Podcast
Propagate Fintech Podcast
Propagate Fintech is a podcast exploring how financial services actually evolve.
Hosted by Roland Howard, the show features in-depth conversations with fintech founders, bank and credit union leaders, operators, and industry voices shaping lending, deposits, payments, account origination, and go-to-market strategy.
Each episode cuts through hype to focus on real-world execution: how products get adopted, why institutions struggle to modernize, where growth stalls, and what works when fintechs and regulated financial institutions intersect.
The podcast is produced by Propagate Fintech, an end-to-end marketing and PR agency serving the banking and fintech industry. Propagate partners with fintechs, banks, and credit unions to clarify positioning, build credibility, and drive growth through brand strategy, content, PR, and go-to-market execution.
- Episodes
- 32
- Releases
- Weekly
- Typical length
- 29 min
- On air since
- 2026
- Latest episode
- 6 days ago
Episodes
32 episodes, newest first
-
8 min
Do you come recommended by ChatGPT? Why Execs Need Podcasts
Show notes
If a prospect asked ChatGPT who the smartest people in your corner of fintech are, would your name come up? Would your CEO's?
In this solo episode, Roland Howard makes the case for one of the most underrated plays in B2B fintech marketing: getting your executives on podcasts as guests. Not starting a show. Showing up on other people's.
We cover how AI changed the way buyers build their shortlist, why podcasts reach senior decision makers like no other channel, how one interview turns into 15 to 20 pieces of content, and why podcast transcripts feed answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO). Then we get tactical: how to pitch a point of view instead of a bio, how to bring compliance in early, and the one mistake that makes listeners tune out.
Key takeaways
• 94% of B2B buyers use AI tools during the buying process, and the eventual winner is almost always on the shortlist from day one (6sense, 4,500+ buyers).
• Buyers use AI to start their research, then turn to peers and experts to check the work. Podcasts help you win with both the machines and the people.
• 58% of Americans 12 and older consumed a podcast in the last month. Among 35 to 54 year olds, it's 68% (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026).
• 83% of senior executives who listen to podcasts tuned in within the past week (Signal Hill Insights).
• One 40 minute guest spot can become 15 to 20 assets: short video clips, LinkedIn posts, quote graphics, a blog post, and a newsletter feature your sales team can use in follow-ups.
• Your reputation follows you from job to job. Episodes, clips, and transcripts belong to you, not your employer.
• AI tools read transcripts and show notes, not audio. Several transcripts on the same theme build the consensus LLMs look for.
• Pitch a take, not a bio. "Our CEO thinks most banks are getting fraud wrong" gets booked. "Our CEO would love to talk about our platform" does not.
• Bring compliance and leadership in early with agreed talking points and no-go topics. Most teams relax once they see the plan.
• Don't sell your product on someone else's show unless the host asks.Chapters
• 00:00 Would ChatGPT name your CEO?
• 01:00 How buyers find vendors now
• 03:00 Who listens to podcasts (your buyers)
• 04:30 The content cheat code for busy execs
• 05:30 One interview, 15 to 20 assets
• 06:30 Personal brand as career insurance
• 09:30 AEO, GEO, and why transcripts matter
• 11:30 Crawl, walk, run: how many shows to book
• 12:30 Pitch a point of view, not a bio
• 13:45 Getting compliance on board
• 14:30 Don't sell on the mic
• 15:00 Wrap upResources mentioned
• 6sense 2025 Buyer Experience Report
• Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026
• Signal Hill Insights research on senior executive podcast listenersRelated episodes
• Cashapp and your kids [link]
• The First StableCoin was world of warcraft? [link]
• Fraud's BF is AI [link]
• CIO survival guide [link]Got a strong take on where the industry is headed? Book a time to pitch us an idea for the show [link].
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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51 min
Is BaaS a Preview of Where Banking Is Headed?
Show notes
With AI reshaping financial services, banking as a service is having a major moment. Roland Howard sits down with Jared Robinson of Legend Bank, a 140-year-old community bank in Bowie, Texas, to unpack what happens when a bank stands up a fintech partner banking program. It holds up a mirror to the institution. Jared shares how Legend Bank launched during the toughest stretch BaaS has seen, why they read every consent order, how they underwrite fintech partners, and why few moments in a banker's career drive learning and upskilling this fast.
Key Takeaways
•BaaS extends a bank's charter, rails, and FDIC insurance to fintechs that excel at UI, marketing, and customer acquisition.
•Most community banks lean on net interest margin. BaaS adds non-interest income and a new deposit channel.
•AI agents that shop for the best savings rate or cheapest loan could compress bank margins quickly.
•Start with an honest assessment of people, processes, technology, and analytics. If customer service tops your strengths list, get an outside opinion.
•Legend Bank used published consent orders as its roadmap. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
•Bring regulators in early and treat them as a key stakeholder.
•Underwrite fintechs like an investor: product, team, economics, compliance maturity, and character.
•Every company is dying until it isn't. Financials, burn rate, and real in-person time tell the story.
Timestamps
00:00 Defining banking as a service
02:50 Why a 140-year-old bank got into BaaS
04:40 AI agents and the threat of margin compression
07:09 How BaaS changed the way the bank works with fintechs
11:01 Fintech partner banking vs. banking as a service
14:35 Where a community bank should start
19:38 Lessons from launching in 2022 and 2023
22:19 What a productive regulator conversation looks like
24:13 How regulators view AI-driven fintechs
26:51 What broke first inside the bank
30:33 How Legend Bank underwrites a fintech partner
35:17 Spotting a fintech on life support
39:17 A partner who nailed the onboarding process
41:26 Do people need banks or just banking?
43:41 The anatomy of a BaaS setup
46:17 What banking looks like in five years
48:21 Advice for breaking into fintech
50:35 Advice for community bank executives
52:27 How to connect with Legend Bank
Resources Mentioned:
•Conducting Due Diligence on Financial Technology Companies: A Guide for Community Banks (interagency guidance)
Connect with Jared and Legend Bank
•Email: integrate@legend.bank
•LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-robinson-a9719a154/
Listen and Subscribe
•Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6uQG5hQufhHLVDilxuXUuq?si=803c17eb7c5c4919
•Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propagate-fintech-podcast/id1874648654
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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29 min
Why Do You Forget Everything After a Fintech Conference? You won't at Fintech Meetup
Show notes
You ever leave a conference totally inspired, only to forget everything a few days later? Too much of what gets said on stage is theoretical. It's heavy on vision and light on the playbook.
In this episode, Roland sits down with Jade Mitchell, who leads content at FinTech Meetup, one of the first major fintech shows of the year. Jade walks through how she builds an agenda with the industry, not just for it. She explains why trust became the theme for the upcoming show and how FinTech Meetup's double opt-in meetings program brokers around 50,000 meetings in three days.
We also get into Fintech in 5, a new open mic format that gives anyone five minutes on stage. Jade covers what it takes to win one of two $50,000 SAFE notes in the startup pitch competition. She also shares how the Signal Week acquisition brings a larger digital assets summit to the show.
Plus, we talk about The Network, FinTech Meetup's 15-part comedy series about the pitfalls of corporate office life. It's a great example of a brand willing to use humor to stand out. The series was produced by Failure Island, directed by Dorea Slagle, and written by Lucinda Sweazey. New episodes drop every Thursday at 9 a.m. ET on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.
If you're planning your team's conference calendar or you're a startup looking to get in front of bankers, this one's for you.
Oh, and if you're wondering about that intro track, it's "Meeting of the Minds" by Matt Large. Go show him some love.
Timestamps
00:00 How the FinTech Meetup agenda gets built
02:08 Why attendees forget what they learned, and the push for tactical content
04:47 Fintech in 5: an open mic for anyone in the industry
06:53 FinTech Feud and experimenting with new session formats
08:18 Humor in marketing and The Network comedy series
11:25 Why trust is the theme of the show
14:26 The double opt-in meetings program
17:05 Around 50,000 meetings in three days
17:36 How bankers can get the most out of their meetings
19:19 The startup pitch competition and the $50,000 SAFE notes
21:27 How startups get selected to pitch on stage
22:42 The Signal Week acquisition and the digital assets summit
24:31 Why FinTech Meetup belongs on your conference calendar
27:12 Where to watch The NetworkLinks
FinTech Meetup: Click here
The Network series: Click hereCredits
Intro Music
"Meeting of the Minds" by Matt LargeWant to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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25 min
Death Throes of the Store Credit Card? Conversation with Grace Broadbent from EMARKETER
Show notes
Private label credit cards are losing ground, and Buy Now Pay Later is a big reason why. Grace Broadbent, payments analyst at eMarketer, joins the show to unpack why store card originations have stalled since 2021, why average interest rates on those cards just crossed 30 percent, and why retailers, not banks, end up taking the blame when balances go bad. We get into how BNPL expanded into card linked installments at Chase, Citi, and Amex, why the experience economy, think stadium lounges and early access to Taylor Swift tickets, has become a real driver of card acquisition, and how eMarketer is tracking which brands show up when consumers ask ChatGPT and Gemini for financial advice.
What We Cover
• (00:00) Grace Broadbent on eMarketer's payments research and proprietary data
• (01:27) Why private label credit card originations have stalled since 2021
• (02:25) Private label APR risk, now averaging above 30 percent
• (03:25) Why retailers, not banks, take the blame when balances go bad
• (05:48) Chasing loyalists with data instead of chasing new accounts
• (07:19) Buy Now Pay Later's rise, and why younger consumers are avoiding credit
• (09:13) How BNPL expanded through Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and card linked installments
• (11:51) The experience economy: rewards, live sports, and stadium exclusives
• (14:37) The Taylor Swift and Capital One story
• (14:59) How Gen Alpha is entering the payments ecosystem years before they can open a card
• (17:26) Stablecoins and tokenized deposits: threat or opportunity for card issuers
• (20:08) How consumers use AI to research credit cards and BNPL providers
• (21:47) Inside eMarketer's AI Visibility Index
• (23:25) Where to find Grace and eMarketer's researchNotable Quote
“Until a stablecoin payment can get you into an airport lounge or to the front of the line at a stadium, credit card issuers do not have much to worry about.”
Grace Broadbent, eMarketerAbout Our Guest:
Grace Broadbent covers payments at eMarketer, where she researches credit cards, digital wallets, and Buy Now Pay Later trends. She also works on eMarketer's AI Visibility Index, which tracks how brands show up in AI-generated financial recommendations. Find more of her research at eMarketer.com and connect with her on LinkedIn, linked below.Links & Resources:
• eMarketer: emarketer.com
• eMarketer's AI Visibility Index, Financial Services: emarketer.com/content/ai-visibility-index-financial-services-leaders-movers
• Grace Broadbent on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/grace-broadbent
• Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propagate-fintech-podcast/id1874648654
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@PropagateFintech/shorts
• Follow Propagate Fintech on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/propagatefintech
• Learn more: propagatefintech.comWant to Be a Guest?
• Grab 30 minutes with Roland: calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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15 min
Why Aren't Product, Marketing, and Sales Talking to Each Other?
Show notes
Steve Shaw spent ten years at Fiserv working across product, marketing, and go to market before helping build out SRM's AI-powered consulting practice. In this episode, Roland and Steve get into how AI is reshaping fintech consulting, why SEO is giving way to AEO and GEO, and why marketing without product in the room is just a task list.
Timestamps
00:00 – Steve's ten years at Fiserv and how SRM wove AI into its enterprise consulting practice
00:14 – Using 30+ years of industry data as an AI-powered consulting input
01:23 – Turning institutional knowledge into something semantically searchable before it walks out the door
02:18 – Are fintech orgs still struggling to find a beachhead for AI, or is everyone on board now
03:07 – The shift from SEO to AEO and GEO, and what it means for fintech marketers
04:38 – Are blogs dead? Why proprietary insight and proof points still matter
05:57 – Why go to market has to be a shared responsibility across product, sales, and marketing
08:31 – Fiserv's Pragmatic Marketing Framework and what it looked like when product led GTM
10:57 – How product's direct access to customers shapes better roadmaps and messaging
12:45 – Steve's one piece of advice for lean fintech marketing teams
14:19 – Where to follow Steve Shaw
YouTube Shorts
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/M3BGQ2Bz7m0https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tk4nzXXrJqs
Book a spot on the show: https://calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/podcast-recording-session
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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40 min
Inside a Community Bank's Marketing Ops, with Jeffrey Wright
Show notes
Most banks think they've solved personalization because a customer's first name shows up in an email. Jeffrey Wright, Digital Communications and Strategy Manager at a community bank, makes the case for something deeper: knowing a CD is about to mature, knowing the renewal rate before the customer asks, and reaching out before it becomes a problem.
We get into what Jeff calls the Frankenstein data problem, the same customer showing up as three different records across insurance, mortgage, and the core. We talk about why attribution is one of the hardest things in bank marketing, from billboards to abandoned forms sitting in the wrong system. And we cover the operator's side of the job: choosing channels, earning executive buy-in, and running an AI agent inside Monday.com that's slowly becoming the bank's entire campaign operating system.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Real personalization vs a first name in an email
02:04 - Inside the CD renewal campaign: 14-day, 7-day, and 4-day triggers
04:51 - What happens to the money when a CD matures
06:16 - Turning one product's end into the next conversation
07:30 - Why banks lag behind credit card aggregators on remarketing
09:38 - Not all data needs to sync in real time
11:23 - The Frankenstein data problem
13:06 - Centralizing on Salesforce and Data 360
16:56 - Trusting the data over the gut
18:59 - How to evaluate a new channel before jumping in
22:32 - What's hardest to attribute in bank marketing
24:41 - Finding a distinct voice without going off brand
30:37 - Humor as an underused tool in bank marketing
31:38 - Getting executive buy-in for something untested
35:16 - Running an AI agent inside Monday.com
39:26 - Technical debt and the fragmented campaign problemOTHER EPISODES
Why Most Digital Transformation in Banking Fails, with ICBA's Justin Dunmyer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt-BRZK1BdA
What Happens When Credit Scores Meet Cashflow, with American Banker's Melinda Huspen https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-propagate-fintech-podcast-321066386/episode/what-happens-when-credit-scores-meet-321910552/
YOUTUBE SHORTS
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z2Wq8uA5eVg https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tk4nzXXrJqs https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rdY1Q1vzPFI
LISTEN ANYWHERE
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propagate-fintech-podcast/id1874648654
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6uQG5hQufhHLVDilxuXUuq YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-WE52Kq2dzXCTaL6SWbYRQ
Book 30 minutes with Roland: https://calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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44 min
Going to Finovate Fall? Listen to This First, With Greg Palmer
Show notes
Greg Palmer has coached thousands of fintech founders through Finovate's seven minute, no slides, live demo format. In this episode, he breaks down what separates a demo that lands from one that dies on stage, why saying "we use AI" stopped being enough, and how stablecoins and tokenized deposits are moving from novelty to strategy for banks. Greg also shares the exit sign trick he teaches nervous first time presenters, what actually happens when a demo crashes live in front of an audience, and how to get the most out of Finovate whether you are a banker, a startup, or walking the floor for the first time. Plus, a discount code for anyone thinking about attending.
Chapter List
00:00 - How Finovate decides which banks, credit unions, and fintechs to feature
02:13 - Why competitors are willing to share openly on the show floor
03:48 - Why "we use AI" doesn't impress anyone anymore
07:37 - The regulatory pressure banks face when experimenting with new tools
08:55 - Stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and the World of Warcraft gold origin story
13:01 - What a first time banker should prepare before attending Finovate
16:01 - How early stage startups can get the most out of the event
19:14 - Working the booth after your demo without losing anyone in line
21:33 - Greg's theater background and the most common coaching fix he makes
26:48 - Why founders still need to go back to basics on the seven minute pitch
29:58 - The exit sign trick for staying calm on stage
33:19 - What panic attacks and total confidence both look like from the audience
34:58 - What to do when your demo crashes live on stage
38:10 - How to decide if Finovate is worth your one show a year
41:21 - Discount code: PROPAGATE20 for 20% off registration
41:45 - Where to find Finovate and reach Greg directly
42:25 - Greg's coaching work outside of Finovate
Discount Code
Use code PROPAGATE20 for 20% off Finovate registration.
Links
Finovate: https://www.finovate.com/
Propagate Fintech: https://www.propagatefintech.com/
Propagate Fintech on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/propagatefintech
Book 30 minutes with Roland: https://calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min
YouTube Shorts
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z2Wq8uA5eVg
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tk4nzXXrJqs
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rdY1Q1vzPFI
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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20 min
Synthetic Identity Fraud, AI Risk, and the Future of Lending Compliance
Show notes
Lending technology is still running on infrastructure nobody would build from scratch today.
I sat down with Mike Dunleavey and Gino Angeli from LASER Credit Access this week. About twenty minutes in, Mike described the average loan origination system as feeling like a 747 cockpit. Buttons, panels, widgets everywhere. Nobody designed it. It just accumulated over forty years.
LASER's whole thesis is doing one thing well inside Salesforce: pulling credit data, bank statements, and identity verification into one clean decision, with the compliance trail built in automatically. Not trying to be the whole loan origination stack. Just the front door, done right.
A few things from the conversation worth pulling out on their own.
Episode timestamps:
• 0:00 Intro and what LASER Credit Access does for lenders
• 1:42 How lending compliance has changed over the last decade plus
• 6:52 Why LASER stayed focused on the front end instead of building a full loan origination system
• 7:54 Why lending technology still looks like a 747 cockpit
• 11:14 The range of lenders LASER works with, and where their needs differ
• 14:00 Managing change fatigue during implementation
• 18:11 Branding, storytelling, and how LASER thinks about marketing
• 26:25 Staying visible for over a decade without a big marketing budget
• 28:40 The fraud landscape, and the fake ID demo that stunned the room
• 31:27 A real client story: forged bank statements and a fifty thousand dollar loss
• 34:38 Where AI fits, and does not fit, inside LASER's own operations
• 39:44 Rapid fire: automation wish lists and vendor evaluation advice
• 44:59 Where to learn more about LASER Credit AccessOn fraud, and how fast it's moving
Gino told me about a client who got hit with fully AI generated bank statements, pay stubs, and W2s. The borrower got a fifty thousand dollar loan and then vanished. And the tools behind it aren't specialized or hard to find. Gino showed a room full of Salesforce partners how to generate a realistic fake driver's license using nothing but a LinkedIn photo and Gemini. Took him about a minute.
