Wrapping up Money2020

What a crazy busy week, packed with meetings at and outside the Money2020 event. Thank you all! It was great to see you all in the flesh and I hoped you all enjoyed Amsterdam despite some rain drops now and then ??.

I would also like to thank all of you that replied to my request for LATAM FinTech news sources. Rest assured, I’ll share more news from Latin America on LinkedIn and on my LATAM Newsletter than ever before! So stay tuned for insightful updates??

Aside from LATAM, I want to learn more about the FinTech space in the APAC region. Are you, or do you know people who can help me source FinTech news from that region? Please do let me know, shoot me a message or email!

And last but not least, I’d like to shine a light on one of the best FinTech journalists out there: Mary Ann Azevedo.

I have been avidly reading Mary Ann’s articles for a while now, and I’m honored to interview her. She was happy to answer a few questions although at first replied with: “I am not used to being the one that is interviewed” ??

Also, she recently launched her TechCrunch FinTech newsletter, The Interchange. I highly recommend following Mary Ann on LinkedIn and signing up for the newsletter here

Here is the Q&A:

Hi, there.

Today it’s my pleasure to present our latest Q&A with one of the best FinTech journalists out there,?Mary Ann Azevedo.

Before we get started I have two suggestions:

1. Sign up for her newsletter?The Interchange?here.

1. Follow her on?LinkedIn?here.

Mary Ann Azevedo is a Senior Reporter at?TechCrunch?with 20+ years as a journalist. She has worked for?Crunchbase News,?Silicon Valley Business Journal,?and?Forbes. She writes about startups and venture, with an emphasis on fintech coverage.

So, without further ado, let’s dive right in:

How and when did you get into the FinTech space?

As a reporter at Crunchbase News from 2017 to 2020, I covered a little bit of everything so that was my first exposure to fintech. In the summer of 2020, I helped launch a new fintech-focused publication called FinLedger as Managing Editor. During that time, I became immersed in the world of fintech and haven’t looked back since.

Looking at the impressive amount of quality articles you publish daily, you must love your work. What makes you so enthusiastic about FinTech? And do you have specific fintech segments (payments, open banking, digital banking, insurtech?) you like the most??

I do love my job, and I realize how lucky I am to be able to say that. Besides working with incredibly smart and kind people, fintech is a very dynamic beat – especially these days.

I am most interested in financial services technology that has an inclusion component and opens up access to things like credit, savings, etc…that may not have previously been available to people all over the world.

Not to be rude, I am less interested in tech that helps make the already wealthy even wealthier.

As a well-known journalist, your mailbox must be swamped with startups that want a highlight in your articles, isn’t it? Do you work mainly on inbound press releases or do you also source the news for a good story?

Yes, I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: managing my inbox is by far the most stressful part of the job. Far more stressful than interviewing and writing. It can be hard to cut through the noise. In my early days, I tried to respond to every pitch! I soon realized that would be impossible if I wanted to have any kind of life outside of work and actually have time to write quality stories. Articles are a mix of inbound and original reporting.

The biggest tip I have for people is to pitch in advance of when the news is coming out as possible. I literally book up weeks in advance on embargoed news and I have to leave time for breaking news etc... When people pitch, my suggestion is to highlight the most interesting aspects of the news in the subject line and sum up in a paragraph or two: what the news is, why it is significant, who is involved and how the company or news is different/unique.

Exclusives are nice but just because someone is offering an exclusive, doesn't mean I will want to cover the news. Above all, I appreciate transparency on the part of the people pitching. Please don't pitch me news that you're letting another pub pitch hours earlier.?

We talked about the fact that your work as a journalist about FinTech startups has a lot of similarities to investors in these startups. You also need to validate if this is worth your effort/investment. What’s one question you ask yourself before writing about a company? OR What do you look for in a FinTech startup before you decide to write about them?

One of the problems of the funding boom last year is that it began to be difficult to tell companies in the same space apart.

I really look for companies whose founders have interesting/nontraditional backgrounds or origin stories and where the technology feels unique or different from the plethora of other companies in the space I may have covered or read about. Quality of investors matter and OF COURSE, actual revenue numbers and figures always stand out.

Not just percentage of revenue growth but actual numbers. If not, percentage of revenue growth at minimum is a must. We rarely cover partnerships unless they involve very high-profile companies and rarely cover personnel matters unless it’s a high-profile change or person involved.

Which are the FinTech trends to watch out for in the next 6-18 months?

There is so much happening in the buy now, pay later space as well as in spend management so it will be really interesting to see how the competition in those spaces plays out.

I think we’ll see more consolidation and also higher expectations/more due diligence on the part of investors, so fewer funding rounds and way fewer crazy spikes in valuation in a short amount of time. I think we'll see fewer neobanks emerge.

There are so many and not all have a compelling enough of a differentiator to stand out.

What’s on your bookshelf/ reading list?

I spend so much of my workday reading and writing about “serious” topics that I like to read fiction such as thrillers in my free time. I love to read. I can’t fall asleep at night without reading.

What’s one interesting thing most people won’t know about you?

I don’t think I’m that interesting, really! I don’t know?? I grew up in North Carolina. And oh, I’m not of Latin descent despite my name. My husband is.

Also, I would add to this that pitches really need to be interesting. If they make my eyes glaze over or I still can't understand what a company does after reading them, I'll delete!

Read more about?Mary Ann?here?and check out her latest articles on?TechCrunch?here.