The HiveMind Interviews: Sharing the secrets of successful Fintechs
AI Can’t Sell Core Banking
James Bushby is four months into the CRO job at Tuum, and he is blunt about the one thing AI will not do for you: cold-call its way into a core banking deal. He and James Barker get into why complex sales still turn on warm introductions and culture, why the date a bank puts on its decision is almost never the date it decides, and the red flags that say a prospect was never going to buy. Plus a quick-fire round on which channels are actually underrated in 2026. What we get into Why AI belongs around core banking, not inside the system of record Where AI genuinely speeds up enterprise selling, and where it quietly costs you the deal How to read the real timeline on a bank's buying decision, not the one written on the RFP The two red flags that tell you a prospect will be a bad customer long before contract Why culture outranks a salesperson's black book when James Bushby hires What a quick-fire channel audit says about partners, paid media and events in 2026 About the guest James Bushby is Chief Revenue Officer at Tuum. He started out in the ATM industry, co-founded an independent ATM deployer that went into administration in the 2008 crash, and spent the years after that in large organisations including Mastercard, before moving to Mambu. He joined Tuum in 2026. Chapters 00:00 Cold open 02:02 From ATM entrepreneur to administration in 2008 07:09 Which size of company actually fits you 10:36 Core banking in 2026: fintechs moving in on the banks 12:29 The two extremes of core platforms, and where Tuum sits 15:09 SaaS, private cloