GROWTH STAGE: Candidly
Growth Stage: The Story Behind the Headlines—Told Candidly
On October 1, Growth Stage: Candidly brings three leaders into the spotlight for an invite-only evening of storytelling, connection, and shared insight.
Founder & CEO Laurel Taylor will be joined by two key figures in Candidly’s evolution. Each will take the stage alone, but together, their stories will reveal the conviction, relationships, and transformational technology carrying Candidly into its next chapter.
Because behind every great leader is a team turning vision into reality.
📍 THE GREEN ROOM | San Francisco War Memorial
401 Van Ness Ave | San Francisco, CA 94102
📅 October 1 | 5:00–8:00 p.m.
🔒 Approval Only
✨ The closing event of FTW
One Company. Three Perspectives.
Growth stories are often reduced to a single visionary. The reality is far more compelling.
Behind every defining company is a founder with conviction, an investor who recognized the opportunity, and a partner who experienced the value firsthand.
Growth Stage widens the spotlight.
Through three individually told stories, the evening will reveal Candidly’s journey through three interconnected perspectives:
The Founder: Laurel Taylor on the personal conviction, pivotal decisions, and ambitious vision behind Candidly
The Investor: A lead investor on the company’s journey, market opportunity, and potential
The Partner: A strategic partner on Candidly’s value and real-world impact
The stories will culminate in a closing conversation between Laurel Taylor and Nicole Casperson—connecting the experiences that shaped Candidly with the vision guiding what comes next.
The Evening
Arrival | 5:00 p.m.
Guests gather for drinks and conversation with a thoughtfully selected group of founders, investors, financial-services executives, enterprise partners, and technology leaders.
Growth Stage | 6:00 p.m.
Welcome and opening remarks
Laurel Taylor’s founder and growth story
A lead investor’s perspective
A strategic partner’s perspective
Closing conversation with Laurel Taylor and Nicole Casperson
After the Stage | 7:00 p.m.
The evening continues with drinks, introductions, and meaningful conversation through 8:00 p.m.—a final opportunity to connect before FTW comes to a close.
On Stage
Laurel Taylor
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Candidly
Laurel Taylor is the founder and CEO of Candidly—and the inventor of the student loan 401(k) match, a category-defining innovation that allows people to build retirement savings while paying down student debt.
After experiencing the long-term cost of student debt firsthand, Laurel transformed a deeply personal challenge into a platform making intelligent, individualized financial guidance more accessible. A former Google executive and MIT Sloan MBA, she has also helped advocate for consequential legislation, including the CARES Act and SECURE 2.0.
On Growth Stage, Laurel will share the conviction behind Candidly, the inflection points that shaped its journey, and the vision guiding its transformation into an AI-native financial-guidance company.
Lead Investor
To be announced
A perspective on Candidly’s evolution, the opportunity ahead, and what it takes to recognize a company poised for its next stage of growth.
Strategic Partner
To be announced
A firsthand account of Candidly’s value, its impact, and the difference transformational technology can make when it reaches the people it was designed to serve.
More speakers announced soon.
Who Will Be in the Room
Founders and CEOs
Investors and capital allocators
Financial-services executives
Enterprise customers and strategic partners
Technology and product leaders
People shaping what finance becomes next
The guest list is intentionally limited—creating space for the stories to resonate and the conversations to continue.
The Closing Event of FTW
After a week of ideas, introductions, and momentum, Growth Stage brings FTW to a close by returning to what matters most: the people behind the progress.
Come for the stories behind Candidly. Stay for the conversations that could shape what comes next.
One company. Three perspectives. The final stage of FTW.
Growth Stage— The story behind the headlines, told Candidly...
About:
FTW is the official San Francisco Fintech Week conference—a three-day gathering of the founders, operators, investors, and financial-services leaders shaping what comes next.
From September 29 through October 1, the industry comes together in the heart of the Bay Area for high-signal ideas, meaningful connections, and conversations grounded in building the future of finance.
Explore the full conference and reserve your pass →
Fintech Is Femme is a media company and global community reaching more than 100,000 fintech leaders through its flagship newsletter, sold-out event series, and top-rated podcasts. The platform tells the real stories behind financial innovation—spotlighting the leaders shaping the future of our global digital economy.
Subscribe to the Fintech Is Femme Newsletter.
Nicole Casperson is a five-time award-winning journalist and one of fintech’s most influential voices. As Founder & CEO of Fintech Is Femme, she has built a category-defining media company and community reaching more than 100,000 fintech leaders globally. Through her widely read newsletter, top-ranked podcast, and standing-room-only events, Nicole delivers analysis and insight at the intersection of finance, technology, and power.
In addition to her media work, Nicole lectures at Parsons School of Design, contributes to Forbes, speaks on global stages, and champions women as fintech’s most powerful—and most underestimated—advantage.