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Matt Brown is the author of 'Matt Brown's Notes', a Substack publication that features occasional notes on tech and investing, with a focus on fintech and vertical software.

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Fintech's competitive edge lies in financial services and regulatory relationships, not just software, as AI reshapes the industry's landscape.
The future of enterprise software hinges on enhancing context graphs, with vertical software companies poised to leverage their specialized data models for improved decision-making.
Risk in financial services is transformed rather than eliminated, and successful fintechs leverage technology to manage new forms of risk effectively.
The text discusses the critical role of a startup's data model in achieving product-market fit, emphasizing that it serves as the foundational element connecting the product and market. It explains how a data model shapes various ...
The blog post discusses the rise of embedded fintech within vertical software companies, highlighting how these companies are integrating financial services into their platforms to better serve specific customer segments. It empha...
The text discusses the emergence of vertical software companies and the shift in strategies of venture capital and private equity firms. It explores the new models that mix code and capital to improve businesses and generate retur...
The text discusses the emergence of vertical AI and its impact on the software stack. It explains the evolution of the classic software stack and the latest evolution into vertical software (vSaaS). It also delves into the challen...
The text discusses the concept of stablecoins, comparing them to railway systems and explaining their value and utility. It explores the different use cases of stablecoins and how they are created and used.
The text provides an overview of cross-border payments, explaining the challenges and solutions involved in moving money between parties in different countries. It covers four methods of cross-border payments: correspondent bankin...
The text discusses the importance of payments in vertical software companies, emphasizing that integrating payments is just the tip of the iceberg and real success requires more than product and engineering work. It highlights the...
The text discusses the trend of vertical software companies combining with financial products, leading to the evolution of a more vertically focused, multi-product, and multi-business-model approach called 'Vertical X.' The author...
The text discusses the evolution of vertical software, from the first generation of verticalized point solutions to the current model of startups offering bundled software and embedded financial services. It explains the Red Queen...
The text discusses the challenges faced by fintech companies in the financial services market, emphasizing the importance of understanding and pricing risk. It explains the different approaches fintechs take towards risk and provi...
Matt Brown has led a $20M Series A investment into Rainforest, enabling software platforms to offer and monetize embedded payment experiences. He believes that payments will be the business model of software in the future, especia...
The text explains real-time payments (RTP) and how they work, the history of payment networks, and the factors that have catalyzed the growth of RTPN. It also discusses the implications of RTPN and how they have impacted the finan...
The article discusses the increasing popularity of open source in the fintech industry, and how it is being monetized. It explains the open-source model, its advantages, and where it is best applied. The text also compares the mod...
The post discusses the trends of vertical software and embedded fintech, and presents a data-driven study of how vertical SaaS companies adopt embedded fintech. The author gathered a list of several hundred vertical software compa...
The text is an interview with Michel Rbeiz, Toast's GM of Fintech. Michel talks about his background, the history of Toast, the company's products, and the use of AI in the company.
The text discusses the impact of language and metaphors on startups, particularly the use of 'X for Y' and 'with AI' patterns. It emphasizes the importance of focusing on the problem being solved rather than the technology used, a...
The text discusses the evolution of payment facilitators (payfacs) and Payfac-as-a-Service (PFaaS) model, which have revolutionized the card payment network, making it more accessible and valuable. It explains how payfacs aggregat...

0Dark software

2024-01-23

The last decade's playbook for building startups is breaking down, particularly in SaaS and fintech. Founders need a new playbook to create winning startups. The new model for startups will be that of 'dark software': combining fi...
The text discusses the financial services market, its core products and value propositions, and the strategy of successful fintech companies over the last decade. It highlights the importance of accessibility and cost in financial...
The text discusses the concept of 'hedgehog or fox' and its application to business and investing. It explains the importance of the 'why now' question in business and investing, and how new capabilities and market shocks play a r...
The text explains why B2B payments is a ghost market and where the real opportunities exist. It discusses the misconception that payments are the problem, when in fact, the workflows and data that precede the payment are the real ...