In this episode, we're diving into the future of institutional lending with Lily Yarborough, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Valinor, a modern credit institution investing in the digital economy. Lily brings a rare institutional pedigree: she started as an Investment Banking Analyst at J.P. Morgan, moved through credit and opportunistic investing at Blackstone's GSO Special Situations group and NovaWulf Digital Management, and then made the leap into crypto in 2022 at a digital asset investment fund before launching Valinor.

Valinor is building institutional infrastructure for the digital economy. The platform combines structuring, principal investing, and distribution to bring institutional-grade private credit on-chain, using smart contracts to replace the spreadsheets and human intermediaries that have long defined private credit. The company recently raised a $25 million seed round led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Susquehanna's crypto arm, Maven 11, and the founders of TeraWulf. Lily's career arc from Wall Street credit desks to stablecoin-native lending makes her one of the most compelling voices at the intersection of traditional finance and on-chain markets.

She's joined by Ross Freiman-Mendel, Head of Product Growth at Persona, who leads product for our growth surface areas including Wallet, Relay, Connect, Know Your Agent, App, mDocs and mobile Driver's Licenses, and previously owned Workflows, Transactions, and Marketplace as Platform Product Lead. Ross holds a BA in Computer Science and Economics from Brown University.

About Persona

Persona is a unified identity platform that provides businesses with the building blocks they need to customize verification experiences, while mitigating fraud, and meeting ever-evolving compliance standards.

Apply to join Persona's Startup Program: https://withpersona.com/startups

Connect with Lily
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-yarborough/

Connect with Ross
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-freiman-mendel/

Connect with Ed
https://www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante

In this episode, we dive into the payments revolution with Daniel Lev, CEO and Co-Founder of Coinflow. Daniel brings a rare blend of expertise: he started in large-scale digital transformation at PwC, moved into product at Amount (the Chicago-based fintech unicorn), and previously co-founded and exited a Web3 sports gaming platform before launching Coinflow.

Coinflow connects traditional payment rails with stablecoin technology to enable instant global settlement for cross-border commerce. Operating across 170+ countries and managing compliance through GDPR, FinCEN, MiCA, and more, Coinflow has delivered 2,300% revenue growth in the past year and proven entirely new use cases for programmable money.

He's joined by Derek Woods, Crypto GTM Lead at Persona, who has been in the identity verification space since 2017 — from KYC work at IHS Markit to leading Yoti's North America expansion, building go-to-market at Passbase, and now stewarding identity infrastructure for crypto at Persona.

About Persona

Persona is a unified identity platform that provides businesses with the building blocks they need to customize verification experiences, while mitigating fraud, and meeting ever-evolving compliance standards.

Apply to join Persona's Startup Program: https://withpersona.com/startups

Connect with Daniel

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-lev/

Connect with Derek

https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-woods-b2a94b1b0/

Connect with Ed

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante

In this episode, we're excited to introduce Adam Zuckerman, Co-Founder of The Better Money Company. He was previously general counsel at Eigen Labs, a unicorn that raised over $200M from a16z crypto and others, and an attorney at Latham & Watkins, where he represented 100+ companies and VCs across the crypto and payments ecosystem. He's joined by David Chachanko, Lead, Digital Assets and Compliance at Persona, who spent over a decade in regulatory compliance, including serving as a national bank examiner with the OCC, before leading Trust Administration and Compliance Technology at BitGo Trust and later bringing that operator perspective to Persona's product team.

About Persona
Persona is a unified identity platform that provides businesses with the building blocks they need to customize verification experiences, while mitigating fraud, and meeting ever-evolving compliance standards.

Apply to join Persona's Startup Program: https://withpersona.com/startups

Connect with Adam
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-zuck/

Connect with David
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-chachanko-30757284/

Connect with Ed
https://www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante

In this episode, we're excited to introduce Yoni Rechtman, Partner at Slow Ventures, a generalist early-stage venture firm that has deployed over $1 billion since 2011 across fintech, SaaS, crypto, consumer, healthcare, and the creator economy, with a portfolio that includes Airtable, Gusto, Robinhood, Venmo, Solana, and Ro. Yoni leads the firm's New York presence and joined as Partner in January 2025 after three years as Principal, following five years at Tusk Ventures where he rose from Analyst to Principal. He studied at Amherst College and NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and writes the popular Substack newsletter 99% Derisible (15,000+ subscribers), known for sharp takes on org design, AI's impact on work, and the future of software.

