Caliber Corporate Advisers CEO Grace Keith Rodriguez recently joined Jared S. Taylor on the Slice of Finance podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of fintech PR.

From the importance of finding a communications partner who is actually a partner (not just a vendor) to why founders and executives can’t afford to be invisible and the reality that the real competitor for many financial tech companies isn’t another startup, here are a few themes that stood out from the conversation.

Why advisory matters in fintech and financial services

Early in the discussion, Grace hit on something foundational to who Caliber is: the “Advisers” in our name.

Caliber was founded in response to the same problem we kept seeing over and over. Niche fintech brands were being represented by generalist agencies that didn’t speak the language or truly understand the industry they were stepping into.

The outcome was predictable… Messaging lacked depth. Opportunities were routinely missed. And companies solving complex, high-stakes problems were being positioned like generic tech brands.

We knew that to make a real difference for fintech up-and-comers, their communications team needed deep industry expertise and a genuine passion for telling complex stories.

That foundation is what makes real advisory possible — not just execution — something Grace underscored throughout the conversation.

The real competitor often isn’t another startup

That advisory lens naturally shapes how we think about competition, too — another theme that surfaced in the conversation.

It’s not uncommon to hear fintech founders say that they don’t see themselves as having direct competitors. (Or not yet, anyway.) They’re solving problems in entirely new ways, and in many cases, creating new categories in the process. But that doesn’t make the market a blue ocean.

More often, the real competition is the status quo. The spreadsheets, manual processes and disconnected data people have relied on for decades. As Grace put it, many fintechs find that who they’re really competing with is Excel.

That reframes the challenge. Financial tech companies aren’t competing on features — they’re competing against habit.

That kind of change doesn’t happen overnight. It requires knowing what rooms to be in, showing up consistently and building a brand narrative that makes the what, the why and the impact unmistakably clear.

The stories that deserve more attention

Funding rounds and valuations will always grab headlines. The bigger the number, the louder the coverage. Nothing new there.

But as Grace noted, some of the most consequential work in fintech doesn’t come packaged as a headline at all. It happens between the big announcements.

She pointed to areas like financial crime prevention and digital identity — not as niche topics, but as examples of the deeper stories shaping both fintech and traditional financial services. The work of identifying risk, preventing fraud and strengthening infrastructure may not generate splashy coverage the way a billion-dollar valuation does, but the impact is often far more consequential.

And that’s exactly why these stories matter.

When the real competition is the status quo, those deeper stories become even more important. Lasting credibility takes more than a funding headline. It’s built by consistently showing how what you offer makes financial experiences safer, workflows smarter, business outcomes stronger and everyday lives better.

Looking ahead

Watch or listen to the full episode for more on why the moments between announcements matter, along with Grace’s thoughts on a number of other issues — from the build, buy or partner debate and why she expects M&A activity to pick up to what the growing expectation for founder and executive visibility really means in practice and what events you’ll find us at in 2026.

And if you enjoyed the conversation, explore more episodes and articles from Slice of Finance for thoughtful discussions with leaders across fintech and financial services.