Founding Fintech podcast mini series: From Capital One to QED

Founding Fintech is a three-part podcast series about the beginning of fintech and the early stages of financial technology as it transitioned from traditional banking into its digital transformation as we know it today.

In this series, we follow the journey and growth of Capital One, arguably the first modern fintech, and QED Investors, a top global fintech VC firm, through the experience of Nigel Morris, co-founder of both Capital One and QED Investors.

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Listen to all three episodes of Founding Fintech here

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Hear from industry veterans including:

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Don Berman, chairman and CEO, CardWorks

Matt Cooper, former consultant at Strategic Planning Associates, and senior vice president at Capital One.

Matt Harris, partner, Bain Capital

Shane Holdaway, CEO, Mission Lane

David Hunt, private investor and former senior executive vice president at Signet Bank

Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners

Moshe Orenbuch, managing director, Credit Suisse

Frank Rotman, chief information officer, QED Investors

Tim Spence, CEO, Fifth Third Bank

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Episode 1: From sleepy regional bank to the creation of Capital One

In this first episode, we'll follow the journey of Nigel, getting his first job as a consultant and have that transition into him becoming a co-founder of Capital One. Like most founders, it's not a linear journey. It's one met with challenges and overcoming the enormous blockade of status quo of an industry. Today, fintech founders enjoyed plenty of infrastructures that allowed them to spin up a company in months. In the 1980s, there wasn't much infrastructure at all. Everything was built from scratch and everything was difficult.

Episode 2 – From Capital One to QED Investors

In order for Nigel to transition out of Capital One and into the next chapter of his life where he ended up becoming a co-founder of QED investors, he needed to find himself. When a founder creates a company, they become fixated on building it into the best it can be. In this episode, Nigel describes how hard it was to leave Capital One, but why it was one of the defining moments of his career.

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Episode 3: QED Investors and the future of fintech

In this episode we'll follow Nigel's creation of QED Investors, essentially his transition from fintech founder to fintech VC. It's difficult to transition from operator to investor, but Nigel turned his operating experience into one of QED's greatest assets -- investors with operating experience. When Capital One was created, it was the perfect storm: timing, market conditions, plus everything else aligned to make it possible. Well, it turns out that his operating experience at Capital One positioned him perfectly for the second perfect storm in fintech.

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