{"podcast":{"title":"The Free Toaster","slug":"the-free-toaster-7173245","podcast_index_feed_id":7173245,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/thefreetoaster/feed.xml","website_url":"https://thefreetoaster.podbean.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/20058005/The_Free_Toaster_Podcast_Logo_1_9g674.jpg","author":"thefreetoaster","episode_count":84,"summary":"The Free Toaster is your best resource at the intersection of marketing, lending, and fintech. We deliver news, data, and insights to help you acquire more customers.","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T10:19:33.484383+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-free-toaster-7173245"},"episode":{"title":"E049 - Deep Dive With Zak Ali, General Manager of Finder's US Business","slug":"e049-deep-dive-with-zak-ali-general-manager-of-finder-s-us-business","published_at":"2026-05-06T22:15:53+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-free-toaster-7173245/e049-deep-dive-with-zak-ali-general-manager-of-finder-s-us-business","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-free-toaster-7173245","url":"https://thefreetoaster.podbean.com/e/e049-deep-dive-with-zak-ali-general-manager-of-finders-us-business/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/i59hcz3itggyheev/AUDIO_Toaster_Zak_Ali_LM_V1_1_7d4cu.mp3","summary":"Zak Ali runs the US business at Finder, the financial comparison site that started in Australia in 2006 and launched stateside in 2015. Lending now drives roughly 40–50% of Finder US revenue across personal loans, business loans, and earned wage access. In this conversation, Zak pulls back the curtain on how a major comparison publisher actually thinks — about Google's SEO meltdown, the reality of CPA negotiations, why YouTube has become Finder's secret weapon, and what separates the lenders who scale into category leaders from the ones who fizzle out. We also get into the part most operator conversations skip: building a personal brand while running a P&L. Zak shares his routine, his stack (he's a Claude Code power user), and how he measures whether any of it is actually working.*****If the B2B founder-led marketing event we talked about is up your alley, register here. It's happening next week on Tuesday May 12th! https://luma.com/aic-ny-5-12*****Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: Bulldog Media Group:Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche. https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/ Spinwheel: Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campai…","meta_description":"Zak Ali runs the US business at Finder, the financial comparison site that started in Australia in 2006 and launched stateside in 2015. Lending now drives…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5492,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-free-toaster-7173245/episodes/e049-deep-dive-with-zak-ali-general-manager-of-finder-s-us-business/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-free-toaster-7173245/e049-deep-dive-with-zak-ali-general-manager-of-finder-s-us-business.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}