That's not a hypothetical anymore, and it's part of a bigger shift in how fast AI is reshaping the tools everyone in fintech and banking reaches for day to day.
On why they've barely spent a dollar on marketing
Gino said something I've been chewing on since the interview: their growth has come almost entirely from referral sources, Salesforce consultants and implementation partners, not from campaigns. And when I asked why they've stayed away from broader marketing, his answer was blunt. A random lender scrolling TikTok isn't the decision maker at a loan shop. They'd rather be the trusted answer a consultant gives when someone says "I need something for this."
It's a good reminder of a pattern I see constantly in fintech. Most pitches fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the product.
On compliance, and where the regulatory ground is shifting
A big part of what LASER solves is the audit trail. Permissible purpose, consent language, retention windows, all tracked automatically so a lender isn't scrambling when a bureau or regulator comes calling. Worth watching alongside a separate conversation we had recently on just how much the ground under federal regulatory independence is moving right now.
On AI inside their own shop
Mike and Gino don't let AI anywhere near their production code, and they were clear about why. They're sitting on personally identifiable information for hundreds of lenders, and one bad update is not a risk either of them is willing to take. Where AI has earned a seat is documentation, internal knowledge base work, and organizing thirteen years of support history. Useful, bounded, and nowhere near the parts of the business that can't afford a mistake.
If you're evaluating lending technology, or just curious how a thirteen year old company stays lean and referral driven without a marketing department, worth a listen.
More on what LASER does: https://www.lasercreditaccess.com/
Related watches: Claude becoming the de facto AI option for fintechs and bankers: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Uphn9BlsPS8 Why most fintech media pitches fail: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/E4DMgreeDZ4 The death of federal agency independence: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tk4nzXXrJqs
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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20 min
Game Over for the Fed?
Show notes
For decades the Federal Reserve operated like it sat on its own island: insulated, untouchable, above the political fray. Two Supreme Court rulings, Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook, just rewrote the rules on whether a president can fire the people who run the nation's monetary policy. Kyle Campbell, who covers the Fed and bank regulation for American Banker, joins the show to break down what these rulings really mean, what happens if Trump succeeds in removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook, and whether Kevin Warsh can keep the institution independent, or if he becomes what one senator has called a sock puppet.
What We Cover
(00:09) The pair of Supreme Court rulings that left the Fed as the last agency standing on independence
(02:00) Why the Fed got an exception when the Court said no other agency gets one
(03:54) What happens if Trump succeeds in removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook
(08:19) The safeguards still standing between the White House and the FOMC
(12:47) This week's FOMC meeting, set against an escalating war in the Middle East
(14:05) Whether there is any backchannel between the Fed and the Department of War
(16:00) What a harmonized, single-minded regulatory era means for financial services
Notable Quote
"Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. And if you push the Fed and the economy tanks, everybody knows it was by your design." — Roland Howard
About Our Guest
Kyle Campbell covers the Federal Reserve and bank regulation for American Banker. His July 20th article, “What comes next for the Fed's regulatory independence,” sparked this conversation and is linked below.
Links & Resources
● American Banker: What comes next for the Fed's regulatory independence
● Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propagate-fintech-podcast/id1874648654
● Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@PropagateFintech/shorts
● Follow Propagate Fintech on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/propagatefintech
● Learn more: propagatefintech.com
Want to Be a Guest?
Grab time on Roland's calendar: calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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13 min
Could Humor Be the Most Wide Open Lane in Fintech Marketing?
Show notes
Most fintech brands play it safe with their marketing. Static image, motion graphic, list your differentiators, call it a day. Nobody gets in trouble for that. But safe doesn't fail loud, it fails quiet, and quiet is the real risk.
In this episode, Roland breaks down why humor is one of the most wide open lanes in fintech marketing and almost nobody is fighting for it. He walks through a real project where his team had fifteen thousand dollars and sixteen seconds of screen time to work with, no audio, at a major trade show. What happened next, including killing the idea, reviving it, and testing it against real bankers, is the whole episode.
0:00 – The fifteen thousand dollar thought exercise
1:15 – Why humor is the most wide open lane in fintech marketing
2:40 – Where the industry's "safe" instinct comes from
3:50 – Why playing it safe is the real risk, not the joke that misses
5:10 – How AI lowered the cost of testing a bold idea
6:20 – Three tactics for building this muscle on your team
9:00 – The real client story: sixteen seconds, no audio, $15K on the line
11:45 – Killing the fun idea, then bringing it back
13:00 – What happened when they tested it with real bankers and execs
14:20 – The ask: pick one project this quarterLinks:
💼 Follow Propagate Fintech on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/propagatefintech
🎬 More clips on YouTube Shorts: https://www.youtube.com/@PropagateFintech/shorts
🌐 www.propagatefintech.com
Want help building a bolder content strategy for your fintech brand? Book time with Roland: https://calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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32 min
What To Expect With New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh?
Show notes
Powell's out. Kevin Warsh is in. And it's not just a new name at the podium, it's a completely different communication philosophy for the Federal Reserve.
Kyle Campbell, who covers the Fed for American Banker, joins the show to break down what Warsh's "say less, smile more" approach means for banks, fintechs, and markets that got used to the Fed spelling everything out.
What We Cover...
The Philosophy Shift:
Kyle explains why Warsh's first press conference looked so different from the Powell era, and what it means when the Fed intentionally pulls back on forward guidance.
Why is the fed saying less?
The Fed's policy statement went from three or four hundred words down to about 130. Kyle breaks down what got cut and why.
What are Reserve Bank Presidents?
A look inside how the FOMC actually votes, who rotates on and off, and why regional perspectives matter more than people realize.
Is Warsh a "Sock Puppet" for Trump?
Kyle's take on Warsh's independence, and how his first vote compared to what happened under short-term board member Stephen Miren.
What is Greenspan's legacy?
The Great Moderation, the subprime years, and what Kyle's sources including former Fed vice chairs Don Cohn and Alan Blinder say about Greenspan's gift for telling the right story at the right time.
How does the Fed look at AI?
What Kyle would ask Warsh off the record about AI as a productivity driver, and why that answer matters for inflation and the deficit.
