Welcome back for the second episode in this season of the Fintech OGs podcast!

This time, I interviewed Matt Austin and Ahmed Siddiqui. The conversation dives into their experiences in FinTech, how they got involved, and the lessons they learned along the way. Matt shares his journey from public accounting to FinTech, explaining how he entered the industry through a chance encounter with a VC.

Ahmed talks about his accidental entry into FinTech via a connection at Marqeta, where he developed a deep understanding of payment systems. Both reflect on the industry's advancements, where FinTech has exceeded expectations, and where it's fallen short—especially in areas like real-time payments and overcoming traditional banking hurdles.

The podcast wraps up with personal stories, touching on the importance of community in FinTech, key challenges they’ve faced, and excitement for the future of financial technology.

Huge thanks to ⁠Public.com⁠ and ⁠Prism Data⁠ for sponsoring this week's episode! 

With interest rates falling, be sure to check out Public.com's Bond Account, which allows you to lock in a 6% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of high-yield and investment-grade corporate bonds.

If you're looking for a way to say ‘yes’ to more customers without taking on additional risk and lend more profitably without sacrificing growth, be sure to check out Prism Data. Cash flow underwriting is a game changer in consumer lending, and Prism Data is the modern analytics provider that makes it possible. 

🎧The Fintech OG Series Season Two: Matt Austin and Ahmed Siddiqui

Podcast Episode · This Week in Fintech’s Podcast · 10/15/2024 · 38m

Apple Podcasts

Transcript

Matt: The one when we talked about your book.

Ahmed: Yeah. Yeah. It's really funny. And you were at Finix way back then too. So that was like, that's three jobs before what you're up to now, something like that. 

Matt: It's not right.

 Where where are you based out of these days?

Ahmed: I'm still in Minneapolis. 

Julie: So wait, backing up. You guys met through LinkedIn DMs?

Matt: They weren't as spammy back then. I felt like this was more cordial.

Julie: Matt sliding into Ahmed's DMs, essentially, or was it vice versa?

Matt: I think you were, so I did retrace my steps here a little bit. We were hiring a VP of Finance at Finix, and you sent over a really good candidate. And then I nerded out and said, Your book's awesome, because I'm. A payments dork. And then we got on [00:03:00] the call and just like jammed on your book for a bit.

Ahmed: So it's actually on Twitter. Yeah.

Julie: tell if that's better or worse.

Ahmed: Or X, 

Matt: that better than.

Julie: Twitter at the time. Interesting. And that, it was The Anatomy of a Swipe that you reached out to talk about. Okay. Very cool. 

So this is another episode of FinTech OGs. I'm so excited to have you guys here. Tell me a little bit about how you got into FinTech in the first place. Matt, why don't you kick us off?