podcast

Marketing Talk: Tearsheet interviews top fintech marketers

Tearsheet Podcast: Online Lending

Welcome to the Tearsheet podcast. I'm Zack Miller. Just a quick reminder that the our podcast, website, and newsletter are  now called Tearsheet.

This week Brock Blake of Lendio joins us on the show. Brock started his firm in 2011 as a pure lead gen firm for small business lenders. Lendio today is a full-blown SMB lending marketplace with 75 lenders on the platform. We talk about some of the challenges small businesses lenders face in building their businesses and how some of the top ones are finding ways to innovate. 

Lendio is one of the first fintech firms I know of that is executing on a franchise model, working with local franchisees to help SMBs in their geographies find financing solutions. We explore how this model is working for Lendio, how Brock's firm prepared for franchising, and whether this model can work for other fintech firms.

You can get this episode of the podcast, as well as 150 (that's right, we just hit 150) previous episodes in our archive, at our website, http://www.tearsheet.co If you get value out of these episodes, please take a minute to rate us on iTunes. Doing so, helps other people find us. We're also available on SoundCloud.

Also, if you're not signed up for our newsletter, subscribe now. 10,000 industry professionals read our Tearsheet newsletter every week to explore the impact technology is having on the financial services industry. http://www.tearsheet.co/subscribe

Here's Lendio's Brock Blake.

Lendio's Brock Blake on SMB lending, fintech franchising, and building sustainable businesses

Why did World War I begin? Why did America enter the conflict? What place does the war hold in American historical memory? These are questions historian Michael Kazin asks his Georgetown University students, and many of them are stumped. When Woodrow Wilson plunged the country headfirst into its first European fight, he was met with resistance from nearly every corner of American society—in New York City, a women’s march for peace was organized along Fifth Avenue. Today there is no memorial on the National Mall to the American soldiers who fought in the war, but understanding the complex social, political, and economic forces that birthed the war—and American involvement in it—is more crucial than ever.
 
Lewis Lapham talks to Michael Kazin, author of War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914–1918.
 
Thanks to our generous donors. Lead support for this podcast has been provided by Elizabeth “Lisette” Prince. Additional support was provided by James J. “Jimmy” Coleman Jr.

Episode 09: Michael Kazin

The period of American history that extends from 1865 to 1896, Stanford historian Richard White writes in the introduction to The Republic for Which It Stands, “for a long time devolved into historical flyover country. Writers and scholars departed the Civil War, taxied through Reconstruction, and embarked on a flight to the twentieth century and the Progressives, while only rarely touching down in between. Such neglect has changed with recent scholarship that has revealed a country transformed by immigration, urbanization, environmental crisis, political stalemate, new technologies, the creation of powerful corporations, income inequality, failure of governance, mounting class conflict, and increasing social, cultural, and religious diversity.” In this episode of the podcast, Lewis H. Lapham and White try to dig into as many of these topics as they can, while discussing William Dean Howells’ role in capturing all these moments and whether it is fair to call the current moment the second Gilded Age.


Lewis H. Lapham talks with Richard White, author of The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896.

 
Thanks to our generous donors. Lead support for this podcast has been provided by Elizabeth “Lisette” Prince. Additional support was provided by James J. “Jimmy” Coleman Jr.

Episode 24: Richard White

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

We're experimenting with an interesting new series on the podcast called Marketing Talk. We're talking to top finance and fintech marketers sitting on the front lines of their business, hustling to bring in the next cohort of customers. As much as TechCrunch makes this stuff look easy, it isn't and we want to hear from marketers — in their own words — what's working for them, how they're structuring their teams, and what channels are delivering.

I'm excited for this series and first up is Jonathan Metrick, head of marketing at PolicyGenius. If you ride the New York City subway like I do, for sure you've noticed last year when the usual poetry public service ads started promoting insurance and PolicyGenius. It did tick off a lot of New Yorkers but it won awards and contributed to a 100% lift in the business.

Jonathan talks about that campaign and also why he prefers to run campaings in-house and not via an agency. He describes his commitment to content marketing and the impact its had on the insurance marketplace's business. I hope you enjoy the show.

If you like this Marketing Talk series, let us know. You can hit me up on twitter at @newrulesinvest or via email at zack at tearsheet.co. Let me know what you think and if you'd like to nominate a marketer or growth guy or gal for the show.

You can access this episode of the Tearsheet Podcast and over 200 previous episodes in our archives: www.tearsheet.co

Without further ado, here's Policygenius' Jonathan Metrick.

