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Embedded Finance, AI, and Fintech’s Next Big Disruption with Maven Advisory’s Founder

Published By matthew


Embedded finance, AI, and digital transformation aren’t just buzzwords—they’re reshaping how financial products are built, delivered, and scaled. But with the rapid pace of change, how can fintechs, lenders, and financial institutions stay ahead?

On this episode of The Lending Link, Matt Tepper, VP of Global Marketing at GDS Link, sits down with Angi Milano, Founder of Maven Advisory, to unpack the trends and challenges defining fintech’s future. With over a decade of experience in digital marketing, sales, and enterprise fintech partnerships, Angi has been on the frontlines of major acquisitions and scaling efforts. Now, through Maven Advisory, she helps fintechs refine their go-to-market strategies, pinpoint their ideal customers, and drive sustainable growth.

What’s Inside This Episode:

  • The rise of embedded finance—and why banks, fintechs, and non-traditional lenders can’t afford to ignore it
  • How fintechs can nail down their ideal customer profile (ICP) to avoid costly missteps
  • The evolving role of AI in risk decisioning, fraud detection, and customer experience
  • Why financial inclusion isn’t just a social good—it’s a massive business opportunity
  • Industry shifts in regulation, AI-driven customer experiences, and what’s next for fintech in 2025

Hit play for Angi’s expert take on where fintech is headed next. And don’t forget to subscribe to The Lending Link on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube so you never miss an insider conversation with industry leaders.

Episode Transcript

Matt Tepper: Welcome to The Lending Link, where we cut through the noise and simplify the conversation around modern lending. Welcome to The Lending Link, where we cut through the noise and simplify the conversation around modern lending. I am Matt Tepper, Vice President of Global Marketing at GDS Link. Today's episode marks an exciting new chapter, not just for this podcast, but for GDS Link as a whole. As you've probably seen as you came across this podcast that we've recently unveiled a bold new brand identity, reinforcing our mission to make modern lending made simple. But this isn't just a refresh, it's a refocus. With nearly two decades of experience solutions deployed in 46 countries and over a billion lending decisions processed annually, we're doubling down on what we do best, helping lenders navigate complexity with confidence. As part of this evolution, The Lending Link is also transforming. Moving forward, you'll hear from me and other GDS Link subject matter experts as we unpack industry trends alongside thought leaders, fintech disruptors and lending innovators. Our goal? To spark insightful discussions, challenge the status quo and uncover practical strategies that shape the future of lending. Today's guest is the perfect person to help us kick off this new era. Angi Milano is the founder of Maven Advisory where she helps fintechs craft winning go-to-market strategies. With over a decade of experience spanning digital marketing, sales and enterprise fintech partnerships, she's played a key role in multiple acquisitions and understands firsthand the pitfalls fintechs face when scaling. Today we'll unpack some of the bigger challenges fintechs encounter as explore emerging trends in lending and financial services and discuss the ever present role of AI in the future of fintech. Plus, we'll get Angi's takes on what startups, banks and fintech innovators should be focusing on in today's dynamic market. So first and foremost welcome Angi. Glad to have you here today.

Angi Milano: Thank you for having me excited for the discussion and very happy to see the brand new brand and to see the evolution of GDS Link.

Matt Tepper: Yeah, definitely been a lot in the works. Our team has been working pretty tirelessly for months now to get this up and running. So we're excited to have this conversation as part of the launch of this new rebrand before we get started into business here. I know that you're originally from Buenos Aires, but we find you in Chicago today. Guess I'm just kind of curious. Is there any getting used to those. Those winters in Chicago?

Angi Milano: I think so. I've been in Chicagoland for I don't even want to say how many years because it'll really start to date me, but it's been many, many years. Over the years, I actually have gotten used to it. And when I go back to Argentina, if I go in the middle of summer, it's like the humidity and the contrast, it's just, it's a lot. So, yeah, we'll see. We're gearing up for some snow here. We'll see how what I say at the end of the day, once I'm, you know, buried.

Matt Tepper: Yeah, we. So I'm, I'm here in our headquarters here in Dallas and anytime that I'm on the phone with our senior marketing manager, Sarah, and kind of exchanging notes, certainly send some literal chills down my spine. Granted, we only get about two weeks of real winter down here in Texas, so again, I'd probably. My trade, I might trade some of the winter for some of the summers that we get down here. Anyways, again, really appreciate you joining us today, Angi. As mentioned, I know that your background spans a lot of different roles and responsibilities. Had some stops at HSBC, Capital One, Citi, Alliant Credit Union. So currently have covered the gamut and the full spectrum of financial services. I guess. Before we get started, what inspired you to launch Maven Advisory?

Angi Milano: Yeah, so it came out of the idea that on both sides of the fence, whether you're a fintech that's getting started or whether you're a bank that has really not thought too much about how to partner with fintechs, there's a lot of confusion around the space itself. If you're a fintech, you're thinking things like, do I sell to a credit union? Does my product resonate better with a community bank? What do I look for in terms of a larger regional bank? So it's helping them to understand the landscape and also define what their ideal customer profile looks like. So that rather than chasing a bunch of different leads that may or may not materialize, they're building a system where they can grow sustainably and set up all of the process early and. And, well, I would say so that they don't fall into issues in the future. And that's something that I really enjoy doing, which is connecting people with others in the industry and helping to set up those foundations to avoid pitfalls. So, I mean, as you mentioned earlier, I've been through many, many acquisitions and I've seen some of the trends recurring. So it's really fun for me to be able to meet young founders and help them avoid some of those pitfalls and then on the banking side, it helps me to give back to the industry that really shaped my career. And how do I help them to partner well, and partner often with, with fintechs themselves?

Matt Tepper: Yeah, for sure. Here at GDS, we, we work with a lot of different fintechs that are at a lot of different stages of their own respective evolutions. So certainly understand that, you know, regardless if, you know, it's someone that's, you know, maybe a couple weeks out, out of the, out of the garage, or someone that's, you know, kind of slowly kind of scale their way up maybe a couple years into the mix, everyone's kind of running into these different pain points. But one thing that I know that we talked about a little bit before our conversation today is that identifying that ideal customer profile is often really kind of like that common denominator, that common stumbling block. Why do you think this is so challenging for a lot of, for a lot of fintechs? And how do you help fintechs really kind of refine their ICP?

Angi Milano: So I think the biggest challenge is it's not as intuitive as you might think. So when you're looking at the financial services landscape, it's everything from a credit union that's very focused on member growth and the community itself all the way through. What does business and ag lending look like? What does a commercial bank think about? And when you say commercial, what does that mean? Are they focusing on small business? Are they focusing on mid market? What types of compliance and regulatory situations do they run into based on asset size? And the one thing that I've seen is on the founder side, a lot of them don't come from a banking background or from a financial services background. So to them they think, oh, well, I have, you know, four or five clients. And then when you start to dig into what type of clients, they'll say things like, well, you know, one is a credit union and that I know from, you know, family and one is, you know, an investor introduced me to a large bank. And what I notice is they don't have a lot in common. So what ends up happening is as they start to grow and look at prospecting and pipeline, they don't know which one resonates with their product. So it's constantly trying to reinvent the wheel as opposed to identifying, you know, my product serves the small business side of the house very well. And you know, community banks are typically focused on that. What asset size makes sense, who's the person that's going to care about your product? And resonate. And those are all the things that I help people to uncover. And the reason why I think I'm a little bit different than maybe the typical person that's out there is I both purchased fintech solutions for financial institutions and I've sold them as a fintech salesperson. So the idea that I know what impacts the decision maker at the FI, if those projects don't go well, if they don't implement, if people don't adopt it, you know, what happens to their career, their reputation. So I'm able to give them a more holistic view of what it looks like to purchase and make the decision and implement and reputational risk, all of those different things. So that's where I think I bring a different perspective.

