Fiat Growth Newsletter #17

The Fintech Summit | AI Edition

Hey, it’s Fiat!

It’s been a minute since we hit your inbox - we missed you.

The good news is we’ve been busy building a killer calendar of hyper-curated events (52 this year), building growth campaigns for next-gen fintech brands, and finalizing details for what we believe will be the fintech event of the year.

This issue takes just 7 minutes to read, but if you’re in a hurry, here’s the quick rundown:

• The Fintech Summit Fall 2025 Preview (AI Edition): 200 of the most important people in fintech & AI. One day. One room. No fluff. It’s happening November 13th in San Francisco’s iconic Exploratorium, and applications are now open at The Fintech Summit. Get $200 off with promo code: P2Y532 

• AI Propaganda in Growth: Synthetic accounts, comment section hacks, and how marketers are weaponizing “engagement.” This sh*t is gettings scary.

• LinkedIn Truth Bombs: 5 stats showing why 13% of posts “explode” while the rest fade to dust.

Happy Reading,

Team Fiat 🚀

This Issue is brought to you by The Fintech Summit.

The FinTech Summit | AI Edition

200 leaders. One day. The future of finance + AI

Applications for The Fintech Summit are now open. On November 13th, 2025, the iconic San Francisco Exploratorium will host a hyper-curated day focused on the collision between Fintech & AI. Executives only. No filler content. Every seat earned.

We’re building for convergence - how Fintech & AI is touching PropTech, InsurTech, WealthTech, HealthTech, embedded finance, stablecoins, crypto, and beyond. AI is the accelerant. Fintech is expanding across frontier after frontier. This isn’t nostalgia for the industry; it’s a map of what comes nex

Expect:

• Private welcome party among Exploratorium exhibits the night before on November 12th. 5:30pm-9:30pm

• Full day Fintech & AI summit at Exportorium on November 13th 9:00am-4:00pm

• Deep, unfiltered fireside chats with founders & investors

• 100 incredible founders, 50 tier 1 investors, 50 Fortune 1000 Fintech execs

• Deals deals deals deals!!!
  

Featured voices:

• Dan Macklin — President, Summer (Co-founder, SoFi)

• Ginger Baker — Head of Stablecoins, Meta

• Ryan Breslow — Founder, Bolt

• Dan Macklin — President, Summer (Co-founder, SoFi)

• Vasu Chetluru — Head of AI, Franklin Templeton

• Nicole Casperson — Founder & CEO, Fintech is Femme

• Peter Walker — Head of Data & Insights, Carta

• Subharun Mukherjee — SVP, Global Marketing, CleverTap

Applications open at The Fintech Summit. Access isn’t sold - it’s earned. Be in the room. Get $200 off your ticket with special subscriber code: P2Y532

🧠 Section: AI Propaganda Is Creeping Into Growth

When Synthetic Engagement Becomes a Growth Hack

We’re seeing a wave of AI-powered marketing tactics that blur ethics and efficacy. Fake or synthetic profiles - sometimes dozens per real one - are being spun up to game the comment section. Hype. Spam. Conversion. Disguised as engagement.

These accounts aren’t just boosting visibility - they’re shaping perception. They infiltrate competitor posts, pop up in thematic discussions, drop links, drop opinions, and aim to “legitimately persuade” others to click or convert.

We’re not just talking trolling. We’re talking engineered influence. The most effective marketers are now digging into comment threads, creating synthetic accounts, and planting signals instead of broadcasting messages.

Takeaway:

Trust is fragile. If your growth relies on engineered engagement, you’ll eventually pay for it in credibility. Focus should remain on building authentic signals that you control - community, relationships, performance. The real moat is human, but having an AI strategy for growth has become a requirement.

💬 Section: 5 LinkedIn Stats You Can’t Ignore

Why Only 13% of Posts Go Viral

If you’re trying to scale on LinkedIn, you need to understand these truths. Here are five “annoying but important” facts:

1. Posts with 3–5 hashtags get 29% less reach than posts with zero hashtags. The algorithm now sees moderate hashtag use as spam.
   

2. Comments in the first 5 minutes boost reach by 4.2×. Not 10 minutes. Not 30. The golden window is tight.
   

3. External links kill reach by 68% - unless you add 3+ links, which the algorithm then treats differently (as resource posts).
   

4. Videos under 30 seconds get 89% completion rates, but over 60 seconds? Just 31%.
   

5. Profiles with 500–999 connections get 2.3× higher engagement than those with 10,000+. Smaller, engaged network > big but shallow.