorgan Chase, to equity research at Morgan Stanley, to venture and innovation at Samsung Electronics.  In this episode, Brandon shares his investor journey, founding Sunset Ventures, and the surprises that come with starting a venture fund. Join us as we discuss:   - The value that can come from corporate venture - Brandon’s investor journey into blockchain & web3 technologies - Investing in the new frontier of ..read more

Rory O'Reilly and his brother are serial entrepreneurs. After founding a GIF company after dropping out of Harvard, they went on to create two more innovative fintech startups, Millions and Knot API.  In this episode, Rory shares his entrepreneurial journey, the vision for Knot API, and the lessons he learned along the way. Join us as we discuss:  - Growing a fintech social media following - Building “account plumbing” for merchants - Rory’s founder journey /// For more insights, practical advice, and the latest trends in payments security, subscribe to the show in your favorite podc ..read more

From crypto to vertical SaaS platforms, payments and fintech are cropping up in more places than ever. What many of the disparate applications of fintech have in common are key infrastructure building blocks.   In this episode, Co-Founder and CEO of Solid, Arjun Thyagarajan, shares how he found his passion for fintech and used it to create a developer-friendly fintech infrastructure. Join us as we discuss:  - Fintech Infrastructure - Embedded Finance - Market Trends within the Fintech Ecosystem /// For more insights, practical advice, and the latest trends in payments security ..read more