Hi, there!
I’d like to share with you my latest Q&A with Jon Lear, President and Co-Founder of Fintech Meetup--fintech’s big new Q1 event (March 19-22, at the Aria, Las Vegas).
With over 15 years of experience as a fintecher turned banker turned event entrepreneur, Jon is a fintech OG. Jon Co-Founded Fintech Meetup which is revolutionizing fintech events. If you’re in fintech, you need to be at Fintech Meetup!
Check out our Q&A below 👇
How did you get into fintech?
I started my career as a brand manager at P&G marketing big brands like Pampers diapers and Tide soap powder. After 6 years I got the entrepreneurial itch and discovered this small cross-border payments company in London called Earthport. I was immediately captivated about the impact that the combination of payments and technology would have on businesses and consumers around the world. Our biggest untapped opportunity was the U.S. market so I packed a bag, bought a one-way ticket and moved to NYC to set-up the Americas for Earthport in 2007. Over the next 8 years some of the world’s biggest banks, ecommerce platforms and remittance companies used our global payment rails. In the early days of fintech, we helped some of the world’s biggest organizations to think differently about using partnerships to create new capabilities and services more quickly. Visa acquired Earthport and it became a core part of the Visa Direct offering.
From fintech to banking - why the move?
I was recruited by J.P. Morgan in 2017 to run the global fintech partnerships and network group. Our mission was to radically transform the banks payment rails to support as many new payment types (like real-time, cards, wallets) and deliver a substantial growth of our geographical network coverage. Historically, local in-country branch networks had been seen as a major competitive advantage for global banks and largely cost prohibitive to replicate. Within 2-3 years, fintech completely negated this legacy advantage. Assembling a global network of partnerships with best-of-breed fintechs gave us global scale quickly at a fraction of the cost. This is the transformative power of fintech.
How did you end up in the fintech events space?
Like everyone in fintech, banking and payments, my teams would go to all of the industry events with the goal of meeting as many partners, customers and prospects as possible. But this was a hugely frustrating experience. We’d joke that traditional event organizers would spend 51 weeks of the year getting everyone to come to a fabulous venue for 3 days and then say “good luck, you’re on your own”. This is absolutely crazy!
At the same time, fintech has completely exploded over the last 10 years. When I started in the industry there were perhaps 30 categories of solutions that people might look to source and partner around. Now there are 130+ categories of solutions and it’s growing all the time. All these solutions are deeply interconnected. It’s not as simple as saying “I need a merchant acquiring solution for Asia, who can give it to me?” You’re going to have to assemble a suite of partners covering everything from risk management, KYC/AML, reporting & analytics, dispute resolution and disbursement rails as a minimum.
Fintech is like no other industry in the world - it’s a huge ecosystem where everyone has to come together to work together. For the industry to truly advance and deliver the next big wave of innovation, you’ve got to make it easy for everyone to connect at scale across the whole industry for every imaginable use case. Which is why I partnered with Anil Aggarwal (who previously created Money2020 and Shoptalk) to launch Fintech Meetup in 2021.
What is Fintech Meetup and why are you so excited about it?
Fintech Meetup is the future of fintech events and it’s the industry’s big new Q1 show that everyone is buzzing about. Fintech Meetup isn’t just another event, it’s an entirely new format powered by technology which makes it 100x better. Here’s how:
● Tech. We’ve got the world’s best tech platform to connect attendees in ways they’ve never been connected before. We’ll facilitate more than 30,000 double opt-in in-person meetings for new leads, prospects, funding opportunities, announcements, etc. Our tech works and the proof is in the pudding: The past 2 Fintech Meetups (which were virtual) facilitated over 50,000+ meetings.
● Q1 Event. We’ll bring the biggest and best fintech community together in Q1 to jumpstart your year. A comprehensive Q1 event was missing from the events calendar - until now! You’ll condense months of business meetings into just 3 days right at the start of the year!
● Measurable ROI. Every organization and individual who invests the time going to events deserves to know what they got out of their participation. Imagine having your calendar stacked with meetings of all the people you want to meet and who want to meet you before you even board your flight to Fintech Meetup. It’s incredible and just one way that we ensure everyone gets results and ROI.
When I think back to my career as a fintech operator and banker, Fintech Meetup would have had a dramatic impact on our results - we’d have been able to achieve so much more, much more quickly and at much lower cost. The impact Fintech Meetup is already having on bringing the industry together is immense. And we’re only getting started.
How can people join Fintech Meetup?
Fintech Meetup takes place March 19-22 at the Aria, Las Vegas. The last day to register and participate in 30,000+ meetings is February 24, and this is something you don’t want to miss. Fintech Meetup has partnered with Marcel and readers can sign up using this link. Don’t delay!
What’s one interesting thing most people won’t know about you?
I completed the New York Triathlon in 2013. Two days later, I discovered I’d done the whole event on a broken hip. Ouch!
One piece of tech you’d recommend to anyone
The Remarkable 2 tablet. One of the coolest pieces of non-distracting tech I’ve ever used. It’s a must for anyone who likes to write.