How Matt went from building websites in 6th grade to founding a fintech company
The interview kicked off with Matt telling us a bit about his childhood and the journey to founding Canopy. Like many kids whose teenage years paralleled the rise of the World Wide Web, he was fascinated by the possibilities of living in a digital world. As adult engineers at Yahoo and Altavista put in late hours building the first Internet search engines, Matt’s 11-year-old self was working equally hard mastering HTML.
The importance of transparency in fintech
As a leading advocate for transparency in fintech, Matt discussed the real-world implications of the lack of transparency in lending products today. He shared some of the potential advantages of embracing transparency for borrowers and financial institutions.
When we think about transparency, we’re thinking about putting more control into your hands, which means that you actually understand your finances.
You understand when you make a payment; how does that payment get split across all of your transactions? We call that payment pouring. For example, you make a $100 payment. How is that paid split across interest and fees and principal?
Matt Bivons, Canopy CEO
How transparency can make BNPL safer
In the interview, Neil asked how credit providers can make alternative credit options like Buy Now Pay Later safe for consumers.
Matt cited the power of transparency and real-time data. Listen to the interview as he explains further.
I really love this quote from Dr. Maya Angelou.It goes something like, “you do your best until you know better. And when you know better, you do better.” And so transparency helps companies provide safer alternatives. It helps companies actually understand risk better.
Matt Bivons, Canopy CEO
The shortcomings of commoditized lending products
Most credit and lending products sold today are commodities. There is very little to differentiate one from another, except perhaps rewards programs. The reason for this is infrastructure.
Legacy infrastructure can be an iron-clad constraint on credit and lending program providers. “It’s not that people don’t want different types of products,” Matt said. “They do.”Listen to the podcast to hear about the effect this commoditization can have on small businesses around the country.
Want to learn more about building next-generation lending products? Reach out to our developers and product experts. We’re here to help.
