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Timestamp:

1. The sheer efficiency of being honest: 5:43
2. Joining the right team: 09:55
3. The power of connection: 11:04
4. The aha moment: 12:25
5. Jumping through the right hoops: 14:18
6. The right founder/investor relationship: 16:35
7. Finding the right investor: 24:12
8. Live or die by reputation: 28:47
9. Nurturing talent: 32:13
10. Fintech future: 35:15

Find Out How a VC Big Hitter Shapes Financial Inclusion

“You can use technology to help people make better financial decisions.” Adriana Saman, Principal at Clocktower Technology Ventures.

This 2am epiphany set a course of events that turned a successful investment banker into one of the leading lights in the venture capitalist space, and all thanks to some early morning scrolling.

Prepping for a presentation Adriana stumbled across an app that used positive psychology to help people save more effectively. The word fintech cropped up, and she was hooked.

Now Adriana is connecting with founders across Europe and Latin America, from pre-seed to Series B, and watching her investments bring equity and inclusion into financial services.

Making Connections

Adriana is no run-of-the-mill VC investor, instead she finds herself as a collaborative co-investor, working alongside founders, but not taking board seats or leading rounds.

Working collaboratively allows her founders to shine:

“We have more of a friendly relationship where they reach out to us when there’s something very specific they need help with. And very consistently the way we deliver on that is connecting them to a pretty sophisticated network in financial services.“

And this connection with founders is what drives Adriana to keep moving forward and investing in companies like Alloy, Chime and MoneyLion.

The Drive

While financial and reputational success has followed her successful career, Adriana believes she has a duty to use her influence to bring through the next generation of talent, particularly from underrepresented groups.

“It’s a topic that’s super relevant for me and for us as an organization where first of all, the way that you can invest in more diverse talent is in having more diverse investors that can break through some of the cultural asymmetry when you talk to a person who doesn’t look like you.”

Heading up a women-only networking group in LA and offering free office hours to founders from minority backgrounds who want to talk about VC investment, Adriana is democratizing access to information and neworks.

The Future of Fintech

If you were to pick her brains on future trends, Adriana would point to real time payment in emerging markets as the number one underrated innovation.

In fact she pinpoints Mexico and Brazil as specific growth areas for this technology, predicting that better payment systems will lead to faster and more reliable financial services across the region.

It’s a prediction Clocktower are willing to hang their hat on, creating more investment opportunities in Latin America and encouraging the future LATAM founders of tomorrow to make their move.

Follow Adriana:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adriana-saman-302ab95a

Twitter: twitter.com/adrisaman

You can keep up-to-date with everything WTFinech? at https://workweek.com/brand/wtfintech/

And if you’ve enjoyed WTFintech? Why not try: Chicks of FinTwit, Tech Unlocked, Breaking Banks or Fintech Insider