Scott Robinson Founder/VP Plug and Play FinTech, the financial technology focused startup innovation platform in partnership with BNP Paribas, Santander, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, TD Bank, Sberbank, USAA, Mitsubishi, Capital One, Sumitomo, Intuit and many more global financial institutions. Since the launch of the program in February 2015, Scott and his team have accelerated over 90 FinTech startups and has led numerous investments into the domain. Scott has worked with Plug and Play, a global startup accelerator headquartered in Silicon Valley, for the past three years managing a number of FinTech, Blockchain, and Bitcoin-related initiatives. Additionally, Scott is the founder of Plug and Play Bitcoin, the co-organizer of the world’s oldest Bitcoin Meetup and founder of the first nationally syndicated Bitcoin Job Fair. Prior to joining Plug and Play, Scott worked in various roles with a number of early stage startups where he led fundraising, product development and marketing activities. Scott graduated from UCLA in 2008, where he received his B.A. in History.
Interviews
Dion Lisle, Vice President, Head FinTech Capgemini #fintechB2B
Dion Lisle, VP/Head FinTech Capgemini is a seasoned FinTech executive that has been in the space since before it was called FinTech. Lisle started working with banks by developing Go To Market plans for complex security solutions that allowed e-signatures on wholesale bank transactions. Dion has been on both sides of the table and has worked for the largest bank and the largest payment processor in the world, Citibank and First Data respectively. In both companies he was an early member of their Venture and Innovation teams and has evaluated over 500 startups in the past 8 years. He has also invested in about 20 startups almost exclusively in the FinTech arena. Lisle has also been in FinTech startups and was involved in the earliest mobile payment efforts through Obopay. Dion leads the newly formed FinTech business unit at Capgemini where he is working to connect Silicon Valley’s best FinTech startups to Capgemini’s largest bank and FI clients to deliver innovative solutions.
Ken Kruszka, CEO SnapCheck #fintechB2B
Ken Kruszka, CEO SnapCheck, is a FinTech and Mobile Payments pioneer, who holds the distinction of being the first person to send $1 around the world by mobile. In addition to being an accomplished executive, leader, and entrepreneur, Ken also advises early-stage companies looking to establish product-market fit and accelerate growth on a global scale. Ken leads SnapCheck in revolutionizing business-to-business payments: eliminating $50 Billion in costs, removing $20 Billion in fraud. Previously, as EVP of Product and Service Delivery, Ken Kruszka drove Boom’s strategic product vision and roadmap, as well as their realization through the creation of industry-leading mobile financial products and services. In his role, Ken led the product management, product development, service delivery, and information technology organizations.
Adam Draper, BoostVC #fintechinvestment
Adam Draper Founder/Managing Director Boost VC. Adam is a 2x entrepreneur and a 4th generation venture capitalist. In 2009, the same year that Adam graduated from UCLA, he founded Xpert Financial, a secondary market for private securities. After settling millions of dollars in private security transactions and becoming a registered broker dealer, he left Xpert Financial in late 2012 and began angel investing, where he backed such startups as Coinbase, Plangrid and Earnest. Currently his portfolio of investments is valued at more than $1.5B. Adam then partnered up with Brayton Williams and to change the face of global startup mentorship. The focus of Boost VC on future technology development stems from Adam Draper’s dream to create an Iron Man suit.