About Persona
Persona is a unified identity platform that provides businesses with the building blocks they need to customize verification experiences, while mitigating fraud, and meeting ever-evolving compliance standards.

Apply to join Persona's Startup Program: https://withpersona.com/startups

Connect with Yoni
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yrechtman

Connect with Ross
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-freiman-mendel-79b69a83/

Connect with Ed
https://www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante

In this episode, we're excited to introduce Matt Marcus, Co-Founder and CEO of Modern Treasury, the most trusted infrastructure for global money movement. Founded in 2018 alongside co-founders Dimitri Dadiomov and Sam Aarons through Y Combinator's Summer 2018 batch, Modern Treasury has powered over $400 billion in payments for hundreds of organizations, ranging from YC startups to financial institutions with over a century of history. Before Modern Treasury, Matt worked at First Round Capital and Ultimate Kronos Group, and he graduated with a BS in Computer Science from Dartmouth College, where he served as captain of the men's lightweight rowing team. Modern Treasury provides a unified API for money movement across ACH, wire, RTP, FedNow, push to card, and stablecoins, and its recently launched Payments product brings together fiat and stablecoin infrastructure with built in compliance, ledgering, and reporting in a single platform.About PersonaPersona is a unified identity platform that provides businesses with the building blocks they need to customize verification experiences, while mitigating fraud, and meeting ever-evolving compliance standards.Apply to join Persona's Startup Program: https://withpersona.com/startupsConnect with Matthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-marcus-bb1b9460/https://www.moderntreasury.com/Connect with Rickhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-song-25198b24/Connect with Edhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante

In this episode, we're excited to introduce Robin Gandhi, Chief Product Officer at Lithic, the programmable card issuing and processing infrastructure for developers, digital banks, and financial institutions handling billions in annual volume. Robin brings over a decade of deep fintech expertise across product, partnerships, and global operations. Before joining Lithic, he served as CPO at Nium, defining payment strategy across 190+ countries, and held leadership roles at Navan (formerly TripActions) and Adyen, where he scaled global issuing and North American partnerships. Evolving from its roots as Privacy.com, Lithic acts as the go-to infrastructure layer for companies launching customizable card programs with direct network connectivity and real-time fraud logic. Join us as we explore Robin's journey across the fintech landscape and how Lithic is building the trust and infrastructure layer for the next generation of card programs.

About Persona

Persona is a unified identity platform that provides businesses with the building blocks they need to customize verification experiences, while mitigating fraud, and meeting ever-evolving compliance standards.

Apply to join Persona's Startup Program: https://withpersona.com/startups

Connect with Robin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robingandhi/

https://lithic.com/

Connect with Ed

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante

In this episode, we're excited to introduce Dr. Joshua Broggi, the Founder and CEO of Woolf University, the world's first global collegiate university. A former Oxford philosophy faculty member and Humboldt Fellow, Joshua turned his deep research into the role of universities in human progress into a bold vision: an accredited institution that empowers qualified organizations to offer degrees recognized in 50+ countries. With 30+ member colleges, 800+ faculty across 5 continents, and students in 70+ countries, Woolf is using technology to make academic excellence more accessible and affordable. Join us as we explore Joshua's journey from philosophy professor to edtech founder, and how Woolf is reshaping the future of credentialing, identity, and trust in global education.

About Persona

Persona is a unified identity platform that provides businesses with the building blocks they need to customize verification experiences, while mitigating fraud, and meeting ever-evolving compliance standards.

Apply to join Persona's Startup Program: https://withpersona.com/startups

Connect with Joshua

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabroggi/

https://woolf.university/

Connect with Ed

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante

In this episode, we're excited to introduce Batu Inal, Co-Founder and CTO of Balance, an intelligent treasury platform revolutionizing how enterprises optimize their cash management. Balance provides real-time visibility into cash across all accounts, AI-powered forecasting, and automated insights to help businesses work their money harder. With $50B+ in transactions processed and $2B+ in accounts monitored, the platform serves established organizations including large enterprise businesses. Join us as we explore Batu's journey from technologist to fintech entrepreneur, and how Balance is transforming enterprise treasury from a back-office function into a strategic advantage through intelligent automation and data-driven decision-making.

About Persona

Persona is a unified identity platform that provides businesses with the building blocks they need to customize verification experiences, while mitigating fraud, and meeting ever-evolving compliance standards.

Apply to join Persona's Startup Program: https://withpersona.com/startups

Connect with Batu

https://www.linkedin.com/in/batuinal/

https://www.balancecash.io/

Connect with Ed

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante