Hey Fintech Nerds 👋

About a year ago, I was sitting there thinking, "My goodness, Alex Johnson was absolutely right."

He'd been saying for ages that there needs to be an event for operators. Not sales people talking to sales people (we love you, sales people, it's an art form), but there’s a gap in the market. 

The gap is for the people who actually build this stuff, who low-key hate conferences.

The problem? 

I don't know anybody who knows events.

Peter Renton does, but he’s out of the big event game. So he put me in touch with Joy Schwartz, who has run events her whole career. And suddenly it felt like, "Oh my God, I might actually be able to do this."

I reached out to folks at Visa, Galileo, and LoanPro. They said, "If you do this, we will absolutely sponsor it."

The question shifted from "can I do an event?" to "what should the event be?"

You know the best moments at any conference? They're by the love sign. By some coffee shop. Just hanging with the people that make this industry what it is.

You don't really learn a lot there, but that's where the magic happens.

FinTech nerds crave community. They'd rather hang out in the lobby than the show floor because they want to be around each other.

So we built something different. An event where that lobby energy IS the event.

What started as "I don't know anybody who knows events" is now a full-time team of 5 people. We've got incredible folks managing speakers, building the content agenda, working with sponsors, and running marketing. This became a thing.

The name came from realizing: I call you guys FinTech nerds because people who are operators—who are crazy enough to read about fintech on a Sunday—deserve an event that actually gets them.

We built it around gaming metaphors because that's authentic to who we are. Main story stage. Side quest stage. Missions. EXP. Yes, there's an aging millennial energy here, but it works because it's real. Most of us grew up on this stuff.

The visual identity isn't corporate conference aesthetic—it's letting your inner nerd out in a room full of people who get it.

Here's what you can't get anywhere else:

Plaid is doing a whole day vibe code-a-thon on what you could meaningfully build with vibe coding tools—and how you'd actually make those secure.

We have an AI in FinTech guild meeting where operators and senior leaders at FinTech companies who are trying to use AI in production (but also have to be SOC 2 compliant and deal with customer privacy) are sharing how they actually do it.

BVNK is running a stablecoin surgery. Because everybody wants a stablecoin strategy, but nobody knows where to start.

Galileo is bringing you the podcast booth where your favorite creators will be having live conversations and recordings. Why not stop by?

Our 35+ sponsors are possibly the most excited marketing teams I’ve ever seen. Because they get to do something different. Meaningful. Operator depth. Finally. 

Live demos. Fun debates. Things you won't see on the main stage at BigConf 2030.

Immad Akhund (Mercury CEO) - The guy who handled $2B+ influx during SVB collapse. Serial founder, 300+ angel investments, building the banking infrastructure you probably use.

Jackie Reses (Lead Bank CEO) - Goldman → Yahoo ($40B Alibaba deal) → Square (built Square Capital) → bought her own bank. Got fintechs into PPP during COVID by working directly with Treasury. Just called "debanking a fiction" at a SF summit last month.

Michael Hsu (Former Acting Comptroller OCC) - Literally just left running the OCC in February. The guy who made the rules you have to live with. Warned about crypto risks before 2022, kept banks safe. You don't get this access at other events.

These aren't conference circuit speakers. They're the infrastructure builders, deal makers, and rule makers.

We have two stages

But get this, we’re turning the main stage off for half a day. To build in extra time to network.

That’s where the adventure begins. Go to a workshop on how to build a credit program, the stablecoin surgery, or play at the basketball court. 

If unstructured time is your thing we have two large lounges:

Unstructured time rocks. Because the best conversations happen when you're not rushing to the next session.

No booked meetings. No sales booths. Just the highest quality, organic networking with the people building the future of financial services.

Mana Wynwood. 

1,000 curated operators. 25+ live podcasts. 25+ roundtables. 100+ speakers.

This is different, and I think we should do something different.

Yes. We can build this event because enough of you read this newsletter on weekends. Because you care enough about this industry to dig deeper than the surface-level stuff.

This event exists because the FinTech nerd community is real. You prove it every week by opening this email.

Tickets are live now. Hotel booking deadline is coming up fast.

The question isn't whether you should come. The question is: are you ready to let your inner nerd out?

Get Your Ticket →

1. Prices will go up soon - Don't pay full price because you waited
2. Hotel block is 70% full - The $209/night rate at Moxy goes away when it's gone
3. We're intentionally capping this at 1,000 people - Once it's sold out, that's it

P.S. - If you've made it this far, you're exactly who this event is for. The type of person who reads to the end of a 900-word newsletter about conference lobbies and gaming metaphors. See you in Miami.