Inside Ansa's 'Nosy' Culture: 5 Hiring Strategies That Drive Fintech Innovation

In the competitive landscape of fintech startups, building the right team with the right culture can make all the difference between success and failure. Sophia Goldberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Ansa, a payments infrastructure startup, shares valuable insights on creating a distinctive company culture and the specific hiring strategies that have helped her company innovate in the payments space.

Watch the full 'Why Work Here' interview with Sophia Goldberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Ansa, to get all the insights on building an innovative fintech startup:

Why Work Here is a series in which Amit Matani, CEO of Wellfound, has honest, behind-the-scenes conversations with founders, executives, and employees about why their companies are worth joining.

What is Ansa?

Ansa builds closed-loop payment infrastructure that enables brands to create stored-value wallets for their customers—think of the Starbucks in-app payment experience, but available to any business. The company focuses on "HULT merchants" (Habitual Use, Low Transaction Value)—businesses where consumers make frequent small purchases, like coffee shops, transit systems, or marketplaces.

The Origin Story: From Payments Expert to Founder

Goldberg's journey to founding Ansa wasn't the result of a lifelong ambition to be an entrepreneur. "I did not grow up thinking I was going to be a founder," she explains. "Probably until maybe a year before I started the company or six months, I didn't think this was the path."

Prior to founding Ansa, Goldberg spent almost five years at Adyen across commercial and product roles, giving her deep expertise in the payments space. Remarkably, while preparing to launch Ansa, she also wrote "The Field Guide to Global Payments," showcasing the depth of her industry knowledge and commitment.

The "Nosy" Culture That Drives Innovation

At the heart of Ansa's company culture is what Goldberg playfully calls "nosiness" - a term she initially resisted but has recently embraced. This unusual cultural value encompasses "a proactive curiosity and a helpfulness," as Goldberg explains.

At the heart of Ansa's company culture is what Goldberg playfully calls "nosiness" - a term she initially resisted but has recently embraced. This unusual cultural value goes beyond simple curiosity.

Goldberg explains that true "nosiness" is about genuine interest in what others are doing, combined with the initiative to contribute: "It's not like directly asking 'what are you working on?' It's more about thinking, 'I wonder what that other person's working on and why they're approaching it that way.'"

This attitude combines several key qualities that drive innovation:

Ownership: Taking responsibility beyond your specific role

Productivity: Turning curiosity into actionable insights

Proactive curiosity: Seeking to understand the wider business context

Bias toward action: Converting observations into helpful contributions

Team members who embody this "nosy" mindset don't just observe what others are doing—they think deeply about it, make connections, and proactively offer ideas that might help, regardless of departmental boundaries.

5 Hiring Strategies That Drive Fintech Innovation

1. Prioritize Curiosity Over Experience

While technical skills matter, Goldberg emphasizes that curiosity is what truly drives innovation at Ansa. She explains that in startup environments, momentum is everything, which means successful team members are naturally curious about all aspects of the business. They know what their colleagues are working on, develop interest in different industries the company serves, and regularly bring new ideas to the table.

This cross-functional curiosity helps team members spot opportunities others might miss and leads to innovative product features that solve real customer problems.

2. Look for High Ownership Mentality

"It's really high ownership. I think that's standard for our stage. And that means everyone gets to be involved in a little bit of everything," Goldberg says. This ownership mentality is crucial for early-stage startups where resources are limited and team members need to wear multiple hats.

Ansa seeks candidates "in a place in their career where they really want high ownership, high impact... they're able to come in and learn a lot about payments, learn a lot about fintech, learn a lot about the industries we serve, but also have a lot of autonomy in what they decide to own and work on."

3. Foster a Low-Ego Environment

Ideas can come from anywhere in the organization, but only if people feel comfortable sharing them. Goldberg has intentionally built what she calls "a pretty low-ego culture," focusing on outcomes rather than credit.

"We also talk about how getting it right is better than being right," she explains. "And so you having an idea shouldn't raise my hackles." This approach creates psychological safety that encourages innovation and collaborative problem-solving.

4. Be Honest About What You Can and Cannot Promise

In recruiting early employees, Goldberg took a refreshingly transparent approach about the realities of joining a small startup: "We've got a few years of runway. We have high conviction in what we're doing. I cannot promise you any large outcomes. Most startups like that [with just three people] fail. But what I can promise you is personal growth, a good time, and great memories.

This honesty helps attract candidates who are genuinely aligned with the company's values and realistic about the startup journey, leading to better retention and team cohesion.

5. Create an Environment That Accelerates Idea Flow

Ansa made the counter-trend decision to build an in-person culture in San Francisco, even when remote work was becoming the norm in 2022. "It's how I like working. It's how my co-founder likes working. I love being at a whiteboard. It makes you move faster. It helps you build empathy with the team. Ideas flow," Goldberg explains.

The team eats lunch together daily, fostering connections that transcend functional boundaries. This intentional work environment design facilitates the rapid exchange and development of ideas that drive innovation.

How These Strategies Support Product Development

Ansa structures product development around three key pillars each year and evaluates ideas based on whether they will "drive time to launch, time to value, and scalability." Goldberg explains, "Is this going to help our customers launch more quickly once they've signed? Is it going to help them see value and grow on our platform more quickly? Or is it going to help us be able to move more quickly as an organization and scale with our growth?"

The company's approach to innovation is deeply collaborative: "Ideas come from a little bit of everywhere at a team this size, because we're all in the same room most of the time. So a lot of our ideas come from the go-to-market side, as a lot of us are talking to a lot of brands on a weekly basis. And it's also where we test our ideas."

The Vision Ahead

As for Ansa's future, Goldberg's vision is ambitious: "We talk about success, especially for the next five years, as ubiquity in the wallets of everyday Americans in the US. And for us, that looks like three to five wallets for every American."

This vision extends internationally: "A lot of the large brands we're starting to work with are in dozens of countries... International expansion isn't easy, but I think especially in the next three to five years, it's like, how can we be the sole partner for this infrastructure and money movement wherever our customers have customers?"

Key Takeaways for Different Audiences

For Job Seekers:

• Seek environments that reward curiosity and cross-functional learning
• Look for cultures that value intellectual honesty over ego
• Consider how much ownership and impact you want in your role
• Assess whether in-person collaboration aligns with your working style

For Recruiters:

• Identify candidates comfortable with ambiguity and rapid change
• Look for evidence of proactive curiosity that extends beyond their immediate role
• Value those who demonstrate an ownership mentality and bias toward action
• Be honest about what you can and cannot promise in a startup environment

For Founders:

• Create systems where ideas can flow from anywhere in the organization
• Structure product development around clear pillars that drive business value
• Be transparent about decisions, including what you choose not to pursue
• Prioritize speed and momentum while maintaining a blameless culture

As Goldberg's experience at Ansa demonstrates, building a successful startup isn't just about having the right product or identifying the right market opportunity. It's equally about creating a culture where talented people can thrive, collaborate, and contribute their best ideas—all while moving with the speed and adaptability that early-stage companies require.