John Mitchell, CEO of Episode Six, on next generation payments infrastructure

Fintech One•On•One

There are not many US-based fintech companies that are global from day one. Nearly every company starts in the domestic market, gets established and after a few years starts looking at overseas markets. That was not the case for today's podcast guest.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is John Mitchell, the CEO and Co-Founder of Episode Six. John started the company, which is based in Austin, in Hong Kong in 2015 and they are global-first, currently operating in 40 countries around the world. What they do is provide next generation payments infrastructure to large banks and non-finance brands.

In this podcast you will learn:

• The founding story of Episode Six.
• Why they decided to start the company in Hong Kong.
• The financial infrastructure that they provide today.
• How they built their technology to work in any region of the world.
• Why it was so important to build their systems to evolve.
• How their infrastructure is able to interface with legacy banking cores.
• Why, in ten years time, legacy banking cores will still be in production in most places.
• The number of countries where Episode Six is working today.
• How easy it is to embed card issuance today.
• Why applying for a credit card form a large bank is still basically the same as it was 20 years ago.
• Why Episode Six mostly works on new programs when working with traditional banks.
• How they are working with Japan Airlines and why the airline invested in Episode Six.
• What John thinks about the new payments rails that are developing.
• Why he is bullish on programmable money.
• The work they are doing in instant payments.
• What he has learned from other countries that could be implemented in this country.

Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

• Tweet me @PeterRenton
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes