At Core we’ve been getting more and more excited about insurance – not too worry, we’re not becoming actuaries anytime soon – and the potential for start-ups to disrupt that incredibly boring, but entirely gigantic whole industry. I owe a special gratitude to Thomas Smyth – who dropped into Core on a lark…
Show me the Money
Everyone in the financial services industry is very excited about the digitization of money. How exciting it would be to forego cash (and those annoying checks), in favor of a more efficient world of commerce and assets. At the hand of Bitcoin, the argument goes, or Apple Pay, or what-not…
It’s not just the Underbanked who are Underbanked
We’re all underbanked. A lion-share of Americans aren’t “making bank.” Most of us simply don’t earn enough to support a basic standard of living. Yes, there is a big part of our population that poorly utilizes banks and therefore over-utilizes expensive solutions that leave most of their customers poorer. The larger reality is that the…
Disrupting Auto Finance
Last year, I woke up to the sleeping giant of auto finance. Over the last decade, we’ve witnessed an explosion of startups building software that dramatically cuts inefficiencies in the exchange of information, goods, and services – disrupting industry incumbents in the process. In the last year, Silicon Valley is…
My Comments on Underbanked Opportunity on Bloomberg TV
Bill Gates gave a speech at Sibos today, and for some unexpected reason Bloomberg TV reached out to me to comment on why the unbanked are important. It turned into a cool 7 minute segment on Core, how our portfolio companies are improving people’s lives and how Visionaries, like Amex,…
Ford Foundation on how markets can create “justice”
The Ford Foundation released this video today, on our venture fund, Core Innovation Capital, and how our portfolio company, Progreso, makes an impact on consumers lives, while delivering market returns. Very nicely done piece – and we’re proud to be featured. Check it out:
Next PayDay: Govern Google
I began to explore new solutions for payday lending in this op-ed in the American Banker. The response (at least based on my Twitter feed) has been outspoken, with many perspectives for and against. I thought I’d use the opportunity to go into further depth on my blog. Google Self-Governance on Ad…
2014 Core Challenge Finalists
From almost 50 applicants we have selected the four most innovative ideas for serving the Emerging Middle Class to present to the largest expert audience on June 6th at CFSI and Sourcemedia’s EMERGE Forum in Core’s new home of Los Angeles. This year includes many firsts: our first bitcoin finalist.…
Diverse Perspectives
I go to more conferences than are good for me. And if you’re like me, you don’t attend many sessions, and you meet with the same cast of characters. I have two suggestions on breaking those rules. If you read this blog, I’d argue there are two must-do conferences on…
Who is the most innovative of them all?
For the fourth year running, our fund will sponsor the Core Innovators Challenge in June at CFSI and the American Banker’s renamed Emerge Forum (formerly the Underbanked Financial Services Forum). Hurry, before April 14! Once again we are seeking nominations from companies small and large for who offers the best,…