Marketing Talk: Policygenius' Jonathan Metrick

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

We're experimenting with an interesting new series on the podcast called Marketing Talk. We're talking to top finance and fintech marketers sitting on the front lines of their business, hustling to bring in the next cohort of customers. As much as TechCrunch makes this stuff look easy, it isn't and we want to hear from marketers — in their own words — what's working for them, how they're structuring their teams, and what channels are delivering.

Today's marketer on the hot seat is Bill Walsh, Lending Club's general manager and head of marketing for personal loans. Bill brings an engineer's approach to marketing. The MIT grad began his tenure at Lending Club in an operations role, where rigorous problem solving was used to solve some of the biggest problems in the business. Now that he's leading marketing on the consumer side, he brings a similar approach.

We talk about how Lending Club defines marketing and approaches channels. We pay particular attention to a recent TV campaign you might have seen over the summer of 2018. Measuring and responding to the signal is core to Lending Club's approach and in the course of this 4 week broadcast campaign, Bill's team iterated twice. This puts ad agencies on notice  -- this is the new data driven fintech marketing world.

If you like this Marketing Talk series, let us know. You can hit me up on twitter at @newrulesinvest or via email at zack at tearsheet.co. Let me know what you think and if you'd like to nominate a marketer or growth guy or gal for the show.

Without further ado, here's Bill Walsh.

LendingClub's Bill Walsh: 'At its core, marketing is a data problem'

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

My guest today is Mark Glazer, chairman and interim CEO of BFS Capital. BFS is somewhat of a pioneer in the industry. The South Florida- based company has been lending money to small businesses via small business loans and merchant cash advances for 16 years. 

Over this time, BFS has leant out $1.75 billion. Throughout his career, Mark's seen the online lending space change dramatically and we discuss where he sees the industry heading. We talk about how BFS tries to differentiate itself from its competition and the process through which Mark found his ideal clients across 400 industries.

Mark Glazer is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Before we jump into the interview — If you get value out of this podcast, we'd appreciate a review wherever you get your podcasts. We do this for you and reviews are the fuel that make this podcast go and help others to discover it.

You can access 200 episodes of the TS podcast in our archives on our website: www.tearsheet.co

Here's my interview with Mark.

BFS Capital's Marc Glazer: 'Technology is driving big changes in the lending industry'

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

I've heard online auto financing compared to teenage sex — a lot of people talk about it, but few actually do it. That's actually a fact. In the first ever survey focused on the auto finance experience, FICO found that only 5 percent of US consumers applied for their loans online even though 29 percent plan to do it the next time.

The survey found other interesting tidbits — like the fact that 73 percent of US consumers obtain their loans at the dealership; more than any other country. FICO's survey provides context to the growing interest — the capital and talent flowing to -- digital auto finance.

Ben Werner, director of solution marketing at FICO, authored the study and is our guest on the Tearsheet Podcast today.
We break down the findings to better understand the challenges and opportunities of improving the automotive finance experience. The discussion is useful for incumbents and startups alike tackling this massive trillion dollar opportunity that is really still in its early days.

Before we jump into the interview — If you get value out of this podcast, we'd appreciate a review wherever you get your podcasts. We do this for you and reviews are the fuel that make this podcast go and help others to discover it.

You can get this episode and over 200 other episodes in our archives at www.tearsheet.co

Here's my interview with Ben.

FICO's Ben Werner on the future of digital auto finance

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

As an integrated fintech company, Intuit seems to be firing on all cylinders. Its QuickBooks product helps millions of businesses manage their finances. More than 240 million invoices are created by QuickBooks Online customers each year. Around this core data, the company has built an ecosystem of products and services that include payments and lending. And that boatload of invoices created by QBO? Only 14 percent of them are payment enabled, which means there's way more opportunity ahead to help them with cashflow issues and missed payments.

Rania Succar serves as Intuit's head of Quickbooks Capital and Payments, two of the company's most innovative and growth products. She leads the company's efforts to innovate in payments, pitting it head-to-head with companies like Paypal and Square. 

Rania joins us on the Tearsheet Podcast to discuss the connection at Intuit between payments and capital. We drill down into Intuit's small business strategy and what's powering the company's growth. 

Before we jump into the interview — If you get value out of this podcast, we'd appreciate a review wherever you get your podcasts. We do this for you and reviews are the fuel that make this podcast go and help others to discover it.

You can access this episode in our archives -- alongside over 200 other episodes. Go to www.tearsheet.co 

Here's my interview with Rania.

Intuit's Rania Succar: 'The combination of payments and capital is super strategic'

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

We're experimenting with an interesting new series on the podcast called Marketing Talk. We're talking to top finance and fintech marketers sitting on the front lines of their business, hustling to bring in the next cohort of customers. As much as TechCrunch makes this stuff look easy, it isn't and we want to hear from marketers — in their own words — what's working for them, how they're structuring their teams, and what channels are delivering.

