In our latest podcast, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) is joined by Mike Vaughan. Mike is currently an Executive in Residence at Oak HC/FT, a leading venture capital firm investing in early to growth-stage companies in healthcare and fintech with ~$2 B in AUM. Prior to this role, Mike was the COO of Venmo, scaling the business from the ground floor to 40 M active users, a $300 M revenue run rate, and $100 B in payments in 2019.
In this episode, Mike shares:
- His background and why he jumped into entrepreneurship after graduating from Wharton
- Lessons learned from the early days of Venmo
- The key decisions that enabled Venmo to scale over time
- Mike's focus at Oak HC/FT and his view on where the next wave of innovation will be in FinTech
- Advice for those starting their careers in FinTech
Over more than two decades, Mike has developed successful businesses across multiple industries, including three exits totaling >$1 B in market value. He currently serves as an independent board member and active advisor to several early and growth-stage enterprise and consumer tech companies. Mike graduated with an economics degree from Wharton.
