#PFF Fintech Founders podcast

In conversation with Scott Walchek, Founder of Trov

In this episode we meet Scott Walchek [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-walchek-1822b854/], the founder of the US insurtech pioneer Trov, in the countryside of the San Francisco Bay area last may 2022 to share his incredible entrepreneur journey. Of course we all know Trov, the insurtech created 10 years ago as one of the first disruptor of the Insurance industry and recently sold to a third party. However few people are aware of the other incredible parts of Scott's life. And what a life!!! I had the idea of the #PFF Founders' podcast many years ago when I first met Scott and he told me a part of his story. I am glad to be able today to share it on air. After a first part focused on the tremendous Trov story, which is a good wrap up of the insurtech history of the past 10 years, we deep dive into Scott's memories to discover the incredible journey of an entrepreneur in the successive turmoil's of the dotcom bubble and then the 2008 Financial crisis. And believe me, Scott was not a witness there, he had a front row seat in a giant rollercoaster. If I did not checked by myself some public archives and facts, some could think that this story is a fiction. It is not.  In that episode you will learn a lot on insurtech, entrepreneurship, stock markets, VCs, first web entrepreneurs of the 90s, founder's dreams and nightmares, good and bad luck, near bankruptcy, truth, deception, humanity, friendship, family, honour, faith, and globally speaking, on life. When we recorded this podcast, we thought we won't keep everything. In the end Scott accepted that we keep it all, so you can discover the uncut version of that conversation. It is a (very) long episode (3+ hours), but each and every minutes are worth the trip, even the silences! Teaser : I wish one day to do a movie on Scott's life, this podcast could be the synopsis. Insider info: we released that podcast episode, the last one of this miniseries of 6, the 14/12 which is by total coincidence Scott's birthday! Make yourself comfortable, take a coffee and let's go for 198 minutes of close and personal conversation with Scott. This podcast is produced thanks to the tremendous support of our sponsors Credit Mutuel Arkea  - a French retail bank very active in digital in general and Fintech in particular for more than 15 years now-, BPC – a global leader in payments,  transaction & digital banking -  & Research Industrial systems Engineering, a recognized IT service provider with more than 20 years experience in IT infrastructure & architecture. I can tell you that those companies do love entrepreneurs as much as I do.  More information about who they are and their activities can be found on our podcast page here.

In conversation with Cyril Chiche, co founder of Lydia

In this episode we meet Cyril Chiche [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyrilchiche/], the CEO and cofounder of Lydia [https://www.lydia-app.com/], in the countryside of France to share his ongoing journey in the Fintech industry. Lydia is today one of the most famous BtoC Fintech in Europe. But as you will discover it was not granted from day 1. Try and learn, retry, fail, try again, learn, and eventually succeed. Cyril's memories are a master class for any entrepreneur. Today we deep dive into Cyril's life, from his childhood in Marseille to the hectic life of being a Fintech founder, and of course all the personal and business stories which has been kind of landmarks in his life and in Lydia's history. And believe me, Cyril does not hide anything : the pivot they had to do at the early stage when they saw their first market intuitions were not the good one, his views on what should be a company workplace in 2022, the issues they had recently launching trading activities in the middle of a market turmoil, the difficulties to grow internationaly... But he also shares all the good things of course like how they found each others with his cofounder Antoine and more importantly how they made this partnership a success for them and their journey, the plans they have to become a bank, the way he managed to keep a balance with his family life, how his kids react to his successful entrepreneur status and his views on that, and so many other fascinating advices from one of our key French fintech entrepreneurs. Teaser : Cyril manages to speak of dolphins in that interview. Try to guess in which circumstances... Make yourself comfortable, take a coffee and let's go for 125 minutes of close and personal conversation with Cyril. This podcast is produced thanks to the tremendous support of our sponsors Credit Mutuel Arkea  - a French retail bank very active in digital in general and Fintech in particular for more than 15 years now-, BPC – a global leader in payments,  transaction & digital banking -  & Research Industrial systems Engineering, a recognized IT service provider with more than 20 years experience in IT infrastructure & architecture. I can tell you that those companies do love entrepreneurs as much as I do.  More information about who they are and their activities can be found on our podcast page here.

