Well, what do you cover then?

The tech, systems, and people that run Wall Street.

Me and a coverage banker discussing thesis over coffee at Urbanspace Vanderbilt (circa 2019, colorized)

Banker: "We're about to come to market with a game-changing cross-border payments solution that will revolutionize how businesses transact globally--"

Me: "Oh, actually my team doesn't cover payments."

Banker: "Well, let me tell you about this exciting rent-to-own platform that's disrupting the real estate industry--"

Me: "Actually, we don't really do B2C or proptech either."

Banker: "Hmm, I see. Well, what do you cover then?"

Me: "If it's a fintech solution that sells into financial institutions, then my team will definitely take a look."

Banker: "Ah, got it. So, something like insuretech perhaps?"

Me: "No, not quite. We're focused on the Wall Street Fintech.”

---

As with all good origin stories, I fell into fintech by chance. Two of my buddies from UVA had graduated and joined Evercore as banking analysts. They helped me get an internship, and I spent a summer spreading comps advising fintech companies on M&A. Shortly thereafter, I got a tech private equity job at Warburg Pincus and was promptly assigned to the fintech prospecting effort. Fast forward 3.5 years, and I’ve jumped ship for entrepreneurship. Soon I’ll be launching a fintech startup in the private credit space. More on that later.

While at Warburg Pincus, my coverage area was oddly defined — although I was on the “fintech” team, I didn’t look at payments, insuretech, b2c fintech, proptech, or any another other category that gets coverage on TechCrunch. Those were either “off thesis” or covered by a different team. When I started having conversations with folks in the industry, I defined my focus as “software and data providers selling solutions to financial institutions,” but that didn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Amongst friends I’d say “all the fintech companies that Silicon Valley VCs pass on,” but at conferences I’d go with capital markets tech, b2b fintech, or sometimes NYC fintech.

The one that really stuck was Wall Street Fintech.

If a company sold into a Wall Street firm, it was on my radar. This flavor of fintech includes things like:

• Order and execution management systems for multi-asset managers

• Investment accounting software for fixed income investors

• Data and analytics for distressed debt and high yield bond traders

• Development platforms for quants at investment banks

• GP/LP reporting software for private equity funds

• Fundamental research tools for long/short hedge funds

• Reconciliation software for broadly syndicated loans

• White-labeled custody and clearing solutions for equities

Do these categories sound interesting to you? Probably not, and that’s okay. This blog won’t be for you. If you’re looking for weekly recaps on what’s going on in fintech, this blog also won’t be for you.

This blog is for the software engineer who likes The Big Short; the hedge fund analyst who plays with ChatGPT; the fintech VC who wants to venture into the unsexy; the crypto degen who is looking for a use case; the CS wiz who chose AQR over FAANG; the PE associate who got assigned “fintech.” This blog is for folks like me who are interested in the tech, systems, and people that run Wall Street.

I’m not sure how often I’ll write, or how my style will unfold, but that’s okay. Subscribe and we’ll figure it out together.