Off a recent IPO in London, Funding Circle is doubling down on its growth strategies. Partnerships with financial institutions and other strategics play a big role in how the small business lender acquires new customers.

U.S. managing director Bernardo Martinez joins us on the podcast to talk about how partnerships fit into the firm's momentum and ambitions for the U.S. market. We use the firm's relationship with INTRUST Bank as a model for how financial institutions assist with Funding Circle's customer acquisition. We also look at the firm's partnership with Intuit and how it helps Funding Circle reach more small businesses in the United States.

Bernardo Martinez is my guest on the podcast today.

Funding Circle's Bernardo Martinez on the role banking partnerships play in customer acquisition

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

We're experimenting with an interesting new series on the podcast called Marketing Talk. We're talking to top finance and fintech marketers sitting on the front lines of their business, hustling to bring in the next cohort of customers. As much as TechCrunch makes this stuff look easy, it isn't and we want to hear from marketers — in their own words — what's working for them, how they're structuring their teams, and what channels are delivering.

On the startup side of things, branding is tricky. It's hard to put forward a strong brand when a company is still growing up, searching for its business model and target customer, and finding its voice. But there comes a time when a business matures and it can be intentional about who and what it is. 

Accounting software firm, Wave has grown up a lot since it launched in 2010. The company now has over 3.5 million customers.  It's always helped small businesses get control over their finances through simplifying things. But through the rebrand, the company wanted to convey the feeling that there's power in this process — Wave's new branding focuses on empowering small businesses and entrepreneurs. It's a nuanced change but makes a huge difference.

Director of marketing creative at Wave, Grace Marquez was the architect of Wave's re-launch and she takes us behind the scenes to see how the rebranding process was organized, how various teams across the company worked together on the project, and how the financial brand found its new voice and image.

Grace Marquez is my guest today on the podcast.

Wave's Grace Marquez: Behind the scenes of the re-brand

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

We're experimenting with an interesting new series on the podcast called Marketing Talk. We're talking to top finance and fintech marketers sitting on the front lines of their business, hustling to bring in the next cohort of customers. As much as TechCrunch makes this stuff look easy, it isn't and we want to hear from marketers — in their own words — what's working for them, how they're structuring their teams, and what channels are delivering.

I don't know about you but I consume a hefty amount of podcast content. I spend less time streaming music, less time watching videos and more time listening to recorded audio. It's estimated that 26 percent of all Americans over the age of 12 listen to podcasts. And we're not just drive-by listeners, either. We're listening to at least seven podcast episodes every week. This is a huge opportunity for financial marketers who made a living using television and radio to brand their products.

MasterCard has been an early rider on the podcast train. Last year, the payments firm launched Fortune Favors the Bold (https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/fortune-favors-the-bold.html), a podcast about the unique and changing role money plays in our lives, and about what happens when we take risks, take control and redefine our relationship with it. The podcast was well-received, both critically and among Mastercard's target audience. The podcast's audience grew by 55 percent between episode one and five, and the company is about to drop season two any day now.

Marcy Cohen, svp of digital content creation at Mastercard, joins me to discuss the genesis of Mastercard's podcast activities. She shares what's worked with the show and the firm's strategy to use the podcasting medium to market to the firm's own employees, in addition to acquiring new customers and branding in the market. She also explains how the firm used an agency to strategize and produce its great content.

Marcy Cohen is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Mastercard's Marcy Cohen on launching and growing a podcast

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

We live at a time where technology innovation is accelerating. This optimistic idea, that things are shifting under our feet for the better, gets me juiced. It's a big reason why I publish this podcast. 

For many in the fintech industry, it gets them really motivated, too. Today's guest is Bharath Kadaba, chief innovation officer at Intuit. Through a career that began in they heyday of IBM's TJ Watson Labs through Yahoo to his tenure at Intuit, Bharath engineering background provides him a nuanced view into how technology in influencing changes in our behavior as it helps us accomplish financial things we couldn't have conceived of in the past. 

At Intuit, he leads innovation at a firm that is working hard to make innovation a core part of its culture, not just something relegated to a specific team. We talk about how the Intuit culture permeates experimentation and the feedback loop for how new technologies get rolled out to the business units. We also geek out a bit on conversational interfaces and virtual reality.

If you work with innovative technologies or work to keep your company or clients on the frontline of the adoption curve, you're going to want to listen to my interview with Bharath.

Bharath Kadaba is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Making innovation core to what you do with Intuit's Bharath Kadaba

Tearsheet is news, opinion, and analysis on the business of finance.

Candid conversations with senior executives, fintech entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts -- all weigh in on the trends impacting the industry and the disruptive impact technology is having on the business.

Where social media, technology and finance intersect.