Matt Tepper: Yeah, I think one of the, one of the things that we run into here at GDS and one of the, I guess major challenges really in just lending today is just honestly the fractured customer experience. Customer expectations have, you know, have elevated really at an exponential rate, really kind of dating back to COVID, when now everyone kind of was kind of forced into, you know, a little bit more of a digital only experience. And I'm sure you've run across this too. We, we've seen some of our own clients really trying to kind of work at really kind of trying to unify the customer experience I guess is maybe the, the term, the right term to use here. What are, what are you, from your experience, what are some of the more promising approaches that you've seen? Some of the, some of the methods, methodology that have really kind of worked to help kind of truly address and still continue to deliver value in the face of, you know, rising customer expectations,

Angi Milano: that is a, like you're nailing, nailing it on the head there. So the idea that your customer doesn't necessarily understand the lines of business that they're falling into. To them they're opening a product. And one of the biggest things that I would hear, especially when I was focusing on the account opening side of the house and you know, working with those products, it was, well, if I go to open up a checking account and then I go to open up a loan type of account or a credit card, it feels like a different bank. And typically it was because there were so many different vendors in the mix that you have one that integrates really well with the customer experience and UI of the bank and then you have some where they open up into a disparate experience from the consumer side. They don't understand why it looks different. They're just looking to open up a brand new product with their bank. So that's the challenge and what I'm seeing out there from the vendors that are on the fintech side, you know, things like [listen-back] that is working on how to tie all of these things together, how to create workflows and experiences that just look at this person is opening up this product with this organization. How do we tie the experience so that it looks the same whether it is a deposit product, a credit card, a lending product. And I think a lot of the way that's solved is to look for vendors that are doing the integration work on the back end that's separate from the front end so that the bank has more control or the credit union has more control on the look and feel. The UX, the experience side of the house is dismantled from the back end and all of the different connection points, whether it's your core or your LOS or your mortgage provider, all of the different disparate systems that are happening on the back end are feeding into some kind of integration that's decoupled so that you can better control the experience on the front end.

Matt Tepper: Yeah, for sure. And that's something that we run into is just obviously there's a lot of legacy tech out there that can sometimes be really at the core of some of our clients business models. Sometimes it's a little bit of a hindrance for them to so really just trying to kind of navigate as to okay, what's truly, you know, what's a paramount part of our business, what's something that's maybe kind of holding us back a little bit. So something that you kind of mentioned and kind of speaks to more of the truly kind of evolving landscape is I realize it's a little more of a buzz term now, but the idea of like embedded finance, the fact that now you have some of these more non-traditional companies that you know, maybe haven't really necessarily played in financial services previously, now they're emerging because they know they have a customer base that they can kind of market to. And how do you see this shift impacting really just lending as a whole? Obviously traditional lenders have always had to kind of keep, keep their head on a swivel with these neobanks and fintechs. But now fintechs are now kind of seeing like you know, this new innovative offering, these new innovative organizations that obviously might have a lot more capital behind them too. How do you see again how this is going to be impacting lenders as a whole?

Angi Milano: The biggest thing around that to me is consumer choice. So even when I first started in banking, you would never even think of doing something like that. The reason why is, well, one, they know everything about me and two, it lives where I live. So if I'm using my credit card, I can tap my watch at a point of sale machine and make a payment. You know, when I was in Argentina over holidays, I paid for everything with my Apple Watch. And it's, it's an easy way for me to interact. So I think the biggest piece around the fintech and bank, I guess, relationship centered around that experience is banks traditionally haven't thought as much about hitting their customers where they live. And that's where fintechs and retail companies are coming to the surface and saying, well, I know this customer really well. If they offer me a product that's compelling, I will sign up and they make it easy for me to do it. It's a few clicks. So the idea for banks, for credit unions is to think about how would I go about creating an experience that's easy that my customer can access in the way that they normally operate. How are they accessing mobile banking, how are they accessing online banking, where can I put my offering to make it easy? And how can I reduce the number of clicks that it takes for them to sign up for a product or onboard a product? And that opens up a ton of opportunity for fintechs who are doing innovative things like refining the way that the account opening process works or refining the way that you apply for a loan or, you know, different types of loan setups that make it easy for consumers to sign up with very few clicks. And I realize the challenge with compliance in there. But you know, a lot of Apple, Amazon, they're getting around that they're, they're figuring out ways to grab the compliance that they need, but also make it easy for people to sign up. And I think that's where we're at at this point is how do we compete with that super easy experience that catches me where I live and breathe, from the financial institutions, from your trusted fintech. And how do we create partnerships to mimic that experience?