In conversation with Kathryn Petralia, co founder of Kabbage

In this episode we meet Kathryn Petralia [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynpetralia/] in New York to share her ongoing journey in the Fintech industry. Kathryn did not plan to be an entrepreneur and began a carrer as a litterature teacher. What a life since that time! Not only she became a top level business woman, but even a serial entrepreneur and a leading voice in our industry.  In that episode we deep dive into her life and in Kabbage history including the "not so succesful" banks partnerships and the "perhaps too late" rebundling finance pivot. But we do not stop there, that would be too much of a "déjà vu". We also discuss a lot of some special pages of our common history, the fintech industry at covid time! She shares with us a lot of insights, including how Kabbage was first hit very hard and later on became a key actor of the PPP in the US. We also of course go through the Amex takeover which happen quite soon after that, what came next for the team and the cofounders, her views on the Fintech ups and downs in that very special period and so many other subjects. As usual, we are not focused on product or business promotion, and by the way Kathryn does not work anymore at Kabbage so you can be sure she was not here to sell anything.  Indeed during 2 hours, we spoke very freely of so many insightful subjects for entrepreneurs such as fund raising, team growth & recruitment, decision process with her co founder, familly life, difficulties of merging startup culture with big corp one, etc... Warning: believe me, when Kathryn speaks, she forgets the mics and has absolutely no filters, she does not try to be politically correct in any ways. If you are "sensible" to the free speeches, perhaps you should not listen...  Make yourself comfortable, take a coffee and let's go for 125 minutes of close and personal conversation with Kathryn.  Ps: a special thought for my friend Rob Frowhein [https://www.linkedin.com/in/frohwein/], co founder of Kabbage with Kathryn. He was not part of the podcast, but of course part of many of our discussions in it 🙂 This podcast is produced thanks to the tremendous support of our sponsors Credit Mutuel Arkea [https://www.cm-arkea.com/banque/assurance/credit/accueil]  - a French retail bank very active in digital in general and Fintech in particular for more than 15 years now-, BPC [https://www.bpcbt.com/]– a global leader in payments,  transaction & digital banking -  & Research Industrial systems Engineering [https://www.rise-world.com/en/], a recognized IT service provider with more than 20 years experience in IT infrastructure & architecture. I can tell you that those companies do love entrepreneurs as much as I do.  More information about who they are and their activities can be found on our podcast page here [https://members.parisfintechforum.com/content/pff22_podcast].

In conversation with Renaud Laplanche, CEO & co founder of Upgrade

In this episode we meet Renaud Laplanche [https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudlaplanche/] in his San Francisco office to share his ongoing journey in the Fintech industry. Renaud is a serial entrepreneur and many of us also know him because he was the founder of Lending Club. Launching a lending startup in the subprime crisis time was quite special, but in the end, as everybody knows, the story had fabulous moments leading to a record high Nasdaq intro end of 2014, and some trouble times 2 years later when he finally stepped down as CEO and left the company. Shortly after that he created another Fintech, Upgrade, now being another Fintech unicorn and facing a lot of traction. Today we discuss of everything. EVERYTHING. And as usual, we are not focused on product or business promotion, but on his real entrepreneur life since he was a child working early the morning with his father to his latests experience with Upgrade. Believe me, as an entrepreneur Renaud has a lot of insights to share with the community, and his feedbacks on the ups and downs of his journey, the relations with investors and cofounders, the IPO, etc...  could be very useful to any Founder, not only fintech ones!   Teaser : did you know Lending club was not his first startup experience and that among other things one of his first entrepreneur journey was heavily impacted in a physical sens on September 11, 2001?    Make yourself comfortable, take a coffee and let's go for 110+ minutes of close and personal conversation with Renaud.   This podcast is produced thanks to the tremendous support of our sponsors Credit Mutuel Arkea [https://www.cm-arkea.com/banque/assurance/credit/accueil]  - a French retail bank very active in digital in general and Fintech in particular for more than 15 years now-, BPC [https://www.bpcbt.com/]– a global leader in payments,  transaction & digital banking -  & Research Industrial systems Engineering [https://www.rise-world.com/en/], a recognized IT service provider with more than 20 years experience in IT infrastructure & architecture. I can tell you that those companies do love entrepreneurs as much as I do.  More information about who they are and their activities can be found on our podcast page here [https://members.parisfintechforum.com/content/pff22_podcast].

In conversation with Norris Koppel, CEO & Founder of Monese

In this episode we meet Norris Koppel [https://www.linkedin.com/in/norriskoppel/] in his London office to share his ongoing journey in the Fintech industry. Serial entrepreneur (Yep, Monese is definitly not his first one), Norris shares with us without any filters his (very)  personal drivers, the issues he had with past co founders and/or investors, the fabulous support of his familly even if rule number 1 was "don't lose the familly money on that fintech project", and many advices for the one who would like to launch a startup today.  Small teaser: did you know that Florida was THE place where everything began regarding Monese story? You'll discover that and much more in that second episode of our #PFF Fintech Founder mini series. Those episodes are more Founders audio biographies than classical podcasts, we hope you'll enjoy it! Make yourself comfortable, take a coffee and let's go for 85+ minutes of close and personal conversation with Norris.   This podcast is produced thanks to the tremendous support of our sponsors Credit Mutuel Arkea [https://www.cm-arkea.com/banque/assurance/credit/accueil]  - a French retail bank very active in digital in general and Fintech in particular for more than 15 years now-, BPC [https://www.bpcbt.com/]– a global leader in payments,  transaction & digital banking -  & Research Industrial systems Engineering [https://www.rise-world.com/en/], a recognized IT service provider with more than 20 years experience in IT infrastructure & architecture. I can tell you that those companies do love entrepreneurs as much as I do.  More information about who they are and their activities can be found on our podcast page here [https://members.parisfintechforum.com/content/pff22_podcast].