Why empowering fintech and SaaS startups truly hits home for me

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I'm thrilled to announce that I've joined the team at Unusual Ventures as vice president, focusing on fintech and SaaS investments.

My interest in fintech began as a child after growing up in a low socioeconomic background and living paycheck to paycheck. I was convinced that the only way to break free of my situation was to better understand the financial ecosystem and find ways to improve it. My journey into financial services professionally began in 2014 as a strategic consultant for numerous banks and insurance companies. I learned a lot from working with large incumbents and realized there were many pain points in the ecosystem that needed to be disrupted. This is what drove me into venture in 2017 to focus on fintech and related verticals, meeting entrepreneurs, and observing how the broader landscape was evolving.

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While at Stanford Business School, I doubled down on my interest in fintech and explored themes across payments, banking infrastructure, and other sectors through internships and serving as co-president of the fintech club. I remain incredibly bullish on the fintech and SaaS sectors, where we’ll continue to see world-class entrepreneurs emerge. With so many options for venture capital, I wanted to be somewhere where I could offer founders true differentiation and rationale for why they should partner with Unusual to build the companies of the future.

I chose to join the team at Unusual because I have seen how our approach to serving early-stage entrepreneurs is unique and impactful. Unusual provides the best resources and support startups on the path to product-market fit. The team is stacked with former successful operators across multiple sectors who have endured the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey. 

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It's not just the impressive background of the Unusual team, but also the firm’s deep commitment to supporting our founders, which stood out to me. I was blown away by the team and culture of the firm — everyone is focused on empowering our founders through their journey in building world-class businesses. Lastly, the integrity and excellence that Unusual Co-Founder John Vrionis and the team have built is paramount to how we operate as investors.

I am grateful to John, Lars, and the rest of the Unusual team for welcoming me and I'm excited to get started.

If you're an aspiring or current founder in the fintech or SaaS sectors, I look forward to meeting you and hopefully finding a way to work together. Please feel free to reach me at tyler@unusual.vc, on Twitter, and LinkedIn.