Employee Spotlight: Matt Cavezza
In this month’s employee spotlight, we’re getting to know Matt Cavezza, our Product Marketing Specialist. As part of the Revenue Operations division, Matt works closely with many teams to bridge the gap between marketing, sales, product, and service operations.
Matt completed his degree from The University of Victoria, earning his Bachelor of Commerce from the Gustavson School of Business. He started his journey at FISPAN in 2020 as a co-op before returning full-time as a Business User Onboarding Specialist. Soon after, he moved to his current position as a Product Marketing Specialist.
How long have you worked at FISPAN, and what do you do here?
I joined FISPAN in January 2020, so just crossing four and a half years! When I joined, I was one of the many co-ops who inhabited the front corner of the old office. We only had 29 businesses using our product and were still ironing out the wrinkles. My role was heavily focused on client onboarding, client success, and relationship management with our bank partners. ERP banking was still a very new topic, but seeing accountants’ day-to-day challenges across my many interactions with new users made me a believer in the FISPAN vision.
After 8 months as a co-op, I returned to the University of Victoria to finish my degree, and then rejoined in January 2021 as an Onboarding Specialist. FISPAN was in hyper-growth, and my days were packed with getting businesses onto the platform.
This experience gave me the foundation to make the switch to our newly established Product Marketing team in 2022, where I was tasked with listening to FISPAN users’ needs, translating those insights into actionable product improvements, and crafting content to drive product adoption among users and bank partners.
Since starting this role, we’ve made significant progress in understanding our user needs and bringing enhancements in many different areas in our product and across the whole organization.
Matt, Dorian, and Meghan at FISPAN’s 7th anniversary boat cruise in Coal Harbour
What has been your biggest growth opportunity from working at FISPAN?
My entire time at FISPAN could be considered a big growth opportunity. I joined with little professional experience, having only worked as an Accounting Assistant at the City of Kelowna for four months, and had no practical experience with ERPs and APIs. Every day was a learning experience, and even after 8 months as a co-op, I still felt like I was just scratching the surface since it is such a broad and complex topic.
Though this is how just about everyone at FISPAN started, so everyone was (and is) always supporting each other. Four years later, I’m still learning every day, and being able to grow with FISPAN is super cool to be a part of. Not to mention the Learning and Development program, in which FISPAN covered the cost to allow me to take the Product Marketing Alliance certification to further my career in product marketing.
What is a typical workday like for you at FISPAN?
Being in a cross-functional role means every day is different, but a typical day involves reviewing feedback from our users through various channels and bringing insights to the product team to help guide our roadmap; working with our design team to create content for marketing/sales collateral; and collaborating with bank partners to formulate campaigns to increase adoption and feedback.
If it’s an in-office day, it also includes a very relaxing train ride along the water on the West Coast Express to/from the FISPAN office in the historic Marine Building and getting coffees on the house at JJ Bean downstairs.
Why did you choose a career in FinTech?
I guess you could say a career in fintech chose me… but in all seriousness, I did not have much knowledge of the FinTech industry prior to learning about the co-op opportunity through my advisor at the University of Victoria. She mentioned that it is a very interesting industry that has been growing quickly over the past few years, and that it’s something I should look into.
To be honest, FISPAN’s website wasn’t the greatest at explaining the value provided to businesses and banks back then (which I’m sure anyone else who saw our website in 2019 would say). So I watched a video of FISPAN presenting at Finovate 2018 and quickly understood the problem FISPAN was aiming to solve. Since then, we’ve come a long way to understand our target market, vision, and niche (and our website has vastly improved as a result).
Do you have a favourite quote? What is it?
“If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball” – Patches O’Houlihan
What continues to excite you about FISPAN?
Having seen how FISPAN has pushed through the growth stages over the past 4+ years and jumped over hurdles along the way makes me confident that we can make it through anything. Signing huge deals with major banks, having buy-in from all of our bank partners, and hearing the problems we’re solving and the time we’re saving businesses is huge for keeping me a believer in the vision. Since coming on board, over 3,000 businesses have bought into the idea of embedded ERP banking, and the monthly onboarded number keeps getting bigger. Likely explains why the rocket ship emoji is so popular here.
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
I try to make sure that I’m taking advantage of the amazing terrain we’re blessed with here in BC. Over the past couple of years, I’ve really gotten into mountain biking, so you can find me on the North Shore in the summer and in the mountains snowboarding in the winter. I also spend some late evenings playing beer league hockey with the guys I grew up playing with.
Matt’s favourite activities
Do you have a hidden talent?
As a former pizzaiolo (AKA professional pizza maker), I can toss pizza dough quite proficiently.
What TV show or movie are you currently enjoying?
I recently started rewatching Suits. Great series.
What is your favourite place to eat in Vancouver?
Anywhere that has Neapolitan-style pizza.