I've been investing in AI companies since before it was cool. fintech ai is tearing banks apart is the thing that separates winners from losers.
I'm seeing a feeding frenzy in finance. Small, smart fintech startups are using AI to pick off the most profitable parts of big banks. I'm breaking down how they're doing it, one service at a time. This is what's actually happening on Wall Street.
What I've Learned From 116 Companies
After investing in 200+ startups and running two companies to successful exits, I've developed a pretty clear picture of what works with fintech ai is tearing banks apart.
The biggest misconception is that you need to the data tells a different story than your gut. That's backwards. The companies that win are the ones that you need to move fast and break things.
I remember sitting with the Anthropic team early on and discussing how they thought about fintech ai is tearing banks apart. Their approach was counterintuitive but brilliant.
The Reality Nobody Talks About
Most people approach fintech ai is tearing banks apart with assumptions that made sense five years ago. The world has moved on. When I look at my portfolio companies, the ones that succeed are doing something fundamentally different.
The first thing to understand is that you should focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well. I've seen this play out across dozens of companies. The pattern is unmistakable.
At RemoteTeam, we learned this the hard way. We spent months going down the wrong path before realizing that your team matters more than your technology. Once we made the switch, everything changed.
The Counterintuitive Truth
Here's what surprised me most about fintech ai is tearing banks apart: the best practitioners do less, not more.
When I was building MovieLaLa, we tried to do everything at once. We had the best technology, the smartest team, and we still almost failed because we spread ourselves too thin.
The lesson I took from that experience, and from watching hundreds of other companies, is that most founders overthink this and underspend on execution. It sounds simple. It's incredibly hard to execute.
What I Tell Founders
When a founder in my portfolio asks me about fintech ai is tearing banks apart, I usually start with three questions:
- What's your timeline? Because the right approach for a company with 6 months of runway is very different from one with 3 years.
- What have you already tried? Most founders have tried something. Understanding what didn't work is often more valuable than knowing what might.
- Who on your team owns this? If the answer is "everyone" or "no one," that's your first problem to solve.
These questions seem simple but they reveal a lot about where a company actually stands.
This connects to broader themes around fintech AI, AI risk management, AI trading, AI fraud detection that I've been thinking about a lot lately.
Final Thoughts
After two exits, 200+ investments, and more mistakes than I can count, here's what I know for sure about fintech ai is tearing banks apart: there are no shortcuts, but there are smarter paths.
The smartest founders I work with treat fintech ai is tearing banks apart as a competitive advantage, not a checkbox. They invest in it early, measure it obsessively, and never stop improving.
If you're just getting started with fintech ai is tearing banks apart, don't be intimidated. Everyone starts somewhere. The key is to start with the right mindset and the right framework, and then execute like your company depends on it. Because it probably does.
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.
Do all experts agree with this view?
No, and that's fine. The best ideas in business are often contrarian. I share my perspective based on my experience and data, but I encourage you to seek out opposing viewpoints and form your own conclusions.
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.