Great Entrepreneurs with RJ Lumba

Consumer FinTech Leader: Upgrade’s Renaud Laplanche

In this episode, we speak with Renaud Laplanche, Co-Founder and CEO of Upgrade, a consumer fintech company offering credit, banking, and payment products designed to help customers manage debt more effectively. Since launching in 2017, Upgrade has helped more than 7.5 million consumers access over $42 billion in credit through personal loans, credit cards, and checking accounts. The platform focuses on fixed-rate products and incentives that encourage responsible borrowing and long-term financial health.
Before founding Upgrade, Laplanche co-founded and led LendingClub, one of the earliest large-scale online lending marketplaces in the United States. He led the company for a decade and took it public in 2014, marking the largest U.S.-based internet IPO that year.
I am your host, RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode, click to follow.

Modernizing Insurance Shopping: Insurify’s Snejina Zacharia

In this episode, we speak with Snejina Zacharia, Founder and CEO of Insurify, a virtual insurance agent that uses AI and real-time integrations to help consumers compare, purchase, and manage their insurance policies. Insurify partners with hundreds of carriers and serves tens of millions of quotes each year across auto, home, pet, and renters insurance. Its platform enables consumers to receive accurate, personalized rates, access discounts, and complete their purchase online or with a licensed agent.
With a background in enterprise software and global market development, Zacharia founded Insurify to create a more transparent and efficient way for consumers to compare and purchase insurance.
I am your host, RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode, click to follow.

Expanding Access to Credit: PayJoy’s Doug Ricket

In this episode, we speak with Doug Ricket, Founder and CEO of PayJoy, a mission-driven credit provider operating across emerging markets. PayJoy serves customers who lack formal credit history by using patented secured-credit technology, point-of-sale financing, and credit cards designed to open a pathway into the modern financial system. The company has deployed more than $3 billion to over 17 million customers worldwide, achieving profitability while growing across regions including Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Ricket founded PayJoy in 2015 after early career experiences that shaped his focus on financial access, including Peace Corps service in West Africa, engineering work on Google Maps, and inventions that helped launch the pay-as-you-go solar sector. 
I am your host, RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode, click to follow.

Modernizing Life Insurance: Bestow’s Melbourne O’Banion

In this episode, we speak with Melbourne O’Banion, Co-Founder and CEO of Bestow, an insurtech company that builds the software infrastructure life insurers use to digitize operations, launch products, and modernize underwriting and policy administration. Bestow partners with major carriers, providing technology and data solutions that streamline processes from origination through back-end administration.
O’Banion co-founded the company to modernize how life insurance products are delivered and managed, bringing experience from prior entrepreneurial roles and guiding Bestow’s long-term strategy and industry partnerships.
I am your host, RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode, click to follow.

Redefining Wealth Management: Farther’s Taylor Matthews

In this episode, we speak with Taylor Matthews, Co-Founder and CEO of Farther, a wealth management firm that combines experienced advisors with advanced technology to deliver a more comprehensive service for high-net-worth clients. Farther has grown quickly, now managing over $5 billion in assets through more than 100 advisors serving thousands of clients nationwide.
Taylor co-founded Farther in 2019 after helping scale fintech retirement advisory firm ForUsAll from $25 million to nearly $1 billion in assets. Earlier in his career, he co-founded Essmart, a social enterprise in India, and worked in investment banking and management consulting.
Taylor supports Against Malaria Foundation. To learn more about this organization click here.
I am your host RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode click to follow.

Powering High-Performance AI: Cerebras’ Andrew Feldman

In this episode, we speak with Andrew Feldman, Co-Founder and CEO of Cerebras Systems, a company developing high-performance AI compute infrastructure for training and inference. Cerebras is known for its Wafer Scale Engine—currently the largest processor built for AI—and for its CS-3 systems, which can be clustered into some of the world’s largest AI supercomputers. Enterprises, research institutions, and government agencies use Cerebras technology on-premise and through the Cerebras Cloud to accelerate model development, real-time inference, and large-scale experimentation.
Before founding Cerebras, Feldman co-founded SeaMicro, where he pioneered energy-efficient microservers later acquired by AMD. Earlier in his career, he held senior roles at Force10 Networks and Riverstone Networks through its IPO.
I am your host, RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode, click to follow.

AI-Powered Customer Experience: Inbenta’s Melissa Solis

In this episode, we speak with Melissa Solis, CEO of Inbenta, an AI customer experience platform used by more than 1,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2005, Inbenta offers a suite of Conversational AI tools—including Chat, Search, Assist, Knowledge, and Learn—that help enterprises automate user interactions, improve support workflows, and serve customers across 100+ languages.
Melissa brings more than three decades of leadership experience across insurance and technology. Before joining Inbenta, she co-founded GIACT Systems and served as CEO through its acquisition by Refinitiv. At Inbenta, she oversees efforts to expand the platform’s enterprise footprint while advancing safe, intent-driven AI capabilities for customer-facing teams.
Melissa supports Patrol Stories. To learn more about this organization click here.
I am your host, RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode, click to follow.

Powering the AI Era: DDN’s Alex Bouzari

In this episode, we speak with Alex Bouzari, Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of DataDirect Networks (DDN), a company specializing in large-scale data infrastructure for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. DDN has supported over 500,000 GPUs and has enabled tens of exabytes of data across enterprise AI, analytics, and research workloads. Its technology underpins critical operations for organizations such as NVIDIA, NASA, PayPal, and many others.
Alex co-founded DDN in 1998 alongside Paul Bloch to address the data bottlenecks in emerging supercomputing environments. Today, the company’s technology underpins data operations for more than 85 Fortune 500 companies across sectors including financial services, automotive, and healthcare.
I am your host, RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode, click to follow.

Expanding Access to Therapy: Headway’s Andrew Adams

Today, we speak with Andrew Adams, Founder and CEO of Headway, a platform building a new mental healthcare system by making it simple for therapists to accept insurance and for patients to find affordable care.
Andrew comes to the problem first as a patient and then as a builder, grounding the company’s mission in lived experience and a focus on practical fixes to cost and access.
Founded in 2019, Headway now powers 600,000+ appointments per month, has raised over $325 million from leading investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, Accel, GV, and more. Headway partners with major health plans across all 50 states to operate one of the country’s largest insurance-accepting therapist networks.
I am your host RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode click to follow.

Cashback for Climate Action: Future’s Jean-Louis Warnholz

This episode is brought to you by The Financial Technology Report, a leading information source on financial technology companies and solutions.
Today, we speak with Jean-Louis Warnholz, Co-Founder and CEO of Future, a fintech building the most rewarding way to pay in the sustainable economy, incentivizing consumers to make climate-friendly purchases and support the shift toward a low-carbon future.
Jean-Louis is a seasoned entrepreneur who has launched companies across Africa in housing, healthcare, and logistics, and advised the public sector and global financial institutions on economic development and policy.
Since its launch, Future has introduced the award-winning FutureCard Visa® Debit Card, offering 5% cashback at 50,000 businesses across the U.S., while helping consumers lower both costs and their carbon footprint.
I am your host RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode click to follow.