Key Takeaways
• The Fed under Warsh favors reacting to markets over directing them
• Less forward guidance can mean more uncertainty for lending and credit conditions
• Regional Reserve Bank presidents play a bigger role in FOMC decisions than most people assume
• Greenspan's era shows both the upside and the risk of a Fed chair with real cultural influenceTimestamps
• 00:00 – The philosophy shift under Warsh
• 02:37 – What got cut from the Fed statement
• 10:23 – How reserve bank presidents vote
• 15:45 – Warsh's independence from Trump
• 18:12 – Alan Greenspan's legacy
• 28:34 – What Kyle would ask Warsh off the recordMore Episodes You'll Like
• What happens when cash flow underwriting meets AI?
• CIO Survival Guide for AI - Claude Entitlements,AI Semantic Model, Clean Data
• Culture Before Digital TransformationAbout Our Guest:
Kyle Campbell covers the Federal Reserve and bank regulation for American Banker, with a growing focus on emerging risks across AI and crypto in the financial system.
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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34 min
What Happens When Snowflake Meets Claude Inside a Community Bank?
Show notes
This episode is really a Snowflake and Anthropic story. Roland Howard and Lee Easton trace how Identify became one of Snowflake's early banking partners back in 2022, years before the rest of the industry trusted the cloud, and how that same pattern is now repeating with Anthropic. Lee walks through Identify's new status as a Certified Anthropic Partner, part of the first wave certified when the Anthropic Partner Network opened up in June 2026, and explains why pairing Snowflake's infrastructure with Claude's ability to reason over financial data is what's finally putting real BI and AI tools within reach of small community banks that could never have afforded custom development.
They also dig into the provisioning risk nobody's talking about enough: employees spinning up personal Claude or Snowflake accounts outside of proper enterprise settings, and why that is the fastest way for a bank to end up in a data breach headline. The back half covers what AI readiness actually looks like (clean data, a real semantic model, and provisioning discipline), and why Lee sees his three-year moat as simply going deeper on Snowflake plus Anthropic than anyone else serving community banks.
Snowflake + Anthropic + Community Banks: The Core of This Episode
• Lee's Snowflake background predates Identify. He used it at ConocoPhillips to orchestrate oil and gas data before ever applying it to banking.
• Identify started using Snowflake with banks in 2022, when the industry still did not trust the cloud. That early bet is now paying off as FIS, Fiserv, and Jack Henry all roll out their own Snowflake and Google Cloud partnerships.
• Identify is a Snowflake Partner Network member and, as of June 2026, a Certified Anthropic Partner through the newly opened Anthropic Partner Network (Claude Partner Network).
• The stack is explicit: Snowflake handles data warehousing and infrastructure, Claude handles analytics, reporting, and natural language access to that data.
• Lee calls Claude "best in class for natural language querying right now, especially around financial services," and says in side-by-side testing against Copilot and GPT, banks consistently land on Claude.
• Provisioning matters as much as the technology. Lee walks through a real 2023 Snowflake breach caused by a bank skipping the Business Critical tier, and warns banks to lock down Claude the same way before employees start opening personal accounts.
• Lee's stated three-year moat is simply going deeper on Snowflake plus Anthropic than any other vendor serving community banks, packaged so it can be deployed with a single Terraform push.
• The clearest proof point: a sub-$300 million asset bank in Colorado with fewer than 50 employees now has data access that used to be reserved for banks in the $500 million to $5 billion range, entirely because of the Snowflake and Claude pairing.Key Topics and Timestamps:
00:00 How did a mountain biker and computer engineer end up in oil and gas?
00:32 What mentor connection led Lee to Vast Bank?
01:41 What gap did legacy core systems reveal?
02:52 How does a sponsor bank reconcile crypto custody transactions?
03:35 What does Identify actually do?
04:37 Why does it matter that FIS, Fiserv, and Jack Henry are moving to Snowflake and Google Cloud?
06:05 Why did community banks distrust the cloud, and what changed?
09:23 How did core providers build trust with skeptical CIOs?
10:07 Why go after sponsor banks and BaaS players first?
11:44 What does Identify's new Certified Anthropic Partner status mean?
13:31 What happens when a bank skips proper provisioning?
14:47 What should a CIO do to get AI-ready?
17:37 Where is the gap widening between banks using AI well and those that aren't?
21:23 Clean data or taking action: where's the real bottleneck?
26:31 What is Lee's three-year moat?
28:14 How is a sub-$300 million community bank in Colorado using Snowflake and Claude?
32:04 Where can you find Lee and Identify?
Notable Quotes
"We're a big Snowflake partner, so we do a lot of the infrastructure and warehousing through Snowflake. And then we're now an Anthropic partner, so we do a lot of the analytics, reporting, and usage of data through Claude." — Lee Easton
"If the cores do it, the banks are eventually going to have to, or they're going to start trusting it." — Lee Easton
"Employees are going to be setting up Anthropic accounts, and your job is just to make sure they do it through an enterprise. If they go set up personal accounts and run it on their machine, you're at risk." — Lee Easton
"Our anthropic relationship is the same thing we have with Snowflake. We started this path with Snowflake in 2022, we got a big client, we did a big Snowflake build. The same thing is happening with Claude." — Lee Easton
"Claude is really good at financial data, and that's what these banks have. Why even try to compete when you have something like Claude, best in class right now for natural language querying." — Lee Easton
"The moat is just Anthropic. We want to be a strong Anthropic partner, packaging Anthropic with Snowflake and Azure or AWS. That tech stack, we've built it, we developed it in Terraform, we can roll it out by pushing a button." — Lee Easton
"The CEO of a small community bank can explore a data set about his entire business. That's a game changer, because community banks are small businesses." — Lee Easton
Companies and People Mentioned
Snowflake, Anthropic, and Claude are the throughline of this episode. Also mentioned: Identify (goidentify.com), Vast Bank, ConocoPhillips, FIS, Fiserv, Jack Henry, Google Cloud, BigQuery, Databricks, Chime, Cash App, Q2/Banno, Eric Sprink, Verafin, Sardine, Virtus AI, Tyler Brantley, All-In Podcast
Links
• Identify: https://goidentify.com/
• Lee Easton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-easton-45073926/
• YouTube shorts• https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WS9pHgQh2c4
• https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-yqooD34A_gWant to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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28 min
Is Sterilizing Your Brand Voice Killing Your Credibility with Credit Unions?
