Not a Kid in a Basement: How Nation-State Actors Are Targeting Private Equity with Vivek Ahuja from Persona

Not a Kid in a Basement: How Nation-State Actors Are Targeting Private Equity with Vivek Ahuja from Persona

What if the biggest threat to your firm's next capital call isn't a hacker — it's a nation-state intelligence operation running enterprise-grade AI? On this episode of the 6 x 6lock Podcast, Mike Langford and Peter Steppe are joined by Vivek Ahuja [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivahuja/], Director of FinTech & Financial Institution Partnerships at Persona [https://withpersona.com/] — the identity verification platform that powers 6lock's KYC, KYB, and fraud prevention infrastructure. Vivek's path to this conversation is unlike anyone else's in the space. He started as a nuclear submarine officer, went on to co-found a payments company in Southeast Asia, built fraud systems at Affirm when buy-now-pay-later had no rulebook, worked inside Marqeta, and led revenue at SentiLink — one of the country's most respected synthetic identity fraud detection companies. What he learned along the way: fraud has first principles, and most private equity firms are violating all of them. In this episode: * Why every new payment method creates a new fraud vector — and why AI is accelerating that cycle faster than ever * The first principles of fraud that nobody teaches in school (because there's no PhD program for this) * Why private equity sits at the most dangerous intersection in all of financial services: high dollar, high frequency, high urgency — and critically under-protected * How 6lock and Persona work together to tie identity to every transaction before a dollar moves * The shift from fooling humans to fooling the humans' AI — and what that means for agentic commerce * Why the adversary targeting your firm isn't a teenager in a basement — it's an organized, state-sponsored operation thinking in ROI and probability of capture Mike also references a recent episode with Stanton Ray of Columbia Threadneedle [https://www.6lock.com/podcast/moving-billions-manually-inside-private-credits-operational-infrastructure-gap] on the operational realities of moving billions in private credit — worth a listen if you haven't caught it yet. And if you've ever been tempted to mess with a scammer who's texting you, Vivek has a word of warning. Mike references the legendary James Veitch TED Talk [https://www.ted.com/embed/james_veitch_this_is_what_happens_when_you_reply_to_spam_email] — funny as it is, Vivek explains exactly why engaging with bad actors, even sarcastically, is handing them data they'll use against you. Connect with our guests: Vivek Ahuja on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivahuja/] | Persona [https://withpersona.com/] Peter Steppe on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-e-steppe/] | 6lock [https://www.6lock.com/] Have a question or a topic suggestion? Email us at podcast@6lock.com [podcast@6lock.com] Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:30 - From Nuclear Submarines to The Fraud Lab 07:49 - First Principles of Fraud Protection 15:53 - Why Private Equity Firms Are Prime Targets for Fraud 20:17 - Identity Is the Infrastructure: How 6lock and Persona Work Together 25:10 - Are We Moving from Fooling the Human to Fooling the Human's AI? 34:24 - Nation-State Threats Are Private Equity's Problem Too

Column's Employee #1 on Building Championship Culture in Banking

Alex Du [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderdu/] dropped out of Stanford GSB five months before graduation to become employee #1 at Column [https://column.com]. Six years later, he's COO of a nationally chartered bank that's rebuilding banking infrastructure from scratch. In this episode, Alex and Todd Sorrel [https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddsorrel/] (CEO of 6lock [https://www.6lock.com/]) dive deep into what it takes to build a championship culture in an industry that's never been known for it. From owning 100% of your infrastructure stack to understanding why that 0.001% of edge case payments creates 90% of the value, this conversation is essential listening for anyone building in fintech or serving private markets. Topics covered: * Why Alex left Stanford 5 months before graduation * The TAM + Team + Problem framework for early-stage companies * How Column bought a bank and rebuilt the core from scratch * Building championship culture: "Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner" * The 0.001% game — why edge cases create all the value in payments * Column's approach to AI in banking infrastructure Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 02:50 - The Stanford Dropout Story: When Plaid's Co-Founder Calls, You Show Up 09:44 - No One Likes Their Banking Partner And That's a Huge Opportunity 12:51 - Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner 32:29 - Why Column Had to Own the Entire Stack 42:16 - The 0.001% Game: Why All the Value in Payments Lives in the Edge Cases 48:57 - How is Column Approaching AI?

