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323. The grown up side of crypto: how JP Morgan, Visa and Mastercard are using blockchain to reshape global finance

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

Release Date: 09/30/2026

325. How to get paid more [TFNT classic]

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

Too many smart, hardworking professionals focus on creating value, but never capture it. They take on more responsibility, lead bigger projects, deliver real results — and somehow end up getting paid the same. This is one of the most popular episodes in the Tech for Non-Techies back catalogue, and the timing could not be more relevant. It is Q4. Promotion decisions are being made right now. Budgets are being signed off. Whether you are running a business, looking for your next role, or want to get paid more in the job you are already in — this episode is for you. In this episode:...

324. Are you the expert Claude recommends? How to stand out in the age of AI

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

Q4 is here. This is when budgets get signed off and promotions get decided. The opportunities won't necessarily go to the smartest or most hard working people in the room. They will go to the most visible. This episode is about how to be that person — without making daily LinkedIn content, without a PR agency, and without becoming someone you are not. Listen to learn: How to stand out now that everyone can create content with AI How to be on the list of experts that AI recommends (because people aren't going to Google search to find out anymore) The one thing that...

323. The grown up side of crypto: how JP Morgan, Visa and Mastercard are using blockchain to reshape global finance

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

Crypto has grown up. It's now no longer just about overnight millionaires and meme coins. It is now how the largest corporations do business. JP Morgan has processed over $5 trillion through its blockchain division, even though Jamie Dimon famously hated crypto a decade ago. Visa, Mastercard, Fidelity and BNY Mellon are all in now too. This episode is about the grown up side of crypto — where nobody goes to jail or becomes a millionaire overnight — and why it matters to you as a business leader even if you have no intention of buying a single coin. Listen to learn: Why JP...

322. How much does it cost to build an app? And other questions non-technical founders are afraid to ask

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

How much does it cost to build an app? Is my agency ripping me off? How do I know if what they built is any good? Am I being too demanding — or not demanding enough? Every non-technical founder is terrified when they start working with developers. If you don't have a background in tech, you don't know what you don't know and asking AI can spin you down a rabbit hole. My guest this week has spent years on the other side of that conversation. He knows what founders get wrong, what agencies hide, and what it actually costs to build a product. Vuk Nikolic leads Hurricane Studio — a...

321. Why 80% of AI projects fail — and it's not the AI's fault

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

Contrast two AI projects. One cost $600,000 to build, $500,000 per year to maintain and was shut down as functionally unusable. The other cut energy waste, reduced equipment damage, and returned 35.8% on investment. Same tech. Different outcomes. The difference had nothing to do with the AI — and everything with how the project was set up and managed. In this episode: The New York City AI chatbot that confidently told people to break the law The Korean steel plant that used AI to solve one specific measurable problem — and returned 35.8% on its investment The five reasons AI...

320. Calendly: the $3bn non-technical founder success story

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

Tope Awotona had no co-founder, no coding ability, and three failed startups behind him. None of that stopped him — today, Calendly is worth $3 billion, used by over 20 million people in 230+ countries, and adopted by 86% of the Fortune 500. In this episode, I break down exactly how a non-technical founder built one of the most capital-efficient startup success stories of the last decade — and what you can actually steal from his playbook. What you'll learn: How he chose the idea that finally worked, after two failures How he built a $3 billion company completely alone, with no...

319. Your judgment is your most valuable asset. Are you losing it to AI?

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

A financial analyst spots something wrong with a deal. He writes up his dissent. But the AI disagreed. The investment committee spent 90 seconds discussing his objection, and went with the AI score. A year later, the analyst stopped writing dissents entirely — what’s the point? This story is from finance. But the pattern is emerging everywhere — in law firms, in startups, in any organisation where AI is now in the room when decisions get made. This episode is about what to do about it. You will hear from Rana Gujral, the author of the AI Instinct: The Future of Humans and Machine...

318. Why US startups beat Europeans, and lessons from Slack and Dropbox

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

Slack went viral without spending on ads. Dropbox grew 3,900% without a marketing team. Every founder knows these stories. What most don't know is what was actually happening behind the scenes. This episode is about the marketing myth that is costing founders millions — and what the smartest ones actually do instead. Listen to this episode to learn: The viral growth myth — why the most famous "organic" growth stories in startup history were actually the result of deliberate marketing investment Why the average UK startup exits for around $15 million while the average US startup...

317. From Excel spreadsheet to AI company: the non-technical CEO's playbook

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

A non-technical CEO built a mobile network, then transformed a startup into an AI company. Here's exactly how he did it — and what he learned about investors. Peter Scott has done things that most people would walk away from. He was handed a business running on Power BI reports and a vision that was bigger than the technology could deliver. Two and a half years later, it's a fully AI-enabled platform. Before that, he built a mobile network from scratch — with no technical background — because the opportunity was too good to turn down. This episode is his playbook. Listen to learn: ...

316. What makes a great tech product? Product thinking for non-techies

Tech for Non-Techies — Product Thinking & Innovation for Business Leaders

Did you wake up today thinking that you really want to use a cup? No! Because you are not insane. You woke up thirsty, and then used a cup. That distinction sounds obvious. But many founders and investors ignore it completely — and build or back the wrong thing as a result. This episode is about what a product actually is, and why getting this right is the foundation of everything else. In this episode: Why a product is not an app, a site or an algorithm — and what it actually is Why the person and the problem always come before the solution How companies that stay focused on the...

More Episodes

Crypto has grown up.

It's now no longer just about overnight millionaires and meme coins. It is now how the largest corporations do business.

JP Morgan has processed over $5 trillion through its blockchain division, even though Jamie Dimon famously hated crypto a decade ago. Visa, Mastercard, Fidelity and BNY Mellon are all in now too.

This episode is about the grown up side of crypto — where nobody goes to jail or becomes a millionaire overnight — and why it matters to you as a business leader even if you have no intention of buying a single coin.

Listen to learn:

Why JP Morgan, which famously hated crypto, now has three major blockchain divisions handling over $5 trillion in transactions
The difference between the silly end of crypto and the serious end — and why the serious end is reshaping global finance
What tokenisation actually means in plain English — and why major asset managers are paying attention
How corporates are using blockchain to make international payments faster, cheaper and more reliable
What size of company should be thinking about this — and the specific use cases worth exploring now

This episode is for you if:

You are a business leader who wants to understand what crypto actually means for your industry — beyond the headlines
You work in finance, treasury or payments and want to understand what is coming
You are a founder or investor who wants to know where the serious institutional money is going

Vanessa's book: Digital Assets and Crypto for Investors — available now from Wiley

Free masterclass — 12 October: Smart, skilled and invisible: how to get seen by the people who decide your career.

Timestamps:

00:00 – JP Morgan's $5 trillion crypto blockchain business
01:26 – Free class: how to get seen in your career
03:33 – Meet Vanessa Grellet, crypto and blockchain expert
05:08 – Why JP Morgan built its own crypto coin
09:10 – Do companies like Coca-Cola use blockchain too?
10:49 – Public vs. private blockchain networks explained
13:13 – What is the Melania meme coin, really?
16:02 – How companies custody digital assets and crypto
17:05 – How gold gets tokenized on the blockchain
22:29 – Is crypto right for your company's size?
25:53 – Real use cases: crypto for global payroll and payments
29:29 – Vanessa's new book on crypto investing

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Transcript: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/323-the-grown-up-side-of-crypto-how-JP-Morgan-Visa-and-Mastercard-are-using-blockchain-to-reshape-global-finance

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