
Episode #251
The Man in the Arena: Olympic Wrestler Turned Founder Jeff Adamson of Neo Financial on Why Canada Is Playing to Win
Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of fintech with special guest Jeff Adamson, co-founder of Neo Financial and Skip the Dishes. Listen in as Jeff traces the path from a five-time national wrestling champion training in the attic of a Saskatoon furniture warehouse to building two of Canada's best-known startups β and why seeing someone from the block over become a champion is what makes ambition feel possible. He explains how Skip nearly died the day it added delivery, why he calls 2008 "the best marketing coup the banks could have ever asked for," and how Neo negotiates wholesale deposit rates on behalf of billions to pass the savings back, Costco-style. Alex and Jeff also get into what breaks when stablecoins, real-time rails, open banking and agentic finance arrive at once β hot money sweeping between institutions overnight, and bidding wars in the split second between tap and approval β why credit bureaus built before women could vote are still gating home ownership, and why being great in Canada isn't enough.