Matt Tepper: Yeah, I started with GDS back in 2019 and I remember one of the bigger stats when I was like kind of, you know, really trying to get my feet wet. Just within lending was the stat that I think Apple Card had surpassed the Starbucks mobile app as the most popular mobile payment method at that time. And that was just five, six years ago. Obviously on the payment side that has evolved at a rapid pace. And the adoption there has been, has probably exceeded the expectations of a lot of experts and a lot of experts in the industry. But again, just now they're just kind of saying, what's that next step? Where can we kind of, how can we kind of be that true all in one comprehensive service provider? So I think you kind of mentioned on it there too. One of the things that always has to be top of mind for anyone within financial services is compliance. Got to make sure you're kind of toeing the line there, making sure you're not stepping out of bounds. Obviously we're recording this early February of 2025. The news came down about a week or two ago about some major changes at the CFPB. Looks like that's still very much an evolving situation there. Obviously that's going to have a ripple effect into, you know, the way that some of these fintechs, the way that even maybe traditional lenders operate too and obviously maybe some relax, relaxing some of the kind of rules and regulations that they had to kind of navigate around. What is typically your advice, if you're in front of a, if you're in front of a prospect, just with a little bit of, let's call it, say, you know, a very fluid situation, how do you kind of address them to how, how to navigate, I guess what you might consider some uncertain waters.

Angi Milano: Yeah. So I think the biggest piece, and it's for me just thinking through how do I give people advice that resonates and that helps them is because it's a fluid situation. My biggest piece of advice is don't throw all of those regulations out the window as if, like, this doesn't apply to me because it may not apply to you today, but how will it change, evolve over time? And looking at regulatory compliance as something that can be ignored is the wrong way to go about it. And I do think that the impact it will have on banks is probably much larger than on the fintech side in that because the regulatory situation is pretty fluid, they might have to do way less to be compliant. It's the onus is on the fintechs to really understand how that's changing, to be informed so that when they're talking to banks and credit unions, they are able to keep up with the conversation. A lot of times what I see, and I know I've seen this in employers that I've had over on the fintech side, it's the idea that like, well, they're the compliance expert. I don't need to know everything about it, especially on the sales side. And the idea is to stay informed and make sure that you're understanding how the situation is unfolding. I'm constantly reading articles, trying to stay on top of it and to really understand what is happening within your prospect or your customer's life that's making their situation very uncertain. I do think the biggest concern for me around all of this change is really the impact on the consumer. Things like what will, what will people come up with in terms of lending? Is there going to be any predatory behavior that we start to see that was remediated by all the different regulations that were put in place? I do think it's good to take a look at those policies and understand where maybe they've gotten out of hand. But I'm hoping that there is a heavy advocacy on the consumer side to make sure that we're not going back to situations that will cause uncertainty and really less access to the funds that people need. Especially with the economy the way it is and all of the different prices and impact that people are seeing day to day.

Matt Tepper: Yeah. And I know something we kind of discuss, I know is near and dear to your heart is just the idea around making sure a lot of lenders have an eye for, you know, financial inclusion initiatives. And I certainly can understand that, you know, with regulatory landscape and flux, that there's maybe some uncertainty about how that kind of, you know, fits into a lender's growth strategy. I recall that we were kind of talking about, you know, organizations like Chime have kind of helped reshape financial services. I know they have an early paycheck access and some other tools that really provide some accelerant to some of these financial inclusion pushes. What other innovations out there within financial inclusion have kind of caught your attention?

