Advisory for fintechs building for the bank and credit union space and partnerships that determine whether they scale. We know how bank buyers think, because we've been them.
Banks buy trust, compliance, and certainty. Without someone who speaks their language, deals die in procurement, third-party risk review, or legal, before they ever really start.
Third-party risk management, vendor diligence, and board approval are unique to this buyer. Fintechs who treat it like a standard SaaS sale lose the deal before it begins.
Bank consolidation is accelerating. Fintechs that establish credibility now define the next decade's vendor landscape. Late movers face a crowded field.
Our founders spent 15 years inside banks, VC-backed fintechs and proptechs, sitting on the buyer's side of procurement, carrying products through third-party risk review, contracting, and board approval. Introductions land because they come from inside the banking community. The advice holds up because it comes from people who have made these decisions, not just pitched into them. We understand the challenges and pressures felt by both sides. That is the Anvil & Forge Advantage.
We've been the buyer. That's the edge.
Most fintechs pitch their technology. Bank buyers buy outcomes, risk reduction, and trust. Three workstreams close the gap, and build a motion that scales past the first deal.
Ideal customer profile, bank-specific messaging, and pricing architecture. A go-to-market built around how banks actually evaluate and buy.
Senior revenue leadership inside your team. In the room on the calls that matter, building pipeline discipline behind them, and handing off a system your team runs without us.
Translating your product's capabilities into the language of compliance, risk, and ROI that bank stakeholders require, so it clears the room you're not in.
Most early-stage fintechs need senior revenue leadership well before they can justify, or afford, the full-time executive. The fractional Chief Revenue Officer engagement puts that leadership inside your team now.
On the calls that matter, pitches, discovery, negotiation. You bring the product. We bring the context that makes banks say yes.
Standing internal sessions, pipeline reviews, sales coaching, strategy. Your team learns how banks think, buy, and decide, so every conversation lands harder.
When a deal gets stuck in third-party risk review, contracting, or implementation, we unstick it. We know the objections before they surface, and the paths around them.
The CRO engagement works inside your team, your CRM, your calls, your targets, and it's designed to hand off cleanly to the full-time leader you eventually hire.
Structured to move fast and align incentives from day one.
The engagement runs on a standing cadence, Voice of Customer sessions with your product team, a weekly GTM call. Short contracts with a 30-day exit clause as standard.
We don't take engagements we can't add value to. The gate check exists to protect your time as much as ours.
Check Your FitWe run a qualification conversation before any engagement. Post-seed, scaling, and hiring your first GTM lead, all three required. Pre-PMF companies get a direct referral to who can actually help them at that stage.
A clearly scoped agreement covering a standing weekly GTM call with our team and monthly Voice of Customer sessions feeding directly to your product roadmap.
We work your pipeline alongside you, not as a consultant on the side. Bank introductions are made through relationships, not cold lists. The difference shows in response rates.
30-day exit clause for either party. We're confident in the work, and the terms reflect it. No lock-in by design.
When we introduce you to a bank we advise, we are not paid twice on the same deal. If the bank is an A&F strategic client, we don't double-dip on the fintech side, and everyone in the room knows exactly who we work for.
It's why the introductions keep landing.
If you're a fintech trying to close your first bank partnership, or accelerate your tenth, let's talk.