Mike Mittleman Career Coaching January FinTech Monthly Newsletter
Published: Thu, 01/13/22
Mike Mittleman Career Coaching
January FinTech Monthly Newsletter
Please Note: We have 2 new sections: “Crypto Predictions for 2022” and “Networking”
Overview
We track people movements from the top 10 largest investment banks to the top 40 largest FinTechs. See the appendix for a company list.
December people moves totaled 144 professionals, up slightly from 140 in November. With December typically being a quiet month in the financial services industry, this data underscores strong market demand for talent.
Stripe was responsible for 13% of the FinTech hiring in December, compared to 7.5% in November. The increase was comprised entirely of senior-level hiring which tallied 8 additional positions- primarily for Product and Program Manager roles.
Spotlight Section
Location, Location, Location
FinTechs hired Wall Street pros in 39 cities this month. NYC led the nation again with 43 hires going to 13 different FinTech companies. San Francisco dropped to 24 from 35 last month. Charlotte led the rest of a very scattered field with 10 hires.
Coinbase doubled all other hiring companies in NYC with 13 hires in December. Stripe hired most in San Francisco with 6, alongside 10 other employers acquiring new talent. Hiring companies in Charlotte included Credit Karma and AvidXchange.
Robinhood also hired people in 13 cities nationwide- all the way from New Haven, CT to Phoenix, AZ.
***New Section***
Crypto Predictions for 2022
It’s that time of the year for prognostications and predictions. We like the Messari Report because it is well thought out and includes multiple predictions including top 10 lists for:
A. Investment Theses
B. People to Watch
C. Regulation Implications
D. More
Bye Bye Banks
In December, we tracked 144 professionals who made a move from the top 10 investment banks to the top 40 FinTechs. This pace keeps with the weekly average of about 35-40 professionals observed over the past several months.
All of the top 10 investment banks were represented again in December. JP Morgan was the clear leader with 34 professionals going to 16 different FinTechs. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citi each saw about 20 professionals move to FinTechs. Each of the remaining top 10 investment banks averaged 6 moves.
Hello FinTechs
Coinbase was the top FinTech hiring company with 27 new additions in December. Robinhood was next in line with 21 hires and Stripe increased to 19 from 11 hires last month. PayPal led the rest of the field at 15, with a total of 25 FinTechs making at least 1 hire from a top 10 investment bank.
Despite the recent volatility in public FinTech stocks, they remain employers of choice. Over the past 12 months, Coinbase is down 32%, PayPal 25%, SoFi 31%, Square (now Block) 39%, and Robinhood 57%.
Job Role
We saw hiring this month across all 12 job role categories we cover. IT, Sales, and Operations professionals were in the highest demand with 21%, 16%, and 14% of hires, respectively. Legal and Research hiring was next at about 10% each. Finance, HR, Product Management, and Strategy were all grouped around 5% of total hiring. Representation was well balanced as 4 or more professionals were hired in 10 of the 12 job
categories.
Coinbase was the top employer for IT and tied with Robinhood for Sales positions. Robinhood was first in Operations hiring.
Seniority
Consistent with the trend, almost 60% of total hires in December were senior-level positions. Mid-level hires were 30% and junior-level hires came in at 10%. We are not seeing any signs of slowing for senior-level hiring. Entry-level hiring is certainly happening however many of the candidates are not coming from the top investment banks we monitor.
Coinbase replaced PayPal with the most senior-level hires at 16 this month. Stripe followed with 13 senior-level positions filled.
***New Section***
Networking
Meetup offers in-person and zoom cost-effective events. Below are some of the key groups for the NYC area.
1. What are NFT’s?
2. How popular are NFT’s?
3. How are NFT’s taxed?
4. What are existing companies doing with NFT’s?
Answers appear at the end
Quiz
What was the Christie’s auction price for Beeple’s (Mike Winkelmann) NFT “Everydays – The First 5000 Days”?
A. $28.9 million
B. $69.3 million
C. $91.8 million
D. $532 million
The End
Q&A Answers
1. Nonfungible tokens that represent ownership of “one-of-a-kind” digital or physical assets, including industries such as art, music, gaming, and sports.
2. NFT trading volume totaled almost $10.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021.
3. NFT’s are subject to capital gains taxes but might be taxed at a higher collectibles tax rate. The IRS has not officially announced how to consider NFT’s for tax purposes.
4. Instagram is actively exploring the NFT scene and Adidas just sold $22 million in NFT’s last month.
Top 10 Investment Banks and Top 40 FinTechs we follow:
Investment Banks: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citi, UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Barclays, and JP Morgan.