Angi Milano: Yeah, so there's this, and I don't know how far they are within their GA and development, so I'm not going to say the name of it, but there are some, some great innovations that I'm seeing happening around what it looks like for people who are doing work that is maybe tip based. So how are we looking at that? And there's one in particular that I really caught my eye. But what they're doing was very innovative is the idea of if the, the primary portion of your income is from tips, a lot of things think of someone like you, obviously you're not going to get your nails done all the time, but like you go to get your nails done, they'll say to you, you know, oh, you don't have any cash. That's fine. Here you can, you can tip me on Venmo. Well, if that money is sitting in a Venmo account or sitting in something that is not earning interest, there's an opportunity right there to drive some kind of wealth management product or investment product. And so what this, what this founder is doing is creating an opportunity to do just that. It's, maybe there is a couple thousand dollars in that Venmo account. Why not look at a way to either do roundups or a small micro investment type of experience that now that person money in tips is actually earning them money for their future selves. That I thought was super interesting, especially considering, you know, the impact that some of the regulatory and lending compliance is going to have on the access that small business has to keep growing. I feel like there will be a bigger chance to advocate on the side of little guy who's maybe earning tip type of income. So that one I thought was a really interesting one. I know they're, they're getting ready to go to market here in the next couple months. So definitely if you're paying attention to me on social media, you'll, you'll see some stuff about them and, and you'll recognize who I was talking about.

Matt Tepper: You can kind of start connecting the dots if you follow, if you follow Angi on LinkedIn and definitely recommend all of our listeners to do so. Yeah, to your point, actually my, my four year old daughter is the one that does my nails and thankfully I can just pay her and like cookies and ice cream sandwiches. So not, not, not there quite yet again and don't necessarily want to kind of focus on, you know, the doom and gloom here, but I think a lot of fintechs have always kind of seen small so kind of, kind of trying to segue from, you know, your idea about like tips and everything too and just trying to kind of shift our mindset to just like the small business environment as a whole. And I think a lot of fintechs have seen small business lending as kind of a key avenue for financial inclusion. But obviously again, certainly it's shifting waters right now. How do you feel that fintechs can build compliance strategies that support small businesses specifically?

Angi Milano: I think the biggest piece is staying on top of what the regulations are doing and making sure that any of the solutions that they're providing are compliant in order to expedite things like a payout. So if you're working with an organization that is doing small business loans, the biggest thing that is required is speed and so understanding the regulatory landscape and making sure that you're checking all the boxes so that those payouts could be quick is a big way to advocate on the behalf of, of the small business owner to get the funds that they need in their hands quickly. And I think without understanding the regulatory landscape, it's hard to make sure that your product is compliant, that you're not going to run into any issues as a, as a financial institution by implementing that solution. So it's hand in hand. The banks and the credit unions, they know what's coming down the line and what they need to adhere to. I think on the fintech side, it's really thinking through how do I best support my clients, which are financial institutions, by being on top of and making sure that my product has taken into account what changes or what different edits need to be made to support the compliance and regulatory needs that they have.

Matt Tepper: So Angi, as mentioned at the top, I know that you're originally from Buenos Aires and I know you still have some family and some ties to not only Argentina, but just Latin America as a whole. And I, and I know, I know that we both know that financial inclusion is just not a US specific initiative. It's something that everyone, everyone across the world is also trying to kind of identify. We've here at GDS, we've actually seen major traction with some of our clients in LATAM and trying to expand their offerings to maybe some of the unbanked or under underbanked communities. So I know that payment infrastructure and currency volatility are major hurdles. And Latin America, especially in countries like Argentina and Mexico, what should fintechs keep in mind when expanding into those markets?

