Who should I follow to learn about B2B payments?

If you want to really understand B2B payments, rather than just follow fintech news, I’d build a feed around a handful of operators and specialist publications.

People worth following

• Matt Marcus - Modern Treasury - excellent for the plumbing of money movement: ACH, RTP/FedNow, ledgers, reconciliation, bank integrations, and payment operations. Modern Treasury’s current material is particularly useful for understanding multi-rail infrastructure. Why We Built Payments | Modern Treasury
• Lars Markull - Embedded Finance Review - one of my top picks for embedded payments/finance, especially platforms, vertical SaaS, marketplaces, banking-as-a-service and European fintech. His newsletter is actively covering payments and embedded-finance deals in 2026. Newsletter - Embedded Finance Review
• Phil Spin - The Flow - more technical/operator-oriented. Good for understanding payment orchestration, processors, routing, chargebacks, risk and what actually happens underneath a payment stack. THE FLOW | Payment Infrastructure Newsletter for Operators
• Dwayne Gefferie - useful if you're interested in the strategic side of embedded payments and payments APIs: how payments become part of software rather than a standalone product. Embedded Finance and Payments APIs: The Future Backbone of Fintech

Publications I'd keep in your rotation

• Business of Payments - particularly good for understanding how the payments industry makes money: PSP economics, M&A, company results, market structure and competitive dynamics. Business of Payments – The Business of Payments
• The Payments Corner - operator-level analysis across payment infrastructure, embedded finance, credit and fintech. Its current coverage is especially useful for following public payments companies and infrastructure trends. The Payments Corner | Decoding the Payments Stack
• The Paypers - broad industry coverage, including B2B payments, cross-border, open banking, embedded finance, fraud and regulation. The Paypers | Global Payments & Fintech Industry News
• PYMNTS - useful for the commercial/customer side of B2B payments: what enterprises actually want, adoption, embedded finance and payment behavior. PYMNTS | Why Price Takes a Back Seat in Embedded Finance Deals

If I were starting from zero

I'd follow Matt Marcus + Lars Markull + Phil Spin, then read Business of Payments weekly/monthly.

And I'd deliberately learn the subject in this order:

Payment rails → PSPs/acquirers → payment orchestration → AP/AR → reconciliation → fraud/risk → embedded payments → cross-border → stablecoins.

That sequence gives you the mental model to understand companies like Stripe, Adyen, Modern Treasury, Airwallex, Ramp, Brex, Bill, Marqeta, Checkout.com, etc., rather than just memorizing fintech company names.

If you're learning B2B payments because you're considering building a startup/investing in the space, I can also give you a “follow these 20 people + read these 10 newsletters” list specifically for founders/investors.

To truly understand the fast-evolving space of B2B payments, accounts payable (AP) automation, and embedded finance , you need to follow practitioners, fintech founders, venture capitalists, and industry analysts who share deep-dive insights rather than generic commentary.

Here are the top people, newsletters, and resources you should follow across LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and substack:

1. Fintech & B2B Payments Operators & Founders

• Patrick Collison & John Collison (Stripe): As the co-founders of Stripe, their team regularly publishes world-class guides, economic reports, and architecture breakdowns on modern B2B billing, invoicing, and global rails.

• Alex Rampell (General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz): A leading VC investor specializing in fintech. He frequently shares masterclasses and structural breakdowns on software-eating-finance, B2B payment flows, and merchant acquiring.

• Sujay Tyle (CEO of Merama) or Founders of B2B Giants (like Melio, Ramp, and Tipalti leadership): Following executives at modern B2B expense and bill-pay platforms gives you a front-row seat to how automated AP and AR function at scale.

2. Fintech Analysts, Writers & Newsletter Curators

• Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes): One of the sharpest independent fintech analysts. His newsletter, Fintech Takes , frequently dissects how commercial banking, embedded finance, and B2B payment rails (like ACH, RTP, and FedNow) actually impact businesses.

• Simon Taylor (11:FS / Fintech Brainfood): Simon writes Fintech Brainfood , a must-read weekly newsletter breaking down global financial technology trends, B2B payment innovations, and regulatory updates.

• Jason Mikula (Fintech Business Weekly): Excellent for tracking the intersection of regulation, compliance (KYC/AML), banking-as-a-service (BaaS), and how B2B platforms navigate modern money movement.

• Tom Noyes (Cambia): A veteran fintech operator and investor who frequently posts granular, highly technical breakdowns of payment economics, interchange, and B2B infrastructure on LinkedIn.

3. Essential Company Resources & Blogs

Instead of individual handles alone, bookmark the engineering and product blogs of companies building the actual pipes:

• Stripe B2B Resources & Blog: Exceptional for understanding APIs, recurring billing, and international tax/compliance.

• Ramp Blog: Great for modern spend management, corporate cards, and automated bill pay insights.

• Melio & Tipalti Blogs: Highly tactical deep dives into accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) workflows for small-to-medium businesses and enterprises.

Would you like recommendations on specific technical topics within B2B payments (such as real-time rails like FedNow, cross-border FX, or AP automation architecture) to dive into first?

To truly master B2B payments - covering everything from cross-border infrastructure and AP/AR automation to embedded finance and spend management - you want to follow industry practitioners, analysts, and writers who specialize heavily in fintech and commercial money movement rather than just generic consumer crypto or retail banking.

Here are the top creators, publications, and newsletters to follow:

• • ** Simon Taylor (Fintech Brain Food)**: Co-founder of 11:FS and author of the Fintech Brain Food Newsletter. He frequently breaks down complex backend financial infrastructure, legacy banking transitions, and how B2B payments actually function under the hood.

• Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes): Author of Fintech Takes, Alex provides some of the sharpest, most data-driven commentary on fintech business models, including deep dives into embedded payments, commercial card issuing, and B2B SaaS monetization.

• ** Nik Milanovic (This Week in Fintech)**: Creator of This Week in Fintech, providing a comprehensive, global snapshot of startup funding, enterprise shifts, and infrastructure plays across the B2B and B2C financial ecosystem.

• ** Jason Mikula (Fintech Business Weekly)**: Known for his sharp regulatory and operational breakdowns on Fintech Business Weekly, great if you want to understand compliance, banking-as-a-service (BaaS), and the friction points in commercial banking.

• ** Andrew Jamison (Extend)**: CEO and co-founder of Extend, who actively shares pragmatic, real-world commentary on LinkedIn regarding the gaps in middle-market B2B payments, virtual cards, and modernizing corporate spend workflows. The middle market B2B payments challenge - LinkedIn

• ** Marcel van Oost & Arthur Bedel (Connecting the Dots in Payments)**: Marcel curates massive, highly-regarded practitioner lists and deep-dive maps of the global payments ecosystem on LinkedIn, making him a top follow for tracking B2B vendors and networking. 100+ Payment Experts to Follow on LinkedIn (Including My Top Picks!)

• PYMNTS and Payments Dive : Dedicated industry publications like PYMNTS and Payments Dive offer daily B2B-specific reporting, covering data trackers on corporate invoicing, cross-border rails (like FedNow, RTP, and SWIFT updates), and merchant acquiring.

If you're looking for a specific angle - such as cross-border infrastructure , AP/AR software , or embedded finance for B2B marketplaces - let me know and I can narrow down the list or recommend specific whitepapers or podcasts.

Follow Simon Taylor, David Birch, Panagiotis Kriaris, and Monica Jasuja for broader payments expertise; they’re among the payment professionals featured in a follow list. For B2B-specific learning, pair their commentary with practical guides from Stripe and Adyen.(linkedin.com)(stripe.com)(adyen.com)

To learn about B2B payments, follow a mix of fintech strategists, payment infrastructure experts, and industry executives who consistently share deep insights. Some of the most respected voices include Simon Taylor, Karen Webster, Marcel van Oost, Jason Mikula, and executives from firms like Fiserv and Global Payments.

🌟 Key Experts & Thought Leaders in B2B Payments

🔑 Why These Voices Matter

• Strategists(Taylor, Johnson, Mikula, Noyes) → Help you understand how payment rails, interchange, and compliance shape B2B economics.

• Media & Analysts (Webster, van Oost, Casperson) → Provide context, interviews, and industry maps that make complex systems digestible.

• Executives(Lyons, Bready, Kereere at PayPal, Guez at Papaya Global) → Offer real-world case studies of scaling B2B payments globally.

• Investors & Futurists (Margaris, Gledhill) → Highlight emerging technologies like AI, tokenization, and embedded finance.

⚠️ Risks & Challenges in Following B2B Payments

• Hype vs. Reality: Some influencers lean toward futurism; balance with practitioners who share operational details.

• Fragmented Ecosystem: B2B payments involve multiple rails (ACH, RTP, card networks, stablecoins). Following diverse voices ensures you don’t get a one-sided view.

• Regulatory Shifts: Compliance (PCI, ISO 20022, fraud prevention) is evolving quickly - voices like Panagiotis Kriaris and David Birch are useful for regulatory context. Top Payments Voices to Follow for Expert Insights | Tri Ho posted on the topic | LinkedIn

👉 If you want a practical starting point, I’d recommend subscribing to Fintech Brain Food (Simon Taylor) for weekly strategy, PYMNTS.com(Karen Webster) for industry news, and Fintech Business Weekly (Jason Mikula) for B2B-specific deep dives. Together, these three cover strategy, news, and operational realities.

Would you like me to curate a “starter list” of LinkedIn and newsletter links so you can follow them directly?