From credit investing to building small business lending at Intuit and Square—and to his current role as CEO of Pipe, Luke Voiles joins Alex in this series kickoff to share his journey and explains why vertical SaaS is *the* perfect channel for embedded finance: trusted software brands delivering capital at the exact point of need…which makes capital feel like part of the workflow instead of an interruption. This episode lays the foundation for a series of candid conversations with the operators proving the future of fintech will be built inside vertical SaaS.

Alex Johnson and Luke Voiles sit down with Bryan Solar, Chief Product Officer at SpotOn, to talk about what true customer centricity looks like in vertical SaaS. Bryan shares SpotOn’s journey from loyalty platform to payments… to an all-in-one operating system for restaurants, and why being loved by a subset beats being liked by many; how obsessing over small details (like the wrong button in a bartender’s workflow) can make or break a night, and when to build vs. partner in embedded finance. Plus, he shares how tools like Day Check (same-day wage access) and Profit Assist (an AI that once caught an $400-a-day cost error) can make a big impact. Restaurants run on thin margins, fragile moments, and thousands of micro-decisions—and software that’s built with empathy can literally be the difference between survival and failure. Don’t miss this conversation on how customer centricity, done right, becomes a right to win.

In episode 3, we’re joined by Ethan Senturia, President of Housecall Pro to dig even deeper into the fintech strategy behind embedded finance within vertical SaaS. But how does the process of embedding financial products within vertical SaaS platforms actually work? How should these platforms define their fintech strategy, sequence their roadmap, and be prepared for…what risks and challenges? Housecall Pro began with the essentials (pricing, scheduling, dispatch, invoicing) and grew into a full operating system for professionals across trades like HVAC, plumbing, electrical, cleaning, and more. Along the way, Ethan discovered that segmentation isn’t just about industry or company size; it’s about persona. As he learned on day one: “There is no such thing as a pro.” A roofer, a cleaner, and a 20-person plumbing shop each need different workflows, pricing logic, and financial tools. The fintech roadmap at Housecall Pro was built around one mantra: all money in, all money out. Threaded throughout: the gritty reality of 140° attics, wasp nests in walls, and pros spending 80% of their day “under the sink” but 80% of their worry on spreadsheets. This episode is a front-row seat to what fintech strategy really looks like when it’s built for the people doing the work.

In this episode, we attempt to tackle the age-old question: build, buy, or partner? Sitting down with AJ Axelrod, VP Payments & Financial Services at Clio, we explore how Clio is uniquely designed to handle the unique complexities that lawyers face every day. Clio is a vSaaS operating system for lawyers, and AJ thoughtfully walks us through how Clio decided what to build, what to buy, and when to partner. Spoiler: legal-specific finance is a different beast—every transfer has to be auditable, or you’ll have a compliance failure (and lawyers, famously, read the fine print!). Payments started as integrations and evolved into Clio Payments, now with support for cards, ACH, wallets, QR codes, and text-to-pay, all tied into legal accounting requirements. This episode is a front-row seat to what fintech strategy really looks like when it’s built for the people doing the work.

In episode 5, we sit down with Lacey Ford, CMO at ABC Fitness, to unpack how vertical SaaS companies go to market—through the lens of fitness tech, of course. ABC Fitness is a vSaaS platform focused on serving businesses in the fitness and health industry, from massive, multi-location gyms to independent personal trainers, studios, and boutiques. Given the breadth of different businesses that ABC Fitness serves, across multiple countries, it’s easy to see just how important a strong go-to-market strategy is for the company. Not to mention, gyms are becoming a third place community—one where Gen Z is driving growth, and wearables, biometrics, and AI are all raising expectations. This is a true B2B2C motion where owners are hands on, and tiny moments at the front desk—or a declined payment—are greater than the sum of their parts. Here’s how Lacey maps it across segments: enterprises move through consultative cycles, studios want speed with clear time to value, and coaches live in a PLG flow inside ABC Trainerize. Big picture, Lacey brings it home to the operating cadence: put the customer at the center, get the right people in early around a shared narrative and shared metrics, and close the loop. Do that, and go to market and retention become the same muscle (pun intended).

In our series finale, we confront the biggest questions yet, like: How can maturing vertical SaaS companies scale without losing the obsessive focus that made them indispensable? Should they expand into adjacent markets, or double down on their niche? And, as AI transforms oversight from slow, sample-based audits into continuous real-time monitoring, who will own the responsibility for keeping these systems safe? We welcome special guest Darragh Buckey (Founder and CEO of Increase—and, before that, the first employee at Stripe). Along the way, we get candid about the capital “S” Specialization that’s making this ecosystem work: Vertical SaaS companies own the workflows, fintech partners like Pipe handle capital and risk, and infrastructure providers take on the tough, regulated money movement no one else wants to touch. Get a front-row seat to how the “lasagna” of financial services is being rebuilt, one specialized layer at a time. And how, if we get it right, it will serve small businesses, developers, and the broader economy far better than the systems it’s replacing.