Scouting for Growth
by Sabine VanderLinden
The Readiness Problem: Two Rooms, One Verdict
About this podcast
There are over 180,000 FinTech ventures out there today.
My team tracks 7.3 million of them across markets every single week.
But the number that matters isn’t the one that’s growing. It’s the one that isn’t.
Only 25% of these ventures have secured funding and meaningful backing.
The other 75% aren’t just looking for capital. They’re looking for access, credibility, and partnerships with the institutions that can turn a great product into real-world impact.
This is Scouting for Growth. I’m Sabine VanderLinden. I lead Alchemy Crew Ventures, and I built the Venture-Client Model for regulated industries... the model where a growth venture earns a corporation as its customer before a VC writes the cheque. When that sequence works, it changes the equation for everyone: founders, corporates, and the investors watching from both sides of the table.
Each episode, I bring a founder, an operator, or an institutional leader to the table for the conversation that usually happens behind closed doors: about how corporates really think, how capital really flows, and what it actually takes to build, grow, and scale in a world where the boundaries between FinTech, InsurTech, HealthTech, and AI are dissolving by the month.
This isn’t theory. Our conversations should bring you the strategy, the tactics, and the hard-won clarity from people who control capital and collaboration.
If you’re navigating this ecosystem — as a founder, an operator, or a leader — this conversation is for you.
Listen in. Challenge what you thought you knew. And join us.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 241 episodes
- The Readiness Problem: Two Rooms, One Verdict · 18 min · Episode 241Your next AI pilot will not fix an operating model that cannot scale it. Two rooms. Two cities. One verdict. In this solo episode of Scouting for Growth, I connect the…
- Manjit Rana: Moving at the Speed of Trust · 1 h 5 min · Episode 240Insurance has become extraordinarily good at finding the few. The next competitive advantage may come from clearing the many. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, I sit down…
- Prof Gianvito Lanzolla: Strategy in the World of Data and AI · 1 h 7 min · Episode 239AI is changing the economics of business. But it is not rewriting the fundamentals of strategy. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, I sit down with Professor Gianvito…
- Agentic Distribution: AI Can Find the Customer. Can You Keep Them? · 18 min · Episode 238Discovery is becoming abundant. Customer ownership is not. In this solo episode of Scouting for Growth, I go inside the Distribution Intelligence Layer and examine what happens…
- The Enterprise Intelligence Stack: Why Four Excellent Tools Produce Nothing · 16 min · Episode 237Four excellent tools can still produce nothing. Intelligence only creates value when it connects, compounds, and scales. In this solo episode of Scouting for Growth, I introduce…
- Kevin Maney: The Category Creation Formula for Winning Markets in the AI Era · 50 min · Episode 236Kevin Maney: The Category Creation Formula for Winning Markets in the AI Era AI is making products easier to build, but meaningful differentiation harder to sustain. A stronger…
- Denise Garth: The Frontier Insurer, One Year In · 1 h 37 min · Episode 235Denise Garth: The Frontier Insurer, One Year In Denise Garth returns to Scouting for Growth one year after the Frontier Firm idea began to move from a strategic aspiration into…
- Bárbara Fernández: Human-Agent Collaboration, Agentic AI, and the Rise of the Human Boss · 27 min · Episode 234Bárbara Fernández: Human-Agent Collaboration, Agentic AI, and the Rise of the Human Boss The future of work will not be won by humans who move faster. It will be shaped by humans…
- Carlos Falcón: Rebuilding the Insurance Core for AI, Venture Scouting and the Frontier Firm · 27 min · Episode 233Carlos Falcón: Rebuilding the Insurance Core for AI, Venture Scouting and the Frontier Firm Insurance does not have an innovation shortage. It has an absorption problem. In this…
- Reggie Townsend: Making Responsible AI Irresistible · 1 h 36 min · Episode 232Responsible AI will not scale because leaders believe in it. It will scale when doing the right thing becomes easier than working around it. In this episode of Scouting for…
- Dale Diamond: When a $25K Claim Becomes a $7M Verdict or More · 1 h 15 min · Episode 231The future of insurance claims will not be decided in court. It will be shaped much earlier: in the first conversation, the first escalation decision and the first 180 days. In…
- Willem Paling: From Messy Middles to Autonomous Agents and the Race for Trust at Scale · 47 min · Episode 230AI in insurance has crossed a threshold. The question is no longer whether insurers can experiment with artificial intelligence. The question is whether they can govern it, scale…
- Patrick Van Deven: The Frontier Firm's Moat isn't Data. It's The Layer that Governs It. · 43 min · Episode 229The AI revolution has a hidden dependency most enterprises are still underestimating. It is not the model. It is not the interface. It is not even the agent. The real…
- Brad Wetherall: AI Search, Agentic AI, and How Corporations Must Adapt to Digital Discovery · 57 min · Episode 228Search is no longer just a destination. It is becoming an intelligent decision layer. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden speaks with Brad Wetherall…
- The App Era Is Over: Wallet-Native Insurance & the Agentic Frontier — Marc Lampe × Ernesto Suarez Talk Collaboration · 1 h 12 min · Episode 227Insurance is not failing because it lacks technology. It fails when customers cannot access help at the exact moment they need it. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine…
- David Daiches: Inside INSHUR — From Manhattan Uber Rides to Insuring Autonomous Fleets · 1 h 4 min · Episode 226Insurance did not fail the mobility economy because it lacked technology. It failed because it misunderstood behavior. That is the core insight behind this conversation with…
- Alan Martin: Why Insurers Who Invest in Wellness Win — The Healthcare Innovation Playbook still works · 1 h 8 min · Episode 225What if the biggest opportunity in insurance isn’t pricing risk—but transforming it? Alan Martin brings a bold, necessary reframe to the life and health insurance industry: the…
- Xavier Lestrade: From Insurance to Personalized Care Pathways: The New Blueprint for Growth · 27 min · Episode 224The future of health insurance will not be defined by faster claims processing—but by relevance in everyday life. In this episode, Xavier Lestrade, Managing Director of AXA…
- From Org Charts to Work Charts: What the MIT Frontier Firm Paper Means for Insurance, Finance & Risk · 27 min · Episode 223AI isn’t disrupting your business because it’s intelligent. It’s disrupting it because it orchestrates. In this solo episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden explores…
- The Risk Intelligence Gap: How Exposure Data Deficiency Is Reshaping Property Underwriting · 42 min · Episode 222The future of property underwriting will not be won by carriers with the most models. It will be won by those with the most decision-grade intelligence. In this episode of…







