The ultimate weapon in the fintech wars ⚔️
Why distribution and the right partnerships beat any killer product in a market full of giants
Fintech moves at AI speed. Crypto, challenger banks, payments: everyone claims to have ‘the next big thing’. Amid the frenzy around Money20/20 Amsterdam this week, the noise is deafening.
But here’s the ugly truth most pitch decks skip: even if you build an amazing product, you’ll die on the market if you don’t solve for distribution.
That’s the message at the heart of Fintech Wars by James da Costa, the most hyped (and best-rated) book in fintech circles right now. He’s the co-founder of Fingo Africa, the digital-only bank shaking up financial access for millions, and now a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he backs the next generation of fintech disruptors.
This is also the lesson I keep hearing from the founders I interview for Millennial Masters: brand is just a story, product is table stakes, but distribution — getting your solution into real hands, again and again — is the real battleground.
Here’s what every fintech founder needs to know from Fintech Wars: 👇🏻
— Millennial Masters is sponsored by Jolt ⚡️ reliable hosting for modern builders
Distribution is the real moat
Let’s start with the giants. Da Costa lays it out with brutal clarity: Visa and Mastercard didn’t just build good products. They built networks so vast, so interconnected, and so embedded with financial partners that they became almost impossible to dislodge. Their tech was good, but their distribution strategy was genius.
This network effect ratchet happens once a player reaches a certain scale, and every new participant (merchant, bank, fintech, even governments) strengthens the fortress. The product becomes secondary. The battle is won on the field of access and adoption, not on the features page.
Want to launch a new payment card? You’ll run straight into the ‘acceptance problem: unless every shop and bank supports you, your shiny card is useless. Apple Pay succeeded because it piggybacked on the Visa/Mastercard rails, not because it convinced every retailer one by one.
It’s the same story in other fintech verticals. PayPal wasn’t the first to try online payments, but it won by hustling for integrations: first with eBay, then the broader web. Stripe became a $90bn company by making it easier for developers to add payments anywhere, then locking in distribution via partnerships with Shopify, Amazon, and dozens of “platform” clients.
Partnerships: Your secret weapon
Here’s the overlooked truth of fintech warfare: nobody wins alone. The best founders, da Costa argues, fight for distribution via partnerships, alliances, and integration into existing power networks.
Every fintech success story is a story of strategic partnership. PayPal cut a deal with eBay to make itself the default wallet, then became the standard for online payments.
Nubank stormed the Brazilian banking fortress by partnering with underbanked communities and digital-first retailers. Wise (formerly TransferWise) scaled by integrating with challenger banks and APIs, reaching users far outside its own brand’s direct reach.
But it’s not just about incumbents. Fintechs increasingly “partner with their frenemies.” Embedded finance is all about distribution: you get your loan, insurance, or payments API inside someone else’s product, and both sides win.
When brand is dead, distribution is king
Let’s not kid ourselves: in fintech, nobody cares about your clever logo or witty tagline. (I made this argument in my last feature: The era of the brand is over. Long live distribution.)
The consumer might like your app, but the only thing that matters is whether you can actually get it in front of them, and keep it there.
You could build the world’s most beautiful crypto wallet, but without exchange partners, custody rails, or fiat onramps, it’s dead in the water. You can launch the most ethical buy-now-pay-later service, but if Klarna or Apple already “owns” the checkout, you’ll be shouting into the void.
Stripe’s rise wasn’t about its brand (though the Collison brothers are legends in their own right); it was about getting embedded into the infrastructure of the internet economy, then becoming the default.
Monzo and Revolut broke through by building massive user bases and securing key partnerships (Apple Pay, Google Pay, retailer integrations) that drove daily engagement.
Lessons for fintech founders
So what does this actually mean if you’re building in fintech, or any tech, for that matter? Here are the actionable rules that jump out from Fintech Wars (and from founder reality):
Prioritise distribution over features.
Don’t let product perfection slow your go-to-market. Find distribution first, partners, platforms, embedded plays, then iterate on the product.
Build partnerships early and often.
Start by asking: who already has the audience, licences, or access I need? Make yourself indispensable to them. The best partnership is the one that’s painful for them to rip out.
Defend your network effects.
Once you get a distribution channel, build defences: loyalty features, integrations, lock-ins, incentives.
Prepare to partner with frenemies.
You might hate the old banks, but they own the customer base. Sometimes you need to partner with giants, just don’t sell your soul.
Own your user relationship, don’t rent it.
If your only link to users is via Apple, Google, or a major bank, you’re always one API update or fee hike from disaster. Email lists, communities, multi-channel touchpoints are survival.
Storytelling still matters, but only if it drives action.
You still need to communicate what you do and why, but no amount of branding will make up for a lack of scale.
Distribution or demise
Only founders obsessed with distribution and relentless execution last in fintech. Everyone else gets swept aside.
Product excellence is necessary, but it’s not enough without strategic channels and genuine integration.
The next fintech legends won’t just build great tech; they’ll master getting it seamlessly into users’ lives.
The only way to win in the AI era 🦾
If you’re building anything that needs to last, you need range more than speed or depth. It’s the kind of breadth that makes you harder to replace, and even harder to out-think.
The era of the brand is over 👑
The internet’s golden age of branding is dead. In a world of platform “enshittification,” algorithmic paywalls, and bottomless digital noise, it’s no longer enough to polish your logo or chase the perfect tagline.
