On episode 33 I talk with Shamir Karkal of Sila. Sila’s mission is to accelerate the next generation of financial innovation. Shamir is undoubtedly no stranger to the innovation space as he was one of the earliest pioneers in fintech with Simple. Sila is one of the companies helping to bridge fintech and web3.
We talked a great deal about the evolution of fintech in the last 10 plus years. An entire ecosystem has been created since Simple first began, and now you have the beginnings of a new layer with web3.
Change is now happening faster than any of us have seen before. The key for companies today is to be as agile as possible. This brings me back to what Shamir is building with Sila through APIs. Companies can now adjust and change quickly. Shamir and I discuss fintech’s evolution, the importance of clarity regarding regulation, centralized versus decentralized, raising capital, and a lot more. So without further ado, Shamir Karkal of Sila.
I hope you all enjoy the show and be prepared to learn about:
- Shamir’s journey from Simple to Sila
- The evolution of fintech
- Why the world needs platforms
- Sila is the oldest word that is connected to money
- What’s behind the mission to accelerate the next generation of financial services
- Why fintech has yet to deliver on its promise
- Sila’s current customer base
- The problem of outdated banking technology and how big of a barrier it is
- Bank tech, “it all sucks”
- Basic infrastructure and API awareness has gotten a lot better
- It took Simple 70 plus investors to raise their first seed round
- Crypto is not a unitary thing
- “Get good lawyers,” scale will bring oversight
- Shamir recommends reading Electronic Value Exchange and Debt: The First 5,000 Years
- And much more…
