Work in Fintech

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Fintech

07/09/2026

Story of Blockchain.com

24/08/2026

Who wins?

21/08/2026

Comment "Betsy" for full conversation

18/08/2026

Comment "Betsy" for full podcast

14/08/2026

Stop overthinking. Just do it.

(ft. Christian Nentwich, Work in Fintech AI Summit 2025)

P.S. The Work in Fintech AI Summit is happening this August, bringing together some of the biggest names in fintech and AI.

💥 Friday 28th August | NatWest Conference Centre, London💥

Hear from leaders at OpenAI, NatWest, ClearBank, Payabl., ipushpull, Allica Bank, Atom Bank, MarketAxess, PrimaryBid, Sprive, 10x Banking, with more speakers to be announced.

Register now: https://luma.com/li0y99vu

13/08/2026

Who’s actually winning in the AI era

(ft. Christian Nentwich, Work in Fintech AI Summit 2025)

11/08/2026

WIF AI Summit 2026 is Back

Register Now
https://luma.com/li0y99vu

Special thank you to elite partners , and Ipushpull

08/08/2026

If this doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will.

07/08/2026

Starling is one of the greatest founder stories in Fintech.

The bank was founded in 2014 by Anne Boden, who was 54, had just quit her job as COO of Allied Irish Banks, and decided to build a bank from scratch.

She pitched around 300 investors. Most said no.

She sold her weekend home in Swansea to keep the company alive.
Then in February 2015 her CTO and four other directors walked out, and went off to found Monzo.

No team. No money. No licence.

Then came the break.

Later in 2015 she was invited to the Bahamas by Harald McPike, founder of the quantitative investment manager QuantRes.

She pitched him on board his yacht and convinced him to back her.

She walked away with a $70m investment. The single investment that gave

Starling the firepower to launch.

300 rejections. One yes.
She got the banking licence in 2016 and launched.
Fast forward to May 2026 and Starling has just posted its 5th consecutive year of profitability:

🚀 £217.1m Profit Before Tax
🚀 £887.4m Group Revenue
🚀 6.2m platform accounts (up from 5.3m)
🚀 £12.7bn customer deposits

And that's not all.

Starling is the first UK challenger bank to hit five straight profitable years. The group is now led by Raman Bhatia, with Anne having stepped down as CEO in 2023.

The lesson isn't "age doesn't matter." It's the opposite. Thirty years of knowing exactly how banks break is precisely why she could build one.

30/07/2026

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