Welcome to my weekly fintech-focused column. I’ll be publishing this every Sunday, so in between posts, be sure to listen to the Equity podcast and hear Alex Wilhelm, Natasha Mascarenhas and me riff on all things startups! And if you want to have this hit your inbox directly once it officially turns into a newsletter on May 1, sign up here.

The big events in the fintech world over the last week felt like a very different vibe from 2021, which was filled with mega rounds, celebrations and lofty valuations.

First off, 3-year-old one-click checkout startup Fast announced it was shutting down after struggling to raise more capital to keep operations running. The announcement wasn’t a complete shock considering there were hints of trouble, as reported by The Information, the week prior. Those hints included the revelation that the startup had generated just $600,000 in revenue for all of 2021 despite raising $120 million in venture capital earlier in the year (in a round led by Stripe) and rumors that the company was having trouble raising more funds, and as a result, might be seeking a buyer.

There were conflicting sentiments on social media (Twitter mostly) about the company’s demise. I’ll spare you the actual tweets but will say this: a company shutting down should not be cause for celebration. No matter how much irresponsibility on the part of leadership or others within the organization may have contributed to said demise, the majority of the company’s employees likely worked very hard to help it be successful and don’t deserve to be mocked or ridiculed, even if not directly. Now, hubris on the part of executives is another story. (Like maybe don’t refer to yourself as a trailblazer when announcing that your company is shutting down). The takeaway here? Humility goes a long way in life, and especially in the startup world. Don’t go bragging until you have something to brag about, and even then, let your results speak for themselves. On a positive (and somewhat unusual) note, BNPL giant Affirm said it would be giving job offers to “the vast majority” of Fast engineers, as reported by the brilliant Natasha Mascarenhas.

Speaking of, um, hubris – Better.com made headlines, again. The digital mortgage lender on April 6, offered corporate employees and product, design and engineering staff the option to separate from the company voluntarily in exchange for paid severance and health insurance coverage for 60 days. The move came amidst reports that the company was losing as much as $50 million a month, which were neither confirmed nor denied when I reached out. Then the next day, TechCrunch obtained a recording of a Zoom meeting in which CEO Vishal Garg addressed the employees that remained after Better.com had just laid off 900 employees, or 9% of its staff on December 1. In a word, the recording was brutal. The executive’s tone and body language conveyed no remorse around the layoffs and he even issued what felt like a veiled threat that going forward, any employees deemed to be non-productive too would be exited. During the recording, Garg also made many shocking – and incriminating – statements such as admitting the company had “pissed away” $200 million of the $250 million it made last year and that he had lacked discipline when it came to Better’s hiring strategy at the onset of the pandemic. One day later, on December 7, it was revealed that CTO Diane Yu was transitioning from her role as Chief Technology Officer – a position she had just assumed in January 2021 – into an advisory position.