I’ve seen a lot of waves in my career. The dot-com boom, the mobile explosion, the rise of SaaS. But what’s happening right now at the intersection of Open Banking and AI feels different. It’s not just a wave. It’s a perfect storm.
I remember back in the early days of RemoteTeam, we were trying to build a global payroll system. The sheer complexity of dealing with different banks, different regulations, different data formats—it was a nightmare. We spent countless hours and a small fortune just trying to get basic access to financial data. It was like trying to build a skyscraper on quicksand.
Now, with Open Banking, the floodgates are opening. For the first time, we have standardized, secure APIs to access financial data. It’s the plumbing. The foundational layer that we’ve been missing for decades. And when you pour the incredible power of AI into that plumbing, you get a cambrian explosion of innovation.
The End of Dumb Money
For too long, our financial lives have been fragmented and, frankly, dumb. Your checking account doesn’t talk to your investment portfolio. Your credit card has no idea what’s in your savings. You’re left to manually stitch everything together, trying to make sense of a dozen different apps and statements. It’s a part-time job nobody wants.
I’ve made over 200 angel investments, and I’ve seen this problem up close. Startups are trying to solve little pieces of the puzzle, but they’re all working with one hand tied behind their back. They don’t have the data. They can’t see the whole picture.
Open Banking changes that. It gives us a holistic view of our financial lives. And AI is the brain that can make sense of it all. It can see patterns we can’t, identify opportunities we miss, and automate the tedious tasks that we all hate.
Think about it. What if your bank could proactively tell you that you’re about to overdraft and move money from your savings to cover it, automatically? What if your investment app could analyze your spending habits and suggest a personalized portfolio that aligns with your values and your risk tolerance? What if you could get a loan in minutes, not weeks, because the lender has a complete, real-time picture of your financial health?
This isn’t science fiction. This is happening right now. And it’s going to change everything.
The New Breed of Financial Products
We’re already seeing the first generation of products built on this new foundation. And they’re just the beginning.
Hyper-Personalized Banking: Forget generic advice and one-size-fits-all products. With Open Banking and AI, your bank can become a true financial partner. It can analyze your income, spending, and savings to give you personalized recommendations that actually make sense for you. It can help you negotiate better rates on your bills, find a higher-yield savings account, and even optimize your tax strategy. This is the end of the cookie-cutter bank and the beginning of a truly personal financial experience.
Algorithmic Trading for Everyone: For years, algorithmic trading was the exclusive domain of hedge funds and high-frequency traders. But with Open Banking and AI, it’s becoming accessible to everyone. I’m an investor in companies like Anthropic and Scale AI, and I’ve seen firsthand how powerful these technologies can be. Now, imagine that power in the hands of everyday investors. Robo-advisors are just the start. We’re going to see a new generation of tools that can analyze market data, identify trends, and execute trades on your behalf, all based on your personal risk profile and financial goals. It’s like having a team of Wall Street quants in your pocket.
Smarter Risk Management: One of the biggest challenges in finance is managing risk. For lenders, it’s the risk of default. For investors, it’s the risk of a market crash. For businesses, it’s the risk of fraud. AI is a powerful tool for managing all of these risks. By analyzing vast amounts of data, AI can identify patterns that signal potential problems long before they happen. For example, an AI-powered fraud detection system can spot a suspicious transaction in real-time and block it before any money is lost. A smart lending platform can analyze a borrower’s entire financial history to make a more accurate assessment of their creditworthiness, reducing the risk of default and making it possible to offer loans to people who would have been rejected by traditional credit scoring models.
The Road Ahead
Of course, it’s not all going to be smooth sailing. There are still plenty of challenges to overcome. We need to make sure that data is secure and private. We need to build trust with consumers. And we need to make sure that these new technologies are used responsibly.
But I’m an optimist. I’ve seen what happens when you give smart people the right tools. They build amazing things. And that’s what’s happening in finance right now. The combination of Open Banking and AI is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a financial system that is smarter, fairer, and more personal for everyone.
I’m putting my money where my mouth is. I’m actively investing in startups that are building at the intersection of Open Banking and AI. I believe that this is where the next generation of unicorns will come from. And I can’t wait to see what they build.
The future of finance is not about bigger banks or more complex financial products. It’s about using technology to empower people. It’s about giving them the tools they need to make smarter decisions with their money. And it’s about creating a financial system that works for everyone, not just the 1%.
The storm is here. And it’s going to be a wild ride.
Frequently Asked Questions
What experience informs this perspective?
This perspective comes from over a decade of building companies in Silicon Valley, two successful exits (RemoteTeam to Gusto, MovieLaLa to Gfycat), and investing in 200+ startups including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Scale AI. I write about what I've lived.
How can I apply this thinking to my own situation?
Start by identifying the core principle behind the opinion, not the specific example. Then ask yourself: does this principle apply to my context? If yes, test it in a small, low-risk way before going all in.
What's the most common pushback you get on this?
People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.