“Kids are not just looking at hip hop and basketball anymore as a way out of the hood. They can sit in front of those 26 keys on a keyboard and can write a line of code that can change someone's life”
- Marcus Cobb
In this episode
Welcome to the first episode of The Fintech Cookout, a Modern FI series presented by Finotta. Each episode of The Fintech Cookout will feature a conversation between Finotta’s Head of Customer Success, Quincy Kennedy, and a fellow fintech leader in the BIPOC community. You will learn about the technology that is creating a more equitable financial industry, how financial institutions are responding to this technology, and the incredible individuals behind it all.
The first episode of The Fintech Cookout features Marcus Cobb, Founder & CEO of Mozaic, a fintech company built for the creator economy that makes it easy to collaborate with and pay creators anywhere and at scale. Quincy and Marcus dive deep into Marcus’ upbringing, how he rid himself of a victim mentality, turned weaknesses into strengths, got hired by Microsoft out of high school, and ultimately turned himself into a world-renowned entrepreneur. This episode is absolutely incredible and Marcus is a true inspiration.
Transcript:
0:00:00- 2:18:06
Marcus provides background, troubled childhood, and was really a part of the underbanked community.
2:18:06- 05:52:02
How Marcus switched his mindset from a victim mentality, Marcus talking about the Outliers book. How that mindset creates stagnation.
05:52:02- 7:38:15
Marcuss telling the story of the women who changed his life. Got him out of the victim mentality.
7:38:15-10:11:10
How much of the problems for underbanked people come because of the individual vs the society/culture. Marcus says 70% the individual and 30% circumstance/society. Tech like Finotta is making circustmstance less important.
10:11:10- 14:30:08
How Marcus got into coding, being a prodegy child, his grandmother allowed him to explore his passions.
14:30:08- 21:10:04
How important is mentorship in the black community, particularly those in fintech. The lessons behind black mentorship needs to move away from the victim mentality.
21:10:04- 25:22:08
Its easy to fall into the the emotinal mindset because of past history, but that is a weakness. When you are able to flip that around it becomes a strentgh.
25:22:08-29:48:20
Marcus telling the backstory of Jammber (now Mozaic), they have big news coming soon surrounding funding.
29:48:20- 34:08:18
The technology behind Mozaic.
34:08:18- 37:08:11
Mozaic's payment rails, they have a single line of code API, makes payment across borders much easier.
37:08:11- 46:32:00
What opportunties are financial insutitons leaving on the table when it comes to the creator and gig economies. Things are starting to improve, and financial instituions are being forced to focus more on the customers.
46:32:00-END
Marcus elaborting on his quote: “Kids are not just looking at hip hop and basketball anymore as a way out of the hood. They can sit in front of those 26 keys on a keyboard and can write a line of code that can change someone's life."