The Pomp Podcast
#473 Everett Cook on Building A Modern Fintech
- Everett Cook's background spans investment banking at Deutsche Bank, macro hedge fund trading at SAC Capital, and founding Rho Business Banking to serve high-growth companies with integrated financial services.
- Rho targets mid-market and scaling companies (not consumer or early-stage startups) by bundling checking, treasury management, budgeting, accounts payable, and other tools into a single platform designed for CFOs.
- The fintech market is not a bubble but a new asset class; digital finance companies will eventually outcompete legacy banks because they operate at vastly superior efficiency and scale.
- Decentralized finance (DeFi) and Bitcoin both have strong structural tailwinds—Bitcoin's fixed supply versus growing demand is a classic bullish asymmetry for investors focused on supply-side analysis.
- The macro environment during COVID-19 accelerated Rho's customer growth because high-tech, high-growth companies thrived while traditional businesses struggled.
- Rho's vision is to consolidate the fragmented fintech ecosystem (currently requiring 7–10 products per CFO) into one or two integrated solutions.