Throughout his time as a lead product manager at Google and for the Affirm launch on Amazon.com, Tikue Anazodo noticed that checkout products – including the ones he helped build – were primarily catering to merchants, not consumers. New solutions were aimed at solving problems and easing pain points for merchants, and “the consumer in this equation had been, in a sense, left behind,” he said. That realization sparked a conversation with Ahmad Ismail – who shares a similar background of working at Google and Affirm – about how to create a consumer-focused smart wallet. After a few months of daily conversations about the idea, the two cofounded Kudos in 2021. Martech Record
