After ~4 months on sabbatical I returned to work at Dwolla this week. I wasn't sure how I would feel but I'm happy to be pleasantly sitting here Saturday morning reflecting with a smile on my face. This week was really nice. I'm aware that my perspective has shifted after some time to think. I… Continue reading Back @ Work. Appreciating Power of Platform.
Structuring Founding Team Equity
Founding is hard and the equity topic can range from awkward to really stressful. It's surprising how many founding teams breeze through this discussion but not all do and emotions don't make it any easier. Regardless of the emotions I always come back to similar thoughts... Everything is ideally split evenly with an intellectual desire… Continue reading Structuring Founding Team Equity
FinTech Education Videos from 11:FS
For the first time in a very long time I found myself on youtube while uploading V-Sum_One videos. I ended up with all of these interesting suggestions and two from 11:FS really stuck out to me. Here is their overview of the US banking landscape. They've done a really nice job communicating a great deal… Continue reading FinTech Education Videos from 11:FS
V-Sum_One Tech Briefing Videos
The first V-Sum was this week and it was a lot of fun. The first half of the event was tech briefings and the second half was off the record discussions which are obviously not recorded or shared. I'm pleased to say that tech briefing from V-Sum_One are now available for download on the V-Sum_One… Continue reading V-Sum_One Tech Briefing Videos
How to run a fundraising process
Over the last few months helping friends there are 2 trends that really stick out to me. One of them is that deals are getting done and another is that founders under prepare their process and assume investors will tell them what to do and what to give them in order to get a deal… Continue reading How to run a fundraising process
V-Sum: A Distributed FinTech Conference
Some friends and I were discussing ways to stay in the loop without our regular conference schedule to expose us to new technologies and the output was V-Sum. It's taken a while to come together but the first event is finally on Oct 14th. It's completely virtual and distributed. There is no cost to attend.… Continue reading V-Sum: A Distributed FinTech Conference
Why Iowa
After many years of the question "Why Iowa?" being the opening haha of countless meetings when it is regularly confused with Idaho, this question largely fell out of my life until very recently. These days, I hear it most from startup founders. It's not a customer, partner, or investors. During COVID I started being more… Continue reading Why Iowa
Harvesting Humanity
This is a really incredible project in red rural America by artist b.Robert Moore. Here is the artist statement: Inspired by many national and global protests demanding reform in policy and government to address the racial and civil injustices against humanity, specifically Black American citizens in America. Motivated by the various voices fighting human rights, Robert curated a small… Continue reading Harvesting Humanity
It’s not ok
Systemic racism is not ok. Unequal treatment of Black people is not ok. Killing a Black man in the street is not ok. Generational oppression of a race is not ok. This shouldn't need to be said but in the context of today's America it needs to be said. Black lives matter. We as human… Continue reading It’s not ok
What’s a dollar on deposit worth?
I've been building FinTech products for the better part of 10 years and this is at the heart of every bank conversation I've ever had. The discussion always goes in different directions. I asked this question on Twitter and at the time the question was somewhat rhetorical. I thought the answers would be more consistent… Continue reading What’s a dollar on deposit worth?