Angi Milano: Yeah, so the biggest thing I saw when I was, especially when I was there the last time, you know, inflation is a huge problem for them, especially in Argentina right now. So one of the things that I kept hearing over and over was centered around additional ways to bank the regulatory compliance. And the way that financial institutions work there is a little bit different than here in Argentina in particular. There's more than one rate that they can access funds. So it's, you know, a straight rate, a blue rate, it fluctuates, they're different. I think it's like 1000 to 1 against the dollar, the peso to the dollar. So one of the things that they constantly are looking for is things like access to, to stablecoin. How can they maximize the amount of dollars that they have to work for them? And how can they maintain a steady income stream if they're getting paid in dollars where it's not as impacted by the fluctuations with street rate, blue rate, all of the different changes that are going on due to inflation. So like one practical example that I have is a lot of younger folks who are learning English to be able to work in the US market. They work as virtual assistants as things in the US and one of my contacts there, she is a virtual assistant here in Chicago. She's never been to the U.S. she works here, she has perfect English. The way that this, it's a law firm, they pay her in dollars and it gets translated over into a wallet called Lemon, I believe. And what that does is it stabilizes the currency. It's a stablecoin. So when she needs money, she can withdraw money in Argentina, but it's not impacted by the rate changes that are going on. So it's thinking about things like that. What are some payments, things like Mercado Pago out there where you can send digital payments and not be at the mercy of having to take out cash that can preserve the value. And it's not as much of the mercy of the markets and how much the valuation is changing. Those are really big things in Latin America. And then integration into payment systems, like I said, I paid for everything using my Apple Card on my watch. So point of sale, if you think about point of sale machines, how they integrate into those different payment structures, really important there to make sure that people have access and that they're safe when they're paying for things or purchasing goods on the street and local establishments.

Matt Tepper: Yeah, we've seen here at GDS that just the overall financial infrastructure in the region is scaling exponentially. So there's definitely the opportunity for fintechs to maybe kind of get involved in this region. Really kind of looking to see what. I think there's plenty of opportunity for them to really integrate their technology to help mitigate risk, improve their decision making. I know that AI in particular is emerging as a powerful tool in this space, not just for global expansion, but across lending, fraud prevention and the customer experience. So with that in mind, let's shift gears really to AI in transforming financial services a bit. This is going to be maybe a little bit of a hard pivot here, but I know now I kind of want to shift our focus a little bit more into just like the role of AI within, within fintech. I know here at GDS we're already trying to explore ways on how do we integrate, you know, [listen-back] into our solutions. I just, I know many of our competitors, a lot of our peers in the industry are doing the same and the potential is obviously massive. I know that AI can kind of be maybe a little bit of that boogeyman, certainly a little bit of a buzzword right now that's kind of reaching almost ubiquitous status. But there, and there's still a lot of lots uncover in terms of the practical applications and the real world impact as AI kind of continues to evolve. What, what have you seen as some of the most impactful use cases utilizing and leveraging AI within lending and the customer experience today?

Angi Milano: Yeah, so the biggest one, the biggest unlock that I think is out there right now is around digital agents. And one of the things I have seen a lot of hesitation on the bank and credit union side to implement those types of tools, but the idea of partnering with lenders or LOS type of providers to have a greater reach. The thought for me is, and I know I've spent some time in the commercial account opening space and a lot of the complexities around opening up those types of accounts or think of something like a business type of loan is around the compliance and regulatory needs of understanding your customer. Because it goes into KYB now, it's understanding who owns that business. Is it a trust, how many people are involved in that trust? It's really knowing who you're doing business with. And at the time we were creating all this code to handle all of the questions that needed to be captured from a compliance to understand the structure of the business. Now pivot to where we are now with an AI agent that's learning and evolving. Those workflows can be handled by an agent much easier than me trying to write code to hit every single permutation of what that business could look like. And one of the companies that I work with, they have an agent that learns, it adapts, it captures things like intent to buy, it captures things like hesitation. And so their big thing is that they also have a backend that is capturing analytics. The biggest thing that we're hearing, and I've been hearing this my entire career, is if I knew when people were falling out of the process, I could understand better. So what they've done is they've partnered up the agent with the backend. That's capturing data, it's capturing intent, it's capturing hesitation, it's capturing when people fall out of the funnel. So that now when you're looking at that interaction, whether it's being picked up by a human agent, all of that information is being captured. And I think that's where AI has a really good place to start lending compliance. All of those different workflows that are very difficult to handle and require lots and lots of code. Why not let a digital agent do that? That's where I think you could see a ton of, a ton of change. And it does impact the lending space a lot. I think that's, that's the key way to do it. Partner with lenders in order to make it easier for banks and credit unions to adopt the technology and it won't feel as scary. I think they're, that's where it makes most sense to live.

