Wharton Fintech Podcast

Tarang Gupta hosts Neal Desai, CEO & Co-founder of Kafene, a fintech company helping consumers with affordable lease-to-own options for furniture, appliances, electronics, tires, and more. In this episode you will hear about - What is lease-to-own (LTO) and how it is different from the BNPL model - Challenges of disrupting and modernizing a legacy industry - Difference between financing companies holding risk on balance sheets vs those that operate as a marketplace - Not letting fear dictate one's decision making process - Value that an MBA added to Neal’s entrepreneurial journey And much more! About Neal Desai Neal Desai is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kafene. Before Kafene, Neal was the CFO at Octane Lending, a fintech unicorn. Neal also has almost 15 years of experience as a portfolio manager and a trader at companies like Alpine Partners, Summit Securities, and Merrill Lynch. Neal holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a B.A. from Princeton University. About Kafene Kafene is a Series B fintech startup t