Essays on AI, fintech & payments
§ AI · Fintech · Payments
Building with AI, backed by two decades in data, fintech, and payments.
I design and ship practical AI for products and teams, drawing on years at Big Tech, a top-3 US credit card company, Big 4 consulting, and fintech startups. Here I write about what actually works, and what doesn’t.
What I write about
Three threads, one question: is the AI work actually working?
- 01
AI transformation through an analytics lens
How teams pick use cases, measure value, connect data to workflows, and move beyond demos.
- 02
AI in payments and money movement
What changes when software, not people, starts initiating transactions, and what the rails were built to assume.
- 03
Leading data teams through the AI shift
Hiring, structuring, and growing analytics teams that shape decisions instead of taking orders.
Latest essays
Recent writing
The first essays are being finished. Meanwhile, read my shorter posts on Substack
How I can help
If any of this sounds familiar, let’s talk.
- Your AI pilots demo well, but none of them have reached the P&L.
- Leadership wants an AI strategy, and nobody agrees on how to measure it.
I work with a small number of leaders on problems like these, starting with a conversation about where you are, not a package.
Work with meAbout
I’m Vishal Mehta. For nearly two decades I’ve worked where data, money, and products meet: at Big Tech, a top-3 US credit card company, Big 4 consulting, and fintech startups.
Most recently I’ve led analytics for a global payments platform and worked on agentic commerce, where AI agents complete payments on someone’s behalf. It taught me that the hard part of AI is rarely the model; it’s the data, the workflow, and the rules of moving money that a demo never shows.
More about me