Matt Tepper: Yeah, I think you're kind of hitting the nail on the head there with it just kind of now providing maybe a new, really kind of. Yeah, kind of a new level of like being proactive in the customer experience. There's a ton of offerings out there that can provide you a little bit of that real time, you know, kind of analytical, analytical analysis just around, you know, maybe what your portfolio is yielding for you or maybe what things are kind of yielding to you in real time. But the idea that it can now kind of take that next step, that kind of next suggestion for you, whether it's maybe in a, let's say collections or a customer management use case or something, there's obviously that. But even when it comes to maybe making more macro level adjustments to your credit or risk policy, I think that's where that's kind of like the next stage of evolution on how AI is really going to kind of get integrated into, especially what we're doing here at GDS, but just as financial services as a whole, which again, we'll just continue to kind of raise the bar a little bit for the customer and their expectations. Kind of on the same wavelength though, I guess I'm kind of, I'm curious, where do you see the biggest opportunities for fintech that are looking to streamline their operations and maybe even their decision making? I know you kind of mentioned the idea of, you know, this now gives you an avenue, whether it's, you know, these chat agents that are being able to deliver, let's call it maybe more that fractured kind of user experience as opposed to hoping, you know, a certain persona falls into, you know, their preset algorithm. So obviously there's some efficiency gains to be had. Kind of curious where you kind of see biggest opportunities to streamline operations and again, decision making.

Angi Milano: Yeah. So with the ability for AI to aggregate data, I think it's enabling your back office teams, maybe customer support or that type of role that is dealing with clients, to have access to information much easier through the use of AI tools so that they're not having to search for different answers. Think of like when I remember when I worked in the credit union space with this huge knowledge base that the agents would have to dig through to find information to get the clients as they're talking to them. Or think of, you know, things like lenders that are having these conversations on the phone. It's how do you enable your teams to have access to AI tools that will streamline the way they interact with clients on the front line that are accessing lots and lots of data points in seconds? It's like whether you're thinking about scripts that they need, you know, to talk about or you're thinking about even like regulatory changes, it's loading all that stuff in there. AI can return it super quickly. And then the access of coaching and training that comes about with deploying information quickly. There's a company out there called [listen-back] that's doing a bunch of AI work around creating training documentation that you're basically uploading all of your SOPs, all of your different training materials for your teams and now it's creating gamified little quizzes. There's actually a, an AI human that is teaching you and training you. I think those are opportunities where it's a little less customer facing. So it's easier for financial institutions to adopt, but it's now enabling your workforce to work smarter and to work quicker with access to data and information that typically is pretty difficult for them to do, especially when they're handling front end calls or client calls in a call center or something like that.