Finance Is the Lifeblood of Every Industry | Legendary Investor Britt Harris on Trust, Private Markets & Life After Success

What is finance, really? Britt Harris gave an unforgettable answer on the Scholars of Finance podcast [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNWeEBaaRng] — finance isn’t the most important industry, but it is the lifeblood of every other one. That idea kicks off one of the most wide-ranging, wisdom-packed conversations in 6 × 6lock Podcast history. Britt Harris [https://www.linkedin.com/in/britt-harris-6678477/] is the founder of On Eagles Wings Advisors [https://www.oewadvisors.com] and a 6lock [https://www.6lock.com] advisor. He is the only investor in the world to have served as CIO or CEO for a top-5 fund in all four major investment categories: endowments (UTIMCO, $68B), public funds (Teacher Retirement System of Texas, $155B), private/hedge funds (Bridgewater Associates), and corporate funds (Verizon Investment Management). He has mentored 1,100+ students through his Titans of Investing program at Texas A&M and UT Austin, collectively launching 43 companies worth $6 billion. In this episode, Britt, host Mike Langford, and 6lock CEO Todd Sorrel cover: •      Why the trust culture of private markets has quietly become its biggest security vulnerability •      Why money movement is still stuck in the telegraph era — and what it will take to change it •      What LPs of the future are going to demand from their GPs •      The “Success to Significance” framework: why the second half of a career is more important than the first •      The Three Cheeseburger Life Plan — Britt’s surprisingly practical framework for a full life •      Why Britt — after 40 years in the industry — put his name behind 6lock Britt also shares the story directly from his time running UTIMCO: capital calls were arriving at 10x, even 100x, the expected amounts — and the industry had no reliable way to verify where the money was actually going. That unsolvable problem is exactly why 6lock exists. The lifeblood quote that opened this episode came from Britt’s appearance on the Scholars of Finance podcast with @scholarsoffinance911 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNWeEBaaRng]. Watch that episode to hear more of Britt’s perspective on the purpose of finance. CHAPTERS 00:00 — Intro & Teaser 02:28 — The Ethos of Finance Being: The Lifeblood of All Industries 10:49 — The Handshake Economy: How Trust Became a Risk for Private Markets 18:24 — Money Movement in Private Markets Is Stuck in the Telegraph Era 28:19 — What the LP of the Future Is Going to Demand from Their GPs 36:13 — Success to Significance: What the Second Half of a Career Is Really For 42:17 — The Three Cheeseburger Life Plan 48:15 — BONUS: A Principled Approach to Business CONNECT & LEARN MORE 🔗 Learn more about 6lock: 6lock.com [https://www.6lock.com] 💼 Learn more about On Eagles Wings Advisors: oewadvisors.com [https://www.oewadvisors.com] 📧 Questions or suggestions for the show: podcast@6lock.com 🎬 Britt on the Scholars of Finance podcast: Watch here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNWeEBaaRng]

Why Private Equity's Reliance on Spreadsheets Is Causing Multi-Million Dollar Distribution Errors

