Julien: Today I'm speaking with Sam Boboev, founder of the Fintech Wrap-Up newsletter and creator of Wrap Up, an AI-powered invoicing and accounting reconciliation SaaS currently in pre-beta. Sam also works full-time as a product manager at the Payment Factory, a B2B fintech provider. How do you manage to do all of these things simultaneously?
Sam: It all comes down to time management. At the Payment Factory, I work with payment services, accounts, and card processing. My Fintech Wrap-Up newsletter has over 40,000 subscribers across platforms and is a Substack bestseller. I'm also recognized as a LinkedIn top voice in payments and fintech. With Wrap Up, I'm creating a solution to help fintech companies reconcile transactions, process payments, and handle accounts payables and receivables.
Julien: How have you maintained your newsletter for three years when trends come and go? I've only been at it for seven months and find it challenging to produce quality content weekly.
Sam: Consistency and persistence are key. In the beginning, growth was slow, but you have to keep pushing even without immediate results. Eventually, platforms like Substack, Google, and LinkedIn start promoting your content to more people. I've developed a process where I dedicate specific time to my content calendar and publish three times weekly on Substack for long-form content.
Julien: What's your social media management approach?
Sam: I keep it simple with no special tools. I use a Google sheet to schedule content and manually publish to LinkedIn and other platforms.
Julien: What attracted you to fintech originally?
Sam: Coming from Uzbekistan and now based in Malta, I've experienced different financial systems. In Uzbekistan, we leapfrogged directly to smartphones, bypassing traditional financial infrastructure development. As an immigrant, I regularly use international transfers and see many problems in this space worth solving. Building products for the fintech vertical combines my personal experience with my professional passion.
Julien: Regarding location strategy, I found Canada challenging with heavy regulation and taxes. Some suggest major financial hubs like London or New York, while others recommend low-tax destinations like Malta or Dubai. What's your perspective on where to base a fintech startup?
Sam: For early-stage companies like Wrap Up, the priorities are building technology quickly and raising initial funding. The U.S. and UK provide the best environments for fundraising, with the U.S. offering the largest market and venture capital ecosystem. However, for technology development, it makes sense to look at locations with more affordable talent. We plan to build our development team in Uzbekistan where costs and taxes are lower.
Julien: With established players dominating various fintech niches like Stripe and Adyen in payments or Brex and Ramp in expense management, is there still opportunity in fintech in 2025?
Sam: There's more opportunity than ever. Competition exists in every market, but success depends on how well you solve specific problems and present solutions to customers. My newsletter and LinkedIn presence give me an advantage in reaching potential clients. Since I've built my brand in fintech while creating a solution for this specific vertical, it's a perfect alignment.
Julien: How much easier was it to build Wrap Up's prototype compared to if you had attempted it five years ago?
Sam: Dramatically easier. My technical co-founder found technology that allowed us to build the entire platform in just three months – something that would have taken a full team a year previously. We're already accepting companies to our waitlist. That said, I'd avoid pure no-code solutions for fintech products since you're handling people's money and need robust security.
Julien: What fintech trends excite you most right now?
Sam: Automating financial reconciliation and accounting with AI: That's what I'm building and passionate about.
Julien: Which current fintech trends do you think might fizzle out like NFTs or the metaverse?
Sam: AI in payments. Despite all the talk, I don't yet see its practical utility.
Julien: Favorite book?
Sam: 1984 by George Orwell.
Julien: Favorite newsletter besides your own?
Sam: Lenny's newsletter.
Julien: Thank you for your time, Sam. Best wishes with your newsletter, startup, and career.
Sam: Thank you very much.
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