Matt Tepper: Awesome. Thank you again Angi for kind of sharing all these insights. Certainly kind of covered a lot today. So again, some of the key takeaways from today's episode scaling fintechs definitely need a clear ICP, strong foundational processes to avoid these costly missteps. The lending landscape is evolving. Embedded finance, unified digital experiences are transforming how financial products are being delivered to consumers. Just need to make sure that you're kind of adjusting with these emerging trends. Obviously, AI will continue to remain a hot topic and a buzzword for years to come. The potential for improved decisioning operational efficiency is undeniable. Certainly think that that's something everyone needs to kind of be keeping an eye on. And maybe most importantly, financial inclusion is both a social and a business imperative. Offering really fintechs being able to offer a chance to serve these underserved communities while driving growth. That's something that should try to remain paramount in their missions despite the evolving regulatory landscape. Angi Again, really want to thank you for your time today. I want to encourage all of our listeners to be sure to follow Angi on via LinkedIn. Also be sure to check out Maven Advisory at MavenAdvisory.co where again Angi is helping fintechs craft go-to-market strategies to find their ICP and help drive sustainable growth. Make sure to drop those links in the show notes but again encourage everyone to connect with her. Let's kind of continue this conversation. Likewise, if you any of our listeners have something to add to the conversation. If you're in fintech lending and you feel like you have a fresh perspective on risk decisioning, financial innovation, anything we might have not covered, we'd love to have you on The Lending Link. Be sure to reach out to us at [email protected] and let's make it happen. Likewise, also want to encourage all of our listeners to continue to follow GDS Link on all of our respective social media channels. We're going to be rolling out a lot of new material in the coming weeks around the future of banking, synthetic fraud, as well as some exciting upcoming enhancements to our decisioning platform. So be sure to be following us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Likewise, GDS Link will be hitting the Strip and once again be an exhibiting sponsor at FinTech Meetup in Las Vegas from March 10th through the 13th. Be sure to connect with us in Sin City to maybe get a sneak peek at some of our new decisioning features. And then before we wrap up today, I want to take a moment to highlight something deeply personal to our team. Our dear colleague and friend Sarah Sandoval is taking on stage 4 metastatic breast cancer with incredible strength and turning her battle into a mission to fund critical research for Stage 4 MBC, an area that remains vastly underfunded. On March 8, 2025, Sarah is hosting Margaritas for MBC in Chicago, a special event to raise awareness and support life saving research. If you are in the Chicagoland area, we definitely want to extend that invite to you all to join in person to raise a glass for a cause that truly matters for those that cannot attend but still want to make a difference by donating to our GoFundMe. We will include that link into the show notes. Every contribution is going to bring us one step closer to better treatments, better outcomes and ultimately more time for those fighting MBC. So again we'll include those into the show notes and would very much, very much ask if you are able to donate to please do so. Once again want to thank you Angi for your time today. Again, everyone be sure to connect with Angi via social media for more episodes insights resources. Make sure to check out this brand new website, gdslink.com we're working very hard on it. Hope you guys are enjoying the new user experience and be sure to subscribe to The Lending Link on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, wherever you might listen. Once again, Angi, really appreciate your time today and thank all of you for tuning in and we'll see you next time.

Angi Milano: Thank you so much for this thoughtful discussion. It was great to be with you today.

About Angi Milano

Angi is a sales powerhouse with 15+ years of experience in financial services and fintech. From building strong relationships to managing sales cycles like a pro, she knows how to get results. Angi has a knack for blending her project management skills with sharp sales strategies, leading to impressive wins like crafting go-to-market plans, growing key accounts, and sealing big partnerships that drive serious revenue. Fluent in English and Spanish, she’s a master communicator and negotiator who truly gets what customers need.

Angi is a passionate advocate for living organ donation, a cause close to her heart since a friend saved her life with a kidney donation 14 years ago. Born in Buenos Aires, Angi moved to Chicago at seven, blending her Argentine roots with her American life. Sharing her culture with her family and revisiting Argentina often keeps her grounded. At home, she’s mom to her son, wife to her husband, and loyal servant to Coco, their hilariously bossy dog.

About Maven Advisory: 

Maven Advisory brings deep industry expertise to help fintechs and emerging businesses navigate the complexities of the financial market. Having worked across banking, digital marketing, and digital channels, we understand what financial institutions need—and what makes fintech solutions stand out. Our mission is to connect innovation with opportunity, crafting tailored strategies that position your product for success with the right partners. With Maven Advisory, you gain an insider’s perspective and a trusted partner to bridge the gap between vision and financial success.

Please visit mavenadvisory.co to learn more.

About GDS Link:

GDS Link makes modern lending simple. Our real-time decisioning platform integrates over 200 data sources with advanced analytics, enabling lenders to make fast, data-driven credit decisions while mitigating risk. From loan origination to collections, GDS Link provides seamless automation, policy monitoring, and AI-powered insights to help financial institutions optimize lending strategies, stay agile in a competitive market, and drive better outcomes.

Show Notes:

GDS Link’s Rebrand: What’s New?

  • New Brand Identity: A fresh, modern look that aligns with our mission to simplify lending.
  • Refocused Mission: Delivering cutting-edge decisioning, fraud prevention, and risk management solutions to lenders worldwide.

Upcoming Events

  • FinTech Meetup in Las Vegas (March 10-13, 2025)
    • GDS Link will be exhibiting at this event—connect with the team to discuss decisioning features.

Support & Advocacy

  • Margaritas for MBC (March 8, 2025, in Chicago at La Cantina Grill)
    • Fundraising event supporting Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) research.
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