FinTech Archives - Startup Economist

Infrastructure as a Service Builds the Most Defensible Economics; Most Investors Are Looking at the Wrong Companies

Sunday, 03 May 2026 by Paul O'Brien

The most valuable companies right now aren’t building software for end users. They’re building the ground upon which other software stands. Consider that Stripe, Twilio, and Plaid together process a material fraction of the world’s digital economy, and most people couldn’t tell you what any of them actually sell because they don’t sell to you,

Founders, North Texas is the World’s FinTech Hub

Friday, 20 September 2024 by Paul O'Brien

“You’re really seeing a whole new North Texas ecosystem,” noted H. Ross Perot, Jr., son of the former presidential candidate, about the phenomenon other investors have termed a finance invasion making me cringe a bit (if I’m being honest) at being termed Y’all Street. Perot Jr. sold the Dallas Mavericks basketball team to Mark Cuban

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Uncovering Austin FinTech as an Ecosystem

Thursday, 13 April 2023 by Paul O'Brien

I have a confession to get off my chest. In my work through Austin, I’ve long celebrated and promoted the maturing of Austin’s startup ecosystem by illuminating that we’re starting to specialize and move beyond downtown; that, as the most effective startup ecosystems do, the city of Austin isn’t generically “tech” and shouldn’t be considered

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