When everyone told Oliver Freigang [https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-freigang-353b18a3/] that automating waterfall calculations was impossible, he saw an opportunity. After his employer rejected the idea, Oliver and his co-founder Gregor bet their own money that they could solve one of private markets' most complex-and most broken-problems. That bet became Qashqade [https://www.qashqade.com/], a Swiss fintech now protecting billions in fund distributions from the kind of errors that keep CFOs up at night. The shocking reality: Between 80-95% of complex Excel spreadsheets contain errors [https://arxiv.org/pdf/0805.4224] (KPMG study). When you're calculating who gets paid what from a billion-dollar fund exit, even a small error can mean millions going to the wrong people. IN THIS EPISODE: Oliver shares the origin story of building Qashqade after being told it wasn't possible, drops the stat that should make every GP and fund administrator pause, and explains why both Excel AND AI fall short when billions are on the line. We cover: * Why industry giants said waterfall automation was impossible-and what happened when Oliver proved them wrong * The real $6 million error that KPMG missed (yes, a major fund administrator) * Why Excel, the backbone of private markets for decades, is finally meeting its match * What happens when you try to hand waterfall calculations to AI (spoiler: 4% hallucination on $10 billion = $400 million in potential errors) * How the finish line handshake works between Qashqade's calculations and 6lock's verified money movement * Oliver's vision to become the global standard for waterfall calculations CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Cold Open: The KPMG Error Rate Study 03:40 - The Qashqade Origin Story: They Said It Was Impossible 12:14 - The Problem: Excel, Error, and the Billion-Dollar Spreadsheet 24:39 - How It Works: Automated Waterfalls and Why Complexity Is Your Friend 34:11 - The AI Question: Can ChatGPT Do Your Waterfall? 46:41 - The Full Money Movement Stack: From Calculation to Secure Movement 52:36 - The Vision: Making Qashqade the Global Standard

Moving Billions Manually: Inside Private Credit's Operational Infrastructure Gap

The private credit market has exploded to over $4 trillion in assets — but the infrastructure behind it hasn't kept pace. Most firms are still moving billions of dollars using the same manual, high-risk processes that were built for a much smaller, slower market. On this episode of 6 × 6lock, hosts Mike Langford and Todd Sorrel [https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddsorrel/] (CEO & Co-Founder, 6lock) sit down with Stanton Ray [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stanton-ray-15848a15b/], Head of the US Loan Platform and Senior Portfolio Manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments [https://www.columbiathreadneedleus.com/institutional/what-we-offer/strategies-solutions/us-bank-loan/details?id=c2ed4099-916b-4ef8-abb9-8e2c09b7b15c], to explore what it actually takes to operate a $4 billion loan platform in today's private credit landscape — and why the operational infrastructure gap is both a vulnerability and an opportunity. From his early days in Gun Barrel City, Texas, to the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M (where he met Todd), to building a $2.5 billion CLO business at Carlson Capital over 22 years, Stanton brings rare insight into how private credit markets actually work behind the scenes. In this episode they cover:• * The three distinct markets within private credit (high yield, syndicated loans, and true private credit) — and why they're converging fast * How CLOs revolutionized lending by solving the duration mismatch problem that nearly broke the banking system — and why they now own 65% of the loan market * Where the smart money is flowing in the AI infrastructure boom: off-balance-sheet data center financing, utility investments, and the unexpected winners in the AI value chain * Why software company loans dropped 10 points after Claude Code launched — and what that signals about AI's market impact * The hidden operational cost of moving $4 billion manually: 300+ quarterly payments, 10-20 daily trades, all settled over the counter without modern infrastructure * Why geopolitical uncertainty freezes private market deal flow — and what that means for capital deployment in 2026 Whether you're a GP, LP, fund administrator, CFO, or treasury professional, this episode offers a rare look inside the operational realities of private credit — and why the infrastructure modernization gap is one of the most under appreciated risks in the market today. Chapters: 00:00 Cold Open: Moving Billions Manually 03:37 From Texas to Manhattan Beach — Who is Stanton Ray? 09:49 The Private Credit Landscape — Three Distinct Markets 17:41 The CLO Revolution — How Wall Street Solved the Duration Problem 23:23 The AI Infrastructure Play — Where Smart Money Flows 32:07 The Hidden Cost of Moving $4 Billion — The Operational Nightmare 36:36 Why Private Credit Markets Prefer Stability