Show notes
What does it take to actually break through in the credit union market? Kristin Marie has spent over a decade finding out.
Kristin most recently served at Curql, a mega fund that raised $360 million from credit unions to invest in fintech. In that role, she worked directly with founders and early-stage companies trying to figure out how to crack open a market that rewards trust, relationships, and preparation over pitch decks.
In this conversation, we get into the real reason most fintech brands stay invisible, why buttoned-up brand voice is costing companies deals, and how one hour a week of personal LinkedIn content can expand your reach for free. Kristin also breaks down the questions every fintech should be asking before they ever sit down with a credit union, and why the human element is the only thing separating brands that resonate from ones that blend in.
If your team is producing content that nobody cares about, or you're showing up to prospect conversations without a roadmap, this episode is the reset you need.
00:15 Common Mistakes in Fintech Marketing
01:35 The Importance of Authentic Storytelling
06:36 Legacy Challenges in Financial Services
09:17 Kristin's Background and Experience
10:47 Transforming Fintech Marketing Strategies
12:00 Engaging with C-Suite: The Art of Conversation
15:32 Leveraging LinkedIn for Brand Visibility
21:00 Rapid Fire Marketing Insights
25:21 Overcoming Marketing Challenges in FintechConnect with Kristin Marie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinmarieevans/
Watch Propagate Fintech Shorts: https://www.youtube.com/@PropagateFintech/shorts
More Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4K2ndKqibM0 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wKyNF6m1FiY
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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27 min
Can Fintech Fix What's Broken in Community Lending?
Show notes
CDFIs don't get nearly enough credit in the fintech conversation. They're filling a gap the traditional financial system either can't fill or won't, and they're doing it with cobbled-together technology that was never built for them. In this episode, Roland sits down with Kyle Lovell, Chief Lending Officer at Business Impact Northwest, for a ground-level look at how CDFIs actually operate, where they fit in the broader lending ecosystem, and why the technology gap inside these organizations is one of the most underexplored partnership opportunities in fintech right now.
Guest
Kyle Lovell, Chief Lending Officer, Business Impact Northwest businessimpactnw.org
What We Cover
• [0:00] What CDFIs are and how they fit into the financial ecosystem alongside banks, credit unions, and fintechs
• [3:22] Why CDFIs view themselves as a stepping stone, not a forever lender, and what that means for their bank and credit union partnerships
• [4:17] How CDFI underwriting differs from traditional lending, including approving borrowers with sub-600 credit scores by weighing the full picture rather than requiring strength across all five C's of credit
• [6:43] The speed problem: CDFIs personalize every loan decision, and that takes time. Where fintech can help close that gap
• [13:23] How Business Impact NW funds its loan portfolio without deposits, pulling from federal, state, and local grants alongside low-interest debt from banks and credit unions
• [15:57] The rise of guarantee programs and how they allow CDFIs to take on higher-risk borrowers without putting the organization at risk
• [21:11] Why merchant cash advances are, in Kyle's words, the scourge of her existence, and how they hide in underwriting if you're not looking for them
• [22:41] Cash flow underwriting as the next frontier: Business Impact NW is integrating Laser Credit with Salesforce to automate financial spreading and accelerate time-to-yes
• [24:28] The SBA microloan program: 40% of Business Impact NW's loan volume by count, the lowest rates they offer, and the most manual work in the portfolioResources and Links
Business Impact Northwest: businessimpactnw.org
Related Episodes
If this episode got your wheels turning, these are worth your time:
🎙️ Why Most Digital Transformation in Banking Fails | ICBA's Justin Dunmyer — CDFIs aren't the only ones struggling to modernize. Justin Dunmyer breaks down why transformation initiatives stall and what community banks are doing about it.
🎙️ Fintech PR Demystified: Costs, Relationships, and the AI Trap — If you're a fintech founder eyeing the CDFI space as a market opportunity, this one covers how to build credibility and get press without torching your budget or your reputation.
🎙️ Cringe Valley to Growth Engine: The Power of Video Content — Kyle mentioned wanting to get faster and more visible. This episode is about how fintech brands use video to build trust before a borrower or partner ever picks up the phone.
The Propagate Fintech Podcast is produced by Propagate, a fintech marketing, branding, and PR agency. propagatefintech.com | #fintechmarketing #bankingpodcast #fintechpodcast
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at https://www.propagatefintech.com/
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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45 min
Are Community Banks Too Late to the BNPL Party? A fintech marketing conversation with Jazzy Zhu, SVP of Marketing at Equipifi
Show notes
EPISODE OVERVIEW
Roland sits down with Jazzy Zhu, CMO of Equipifi, to dig into why community banks and credit unions are still leaving BNPL on the table, how Equipifi is helping them reclaim those dollars flowing to third-party lenders, and what it looks like to run bold, human-first marketing inside a regulated-industry startup. Jazzy also pulls back the curtain on Equipifi's fourth website build, their go-live marketing toolkit, and the philosophy she brings to every brand she touches: ban boring.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - The BNPL gap: why banks are missing out
02:05 - Equipifi's mission and who they serve
03:10 - Category creation as a marketing mindset
05:00 - How Equipifi shows up online (and has fun doing it)
10:30 - BNPL evolution: from checkout to full purchase journey
15:20 - The pre-approved, post-transaction experience
18:30 - Why institutions are slow to adopt, and why they shouldn't be
23:40 - 60-day go-lives and the marketing launch toolkit 28:48 - Website 4.0: the full story
34:25 - Why they dropped the bank vs. credit union pages
40:47 - Final take: how to stay a person in the age of AI content
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• An estimated 95% of BNPL transactions still run through fintech. Equipifi exists to change that for community banks and credit unions.
• Millions of dollars are leaving institutions every month to repay third-party BNPL loans. The data is sitting right there. Most banks just haven't looked.
• BNPL has evolved well beyond checkout. The real race now is owning the full pre-purchase to post-purchase journey, and financial institutions have a genuine opening to compete.
• Equipifi's go-live timeline can be as short as 30 to 60 days from first call to launch, including a custom-branded marketing toolkit they hand off to every new client.
• Jazzy's take on category marketing: your job isn't just to answer the question, it's to define the question. That's the whole game.
• On the website redesign: they ditched separate bank and credit union pages and let institutions self-select by use case instead. The product outgrew the old architecture.
