Product leadership in fintech and payments
I am Ricky Graziosi, I want to learn as much as possible about product, payments, building, investing, real estate, and health. I am currently working on building the future of payments, sharing information on fintech, and building a habitat for your life.
Current snapshot
A few things I am focused on right now.
Focus Areas
What I write and work on
My recent writing and operator experience center around fintech infrastructure and product execution.
Card Program Design
How prepaid and consumer debit programs are structured, launched, and scaled with sponsor-bank partners.
Sponsor-Bank Strategy
Tradeoffs across community banks, economics, and compliance posture for fintech products.
Payments Economics
Durbin and interchange dynamics translated into decisions for product and GTM teams.
Regulatory Operating Models
Where product design, risk, and compliance need to align for durable program growth.
Product Leadership
Iterating on onboarding and activation flows with measurable experiments instead of guesswork.
Practical Education
Writing clear, tactical explainers to help operators make better payments decisions faster.
Writing
Payments Demystified
Built for operators
Each issue breaks down how payment systems and card programs work in practice.
Economic and regulatory context
Topics include sponsor-bank structures, Durbin effects, and program-type tradeoffs.
Plain language
The goal is to make complex infrastructure decisions easier for product teams.
Ongoing series
Recent issues include Payments Demystified v23 and v24.
How I support teams
A typical approach for product and strategy engagements.
Frame the program model
Clarify product type, sponsor-bank constraints, and success metrics.
Map economics and risk
Identify where unit economics and compliance pressure shape key decisions.
Prioritize the roadmap
Sequence product and platform work into pragmatic execution milestones.
Ship and iterate
Launch with clear ownership, feedback loops, and decision hygiene.
Quick answers
What people usually ask first.
What do you focus on most right now?
Fintech product leadership, card program strategy, and payments education through Substack.
Where can I follow your writing?
On Substack at rickygraz.substack.com in the Payments Demystified series.
Can we connect directly?
Yes, LinkedIn is available at linkedin.com/in/rgraziosi.
How do we get started?
Use the contact page with project goals, timeline, and current blockers.
Want deeper payments breakdowns?
Follow Payments Demystified or reach out directly for focused product support.