Jake Gibson co-founded NerdWallet and spent over seven years building it from a two-person startup into a major consumer fintech company, giving him an operator background that shapes how he evaluates founders and products as someone who frames himself as a "founder who became a VC" rather than a career investor. He views fintech as "a state of mind" rather than just a sector label and often backs companies that other investors might not consider traditional fintech, as long as financial infrastructure is central to their value proposition. Jake Gibson co-founded NerdWallet and spent over seven years building it from a two-person startup into a major consumer fintech company, giving him an operator background that shapes how he evaluates founders and products as someone who frames himself as a "founder who became a VC" rather than a career investor. He views fintech as "a state of mind" rather than just a sector label and often backs companies that other investors might not consider traditional fintech, as long as financial infrastructure is central to their value proposition.