Embedded Finance Review’s Post

How can a vertical SaaS become a fintech company? 🤔 Today's podcast episode should be "must listen" for every strategy / product person at a vertical SaaS company - but yes I might be biased ;) I am speaking with Mews' CEO Matthijs Welle about how his hotel-focused SaaS company turned into a fintech business: 🏨 Mews targets hotels and provides them the technical backbone to operate. The startup is based in the Netherlands and achieved unicorn status in March 2024 with a $110 million fundraise. 🛎️ Initially the company focused purely on SaaS and was collaborating with payment providers. When they understood the opportunity, they started to bring the payment stack in-house. 🧳 In recent years they added lending and are exploring a wide range of other financial services. Which ones? Listen to the podcast and find out. You can find the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and many other podcasting apps (link in comments). And if you liked the episode, please leave a rating in your podcasting app. 🙏 What did you think about this edition? What other topics should I cover?

Veza CEO Stefan Katanic on the Collin Cadmus Podcast! 🎙️ Hear the latest B2B SaaS insights. Tune in for expert advice.

💎 How to make good ROI from shows like Money20/20? 💎 How (and why) should a B2B Fintech invest in LinkedIn? 💎 Why PR matters for Fintechs, and how to structure it? and a lot more... Last week, I recorded probably the best podcast episode I've done to date, with In Growth We Trust and its two absolutely brilliant hosts, Yoann Pavy and Jake Mayell. Even though I was severely sleep deprived, the conversation turned out great - Yoann and Jake made sure that we covered a variety of topics and I’m sure you’ll find some interesting insights. Listen up if you want to get some tips from my personal Marketing playbook! 🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eJ8yijMg 🍏 Apple podcasts: https://lnkd.in/eBze9mE5

Øyvind Reed, ex-CEO of Whereby, joins me on Startup CEO Succession podcast to share his story of navigating highs and lows of leading Whereby and his decision to step down. In 2020, when the world went into lockdown, Whereby went from a relatively niche product to a global player, next to Zoom and all the “big boys.” To Øyvind Reed, it felt like the moment the team had been waiting for: hockey stick growth. The team grew 5x. The revenue grew 10x. Yet, only three years later, Øyvind decided to step down and trust another leader on his team to take the company through a necessary pivot. In this episode, E09 — Taking on Big Tech, we discuss what the CEO succession journey was like for Øyvind and Whereby. Find it on substack.evgeny.coach or YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts etc. Search for "Startup CEO Succession" podcast.

Want to build your personal brand but not sure where to start? In the newest episode of Growing Startups, I sit down with Brandy Cerne to discuss why startups shouldn’t ignore branding, and how founders can leverage their personal brand as part of their growth strategy. 2 tips for personal branding: 1️⃣ Don’t overthink it - done is better than perfect 2️⃣ Ask yourself “what channel feels most natural to me?” Check out the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or iHeartRadio - link in the comments 👇

To close out our second season, we talked with Immad Akhund, founder + CEO of Mercury. He shared great advice about startups, life, and optimizing to create the most impact possible. Key takeaways from the episode: - Curiosity will lead you to new opportunities (also the name of Immad's podcast). - The only mistake you can make is not learning from your mistakes. - Always make critical decisions with your guiding principles in mind. - Lean on your team when things get tricky; you can go farther together. If you want to hear the incredible story of a serial entrepreneur building the future of banking with his team, tune into this episode on Apple or Spotify. Apple: https://lnkd.in/gepscySt Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gGwXVsha

Ready to gain valuable insights on fundraising and scaling your Tech/SaaS start-up? Dive into our brand new podcast, Seed to Success 🌱🚀 In the first episode, Alastair sat down with Piotr Pisarz, the brains behind Uncapped, who shared valuable insights about his journey from Venture Capitalist to founder, and the pivotal moments that shaped the business’s growth. Piotr gets straight to the point in this episode - from handling cofounder breakups to the importance of sleep, diet and training like an athlete so you can go the distance as a founder. If you're in the game of start-up financing or aiming to fund your venture without sacrificing equity, consider this a must-listen. Check it out 👉 https://lnkd.in/eiUgd8cr Or tune in on your favourite podcast app 👇 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eWnJqvnn Apple podcast: https://lnkd.in/etgF9jkz Google podcasts: https://lnkd.in/eGwNA_V7 Amazon podcasts: https://lnkd.in/eYUGEUF7 #seedtosuccess #flinder #uncapped #equity #tech #saas #founders #entrepreneaurs

The conversation with Rory Stirling had so many highlights that I'm struggling to choose the best one. When every other podcast with an investor is about how to leverage AI to build unicorns, Rory and I spoke about what it's like to approach difficult conversations as a human being, first and foremost. A conversation about a CEO stepping down, whether it's the CEO's choice or the investor's, is one of those difficult, high-stakes conversations. I love how Rory approaches his work: acknowledging his own fear and greed and focusing on the founder in whom he invested, trusting that putting their interests first is synonymous with putting the company's and the fund's LPs' interests first. The UK startup ecosystem is lucky to have investors like Rory. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Search for "Startup CEO Succession" on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or (best of all) Substack.

My #embeddedfinance podcast activities are in full swing (links in the comments)! So far, I have published an episode with Michael Zyber from METRO Financial Services about their Mastercard offering for the German hospitality industry and another episode with Peder Broms from Cloover about their embedded lending offering for renewable hardware financing directly from the local installer. On July 2nd, I will publish an episode with Iven Kurz from Evergreen GmbH where we do a deep dive into the investment product offering for utility providers, and on July 16th, I will publish an episode with Matthijs Welle from Mews where we speak about their hotel vertical SaaS product and how they achieved to do a majority of their revenue with fintech products (follow the podcast in your podcasting app or subscribe to the newsletter so you don't miss it). Planning, recording, and publishing these podcasts provides so many new insights for me, and I am learning a lot. I am still early in my journey, so please do share feedback and don't be shy about suggesting somebody or yourself for the next episode. Currently, I am wondering if I should take a break from publishing podcasts in August or rather continue since travel time is good for podcasts. What do you think?

"I sold my house to fund my startup." Dawn Myers' bold move was part of an entrepreneurial journey that led to a game-changing beauty tech solution. This episode is packed with insights on resilience, innovation, and breaking barriers in tech. Listen to "Untangling Success: Dawn Myers and the Future of Tech-Enabled Beauty" now on: Spotify: https://vist.ly/3mji3se Apple Podcasts: https://vist.ly/3mji3s8 #LevelingUpPodcast #LevelingUpWithGaryAndJill Richualist