Hi, fintech fam! 💜

Reporting from Sunny Orlando ☀️ I’ve been on the ground at FIS Emerald, covering the front lines of AI, banking, and the future of fintech—and it’s been a whirlwind.

As I write this, I’m already en route to the airport, heading back to New York to be at Salesforce’s Agentforce World Tour bright and early tomorrow.

Just like FIS, I’ll be covering Agentforce live—sharing key takeaways, behind-the-scenes interviews, tech demos, and everything shaping the next wave of innovation.

One moment from FIS that stuck with me: the CTO described himself as a futurist—not someone who predicts the future, but someone who helps others prepare for it. That’s the kind of mindset I know our community here aligns with.

Follow along on LinkedIn and Instagram for live updates—and of course, right here in your inbox.

Now, let’s get into today’s column.

INNOVATION

When Elizabeth Gore took the stage at the Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit for a live recording of Fintech Mavericks, she was both exactly where she belonged—and a long way from where her journey began.

"We faced a black swan event, and instead of hiding, we owned it," Gore told the crowd. "The only way through it was straight through—and we came out stronger, more profitable, and more united because of it."

Gore is the Co-Founder and President of Hello Alice, a fintech company that has provided more than $60 million in grants and financing to over 1.5 million small business owners. But long before she was an entrepreneur backed by MasterCard and QED Investors, she was, in her own words, just a "shit-kicking cowgirl from Texas."

That grit has become a defining feature of her leadership style—especially over the last year, when Hello Alice found itself at the center of one of the most high-profile anti-DEI lawsuits in fintech.

The suit claimed Hello Alice’s grant program for Black-owned commercial vehicle businesses was discriminatory. Rather than settle or quietly backtrack, Gore and her team chose to fight.

"We knew this wasn’t just about one grant program—it was about our core mission and the future of equitable capital access," Gore said.

They won the case—but not without cost.

Before launching Hello Alice, Gore built a career spanning global leadership and tech innovation.

She served as Dell Technologies' first-ever entrepreneur-in-residence, held a senior leadership role at the United Nations, where she spearheaded global entrepreneurship initiatives, and has been recognized as one of People Magazine’s Top 100 Extraordinary Women.

Her mission has remained consistent: to democratize access to capital for America’s Main Street entrepreneurs—those too often left behind by venture capital and traditional finance.

“We’ve done almost $60 million in small business grants,” Gore said. “Not all, but most of those are $5,000–$10,000. And we fund everyone—from veterans to Latina bakers in Detroit to Black-owned commercial fleets.”

Hello Alice’s community-driven approach is a philosophy and the foundation of their business model.

In addition to funding, the company offers a proprietary Business Health Score: a free, pre-underwriting tool that helps business owners improve their financial readiness before they even apply for capital.

“We realized that managing capital is just as important as accessing it,” she said.

The lawsuit against Hello Alice centered on a targeted grant program, part of a broader philanthropic strategy. As Gore shared from the stage, the decision to fight the case rather than quietly settle was not taken lightly.

“We had to weigh the legal costs, our mission, and whether we had the infrastructure to weather the storm,” she said. “At the time, we had 650,000 Black-owned businesses on our platform. We felt like we had to fight—not just for our business, but for our mission.”

That decision nearly tanked their Series C. Days before closing the round, many investors pulled out. The company lost millions. Then came another blow: SVB, Hello Alice’s second-largest investor, collapsed.

But there was a silver lining. MasterCard and QED stuck with them, leading the Series C round that brought Hello Alice’s valuation to $130 million. The team cut costs, avoided over-dilution, and came out stronger. “Ironically,” Gore noted, “our employees now have more equity, and we didn’t end up needing all the money we thought we did.”

Gore is a seasoned communicator, but even she admitted a misstep early on: choosing to stay quiet while the lawsuit played out.

“We didn’t want to distract from the core business. But the other side went loud in the media—and we weren’t controlling our own message,” she said. “That was a mistake.”

Eventually, the Hello Alice team went on the offensive, aligning with a woman-owned PR firm and launching a proactive strategy.

“If you don’t control your own narrative, someone else will write it for you,” Gore said.

For the entrepreneurs in the audience, Gore laid out a playbook. Here are a few of her most actionable insights:

1. Create a Decision-Making Matrix

In a crisis, emotions can cloud judgment. "You can't let fear drive the business," Gore said. "But you also can’t ignore it." Her advice? Evaluate decisions through three key lenses:

2. Communicate the Framework, Not Just the Decision

“You won’t always get consensus,” she said. “But if people understand how you arrived at a decision—even if they disagree—they’ll respect it.”

3. Embed Purpose Into the P&L

Gore praised companies that turn DEI initiatives into measurable business objectives.

“Put it in your sales goals. Your loan strategy. Treat inclusion like the growth engine it is,” she said.

4. Use AI to Serve, Not Replace

Hello Alice is now developing AI agents that will act as business consultants for its users—automating everything from bookkeeping to loan readiness.

“Our customers often can’t afford an accountant or financial advisor,” she said. “These AI agents will do that work for them. And they’ll be free.”

5. Listen to the Community

The most innovative features on Hello Alice, Gore admitted, often come not from brainstorming sessions, but from user forums and community chat threads.

“Small business owners tell each other what they need before they tell us,” she said. “You just have to listen.”

In a time when fintech leaders are feeling pressure to walk back their values, Gore’s story is a case study in what happens when you lean in instead.

“We didn’t do this for the media,” she said. “We did it because equitable access to capital is our business. If we lost that, we’d lose the reason we exist.”

For founders navigating their own growth, uncertainty, or external pressure, Gore’s example is a reminder that values and value creation don’t have to be at odds.

You can build a profitable business. You can build with purpose. And if you’re bold enough to do both, you can transform an industry.

Elizabeth Gore did—and won.

Listen to the full season finale of Fintech Mavericks here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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That’s all for now! See you Thursday!

Love,

Nicole 💜