• The "ban boring" rule isn't a tagline. It's a filter. If you have nothing new to say, saying nothing is better than adding noise.
• In B2B fintech, people buy from people. If they don't like you, product value won't save you, especially early stage.QUOTABLE MOMENTS
"My North Star as a marketer: if you've come in to say something, make sure you said it, and make sure you were not boring during it." — Jazzy Zhu
"If everybody is saying 'do you want to grow deposits?', it has no value and no meaning. You could have said nothing and that would have served you better." — Jazzy Zhu
"The end product should still be you. No matter how you get to that end goal, how do you stay you?" — Jazzy Zhu
TOPICS COVERED
Buy Now Pay Later, Community banks, Credit unions, Embedded finance, Category marketing, Brand strategy, Website redesign, Fintech marketing, Personal brand, Customer acquisition, Disintermediation, AI and content, Startup growth
CONNECT WITH JAZZY AND EQUIPIFI
Visit equipifi.com to learn more about their BNPL platform for financial institutions. Find Jazzy on LinkedIn and keep an eye out for the Equipifi team at industry events.
Other Episodes:
Clip 1: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9qZqDXlvMYw
Clip 2: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/O1iXwgEkEfg
Clip 3: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kisYKG2_qkw
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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31 min
The $124 Trillion Wealth Transfer Banks Aren't Ready For
Show notes
The $124 Trillion Opportunity Banks Are Sleeping On
$124 trillion is transferring from Baby Boomers to the next generation by 2048. And most banks and credit unions have no seat at that table. I sat down with Tobias Salinger, Chief Correspondent at Financial Planning magazine — sister publication to American Banker — to unpack the disintermediation risk, the wealth transfer opportunity, and the crawl, walk, run playbook for standing up a financial advising program.
Timestamps
0:00 — Welcome & Tobias's background at Financial Planning and American Banker
0:24 — How fintechs are chipping away at traditional banking relationships
1:03 — How serious is the disintermediation risk for banks and credit unions not offering financial planning?
2:21 — Why smaller institutions have fallen behind on wealth management
3:05 — The long-term commitment wealth management actually requires
4:15 — The advisor retention problem — and why golden handcuffs matter
5:07 — Why institutional financial advising relationships appeal to privacy-conscious customers
6:35 — How LPL, Cetera, Osaic, and Ameriprise are winning the third-party race
8:00 — The natural connection between deposits and wealth management
8:54 — The $124 trillion Baby Boomer wealth transfer — and whether banks are positioned to capture it
10:52 — The emotional and behavioral complexity of intergenerational wealth transfers
11:23 — Can a robust financial advising offering intercept the wealth transfer moment?
12:55 — Unpacking customer acquisition costs in wealth management
15:39 — The crawl, walk, run playbook for standing up a wealth management program
17:04 — What should you expect to pay for a financial advisor? Real numbers from Diamond Consultants
18:27 — Mr. Beast, financial influencers, and what banks and credit unions can learn
20:26 — The compliance challenge of partnering with financial influencers
21:55 — Why hiring young advisors might be your best first move
23:28 — Using influencers as a front door to traditional institutions
24:39 — The paradigm shift in talent management banks aren't ready for
26:17 — What Tobias is watching over the next 12 to 18 months
27:31 — Last question: a bank CEO walks up to you at a bar. What do you tell her?
29:11 — Where to follow Tobias and Financial Planning magazine
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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16 min
The silent executive problem: how fintech brands are losing trust before the first sales call
Show notes
Most fintech brands are pouring budget into pipeline — but their executives are completely absent from the places buyers are actually paying attention. Roland breaks down why executive thought leadership is one of the highest-leverage, lowest-cost growth levers available, shares real examples of fintech leaders doing it right, and delivers a three-speed content playbook any team can start using today.
Timestamps
[00:00] — The problem: your best asset is invisible Your senior leaders are having genuinely interesting conversations every day — with customers, prospects, and their teams — and nobody knows because it's not being shared publicly.
[01:15] — Who's doing it right: four fintech leaders worth watching
• Jason Weida (Candescent) — relatable, funny, posts hot takes as himself. The brand gets warmer every time he shows up.
• Brett King (Breaking Banks) — built the world's #1 fintech podcast, 7 million listeners, 180 countries. By being loud, opinionated, and everywhere.
• Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes) — sharp voice, real engagement, consistent cadence. People wait for his next post without realizing it.
• Ron Shevlin (Cornerstone Advisors / Forbes Fintech Snark Tank) — combines original research with humor. Proof you can be an executive, a researcher, and a personality at the same time.[03:10] — The stat that should wake everybody up 95% of B2B buyers are more receptive to outreach from companies whose executives publish thought leadership. (Edelman + LinkedIn research.) In fintech — where trust is everything and CAC is enormous — that is a competitive advantage.
[04:30] — The reframe: this is not about becoming an influencer Not about posting every day. Not about going viral. It's about building one simple, repeatable system that makes content feel like a business asset instead of a chore.
[05:15] — The playbook: crawl, walk, run
[05:30] — Crawl: one post, once a month One LinkedIn post per month on something you actually have an opinion about. Use this formula:
• Hook — stop the scroll with a specific moment or observation
• Your take — what do YOU actually think?
• Evidence — one stat, story, or example
• Takeaway — one thing to do or think differently[08:00] — Walk: expand your surface area Get on a podcast at least once a month — your own or someone else's. Run bi-weekly or monthly content syncs with your team. Engage within the first hour of every post going live. The LinkedIn algorithm is watching.
[10:45] — The repurposing flywheel: one post, five outputs
• Pull the strongest sentence → next week's post
• Main insight → newsletter paragraph
• Record a 60-second video riffing on the same topic
• Turn the takeaway into a question post
• Repeat — before you create anything new, ask: did I get everything out of what I already made?[13:00] — A note on ghostwriting Ghostwriting isn't cheating. Your competition is using it. The execs you admire are using it. A good ghostwriter pulls the ideas out of your head and shapes them into content that sounds exactly like you — with zero extra lift on your end.
[14:20] — Run: multi-voice, coordinated, on purpose Multiple people across your org posting consistently, connected to a single narrative. A content calendar built a month in advance with clear topics, clear ownership, and a predictable cadence. Active PR, media relationships, and stage time layered on top.
