Vishal Garg Is Back at Better, Plus Vinyl’s Bid to Fix IPO Infrastructure

This week on This Week in Fintech, Sasha Pilch is joined by reporter Mary Ann Azevedo to unpack the latest twist at Better. Just two months after being removed as CEO, Vishal Garg has regained control of the company’s board, helped remove the directors who ousted him, and now says he does not actually want the CEO job back. Mary Ann explains how the power struggle unfolded, what Garg says he learned while he was out, and whether Better can realistically deliver on its plans to cut costs and reach breakeven. Then Sasha sits down with Rob Schoder, founder and CEO of Vinyl Equity, to dig into one of the more obscure corners of capital markets infrastructure: transfer agents. Rob explains why moving shares around an IPO can still involve paper mail, temporary PINs and days of phone calls, and why something that should be close to instantaneous can still take weeks. They also discuss the SEC’s push to modernize transfer agent rules, how Vinyl is trying to create a smoother bridge between cap tables, equity plans and brokerage accounts, and why Rob believes ownership records will eventually move on chain, even if the transition takes years rather than months. Follow This Week in Fintech Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube