Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 008 – Carla Dearing, FlexWage/Sum180

From Wall Street to non-profit CEO to a FinTech founder! Carla Dearing and I could have gone on for hours.

FinTech is not a place for the faint of heart, but Carla Dearing was a woman on a mission. Her education and Wall Street experience with Morgan Stanley’s consulting department set her up with the knowledge and connections–but it was her grit, determination, and smarts that assured her success in the FinTech space. Carla shared that her secrets (many!) to success were creating a disruptive FinTech product, maneuvering a strategic acquisition at the same time she acquired capital (very rare, and not easy!), and making her product “mission-critical”. FlexWage/Sum180 grew out of this richly cultivated field of know-how and determination.

Carla also warned that the FinTech space requires significant capital to be successful–upwards of $500,000,000 in some cases. Given the challenges that women can face in accessing capital, that benchmark seems daunting when looking up at it from the ground floor of a FinTech startup. That’s where the brilliant move of acquisition meets capital really paid off well for Sum180. She also shares that in the FinTech environment, as a founder, you literally have to do everything right. No mistakes allowed. But the pressure didn’t stop Carla Dearing and her team from positioning themselves as an institutional startup, incubating inside an innovative partner’s organization, and shooting for the stars.

Join Carla and me while we dig into this perfect equation for success on Her Million Dollar My$tery!

Listen to the podcast here!