[16:00] — The executive voice capture system A monthly 20-minute recorded conversation. Three questions every time:
• What's one thing you observed in the market this month that surprised you?
• What's one thing a customer or prospect said that you keep thinking about?
• What's one thing the industry gets wrong that you see differently?Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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12 min
Fintech PR Demystified: Costs, Relationships, and the AI Trap
Show notes
PR is one of the most misunderstood and most expensive lines on a fintech marketing budget. In this episode of the Propagate Fintech Podcast, host Roland Howard pulls back the curtain on why PR costs what it costs, why AI alone can't carry a campaign across the finish line, and why so many founders write off PR after one underwhelming press release.
Roland walks through the real difference between marketing (what you control) and PR (what you earn), and explains why the engine that actually moves earned media is built on relationships and timing, not output volume. He shares how the best fintech teams stop running PR and marketing in parallel and start compounding them together, turning a single placement into a long tail of sales assets, social proof, and pipeline accelerants.
You'll also hear a candid breakdown of what you're really paying for when you hire a boutique B2B fintech PR agency at $5K to $15K a month: a network of editor and journalist relationships, the editorial judgment to know which stories will actually land, and the sustained effort it takes to keep a narrative alive. Then Roland tackles the AI question head on, including where it genuinely speeds up PR work and where it will quietly kill your credibility if you let it write your pitches.
Whether you're a fintech founder weighing your first PR retainer, a marketing leader trying to make the case internally, or a sales leader who wants to put earned media to work in your pipeline, this episode lays out a practical, honest framework for thinking about PR as a long term trust game rather than a quick paid play.
Chapters
• 00:00 Intro: Why PR Is Expensive and Where AI Falls Short
• 01:05 Marketing vs PR: The Control Line Most Teams Miss
• 02:30 The Press Release Trap: Why Your Big Announcement Flopped
• 04:00 Relationships and Timing: The Real Engine Behind PR
• 05:20 Stop Running PR and Marketing in Parallel
• 06:45 Turning One Placement Into a Long Tail of Marketing Assets
• 08:00 The PR Flywheel: When Coverage Generates More Coverage
• 09:15 What PR Actually Costs: $5K to $15K a Month, Explained
• 10:30 What You're Really Paying For: Relationships, Editorial Judgment, Sustained Effort
• 12:30 Why PR Is Not a Paid Media Buy
• 13:15 The Zeitgeist Test: Why AI Slop Will Sink Your Pitch
• 14:30 What AI Can't Do: Vibes, Favors, and Trust
• 15:45 The 18-Month Credibility Gap: A Thought Exercise
• 16:30 Outro: Crawl, Walk, Run Your Way Into PRWant to talk PR strategy or kick around ideas for your fintech? Reach out at https://PropagateFintech.com.
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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30 min
Elizabeth Warren Is Watching MrBeast's Step Acquisition | Cornerstone's Elizabeth Gujral
Episode 14
Show notes
MrBeast just acquired Step. Cash App is going after 6-year-olds. The creator economy is colliding with regulated banking — and Senator Elizabeth Warren is putting the whole space on notice.
In this episode, Roland sits down with Elizabeth Gujral, Director in the Research & Fintech Advisory (RAFA) practice at Cornerstone Advisors, to unpack what the MrBeast/Step deal really means for banks, credit unions, and fintechs. We get into who owns the outcome when an influencer-fronted fintech goes sideways, why "we're a community institution" is no longer a differentiator, and the practical playbook financial institutions need to build if they want to compete with SoFi, Chime, Brex, and Mercury for the next generation of customers.
Elizabeth also shares fresh findings from Cornerstone's SoFi research — including the surprising channels SoFi members say they actually heard about the brand from — and explains why short-form content, micro-influencer trust, and a real tech stack now matter more than a logo on the local soccer jersey.Chapters:
00:00 Cash App targeting 6–12 year olds & the race to the bottom of age
01:40 MrBeast acquires Step — the 8,000-pound elephant in fintech
03:13 Banking-as-a-service meets the creator economy: who owns the bad outcome?
04:06 Elizabeth Warren's letter and putting the creator-fintech stack on notice
05:35 Are banks becoming commoditized rails behind the brands?
07:09 What a sponsor bank actually does (and where it gets messy)
08:42 Elizabeth's role at Cornerstone & the RAFA team
11:44 How banks and credit unions should rethink partnerships and distribution
13:13 Inside the SoFi research: how members actually find them
14:47 The "influencer trust funnel" and why micro-influencers matter for community FIs
16:04 Where the attention is: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts
17:03 Why social media without the tech stack behind it is "lipstick on a pig"
20:24 The biggest theme in fintech research right now: growth
22:42 Why "our people and our customer service" is no longer a differentiator
23:58 Treasury, small business, and the ERP integration gap
26:50 Fiserv core consolidation — good thing or bad thing?
28:09 Why Cornerstone research isn't a sales fluff piece
28:46 Where to follow Elizabeth, Ron Shevlin, and Cornerstone
Guest
Elizabeth Gujral — Director, Research & Fintech Advisory (RAFA), Cornerstone Advisors
Follow Elizabeth and Ron Shevlin on LinkedIn for Cornerstone's latest research and Forbes columns.
#fintech #banking #MrBeast #creditunions #communitybanking #SoFi #influencermarketing #embeddedfinance #BaaSWant to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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35 min
How Community Banks Can Beat Big Banks Right Now
Show notes
Christian Ruppe joins the show to break down his transition from community banking into his new role as Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at ImpactFi Advisors.
We cover where banks are actually winning, what fintech founders get wrong, and how strategy, AI, and data are reshaping the industry. Christian also shares insights from launching the Perch Fund and how he evaluates fintech investments.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro + career transition
02:00 – From founder to banker to advisor
05:00 – Most underrated growth levers in banking
07:30 – Why small business is a massive opportunity
09:00 – Inside the Perch Fund
11:00 – How to evaluate fintech investments
21:20 – Biggest mistakes fintech founders make
26:05 – What content bankers actually need
27:50 – Tactical growth: fixing Google reviews
32:00 – What’s next for ChristianIf you'd like to explore coming on the show, go to propagatefintech.com and submit a contact form with your thoughts.
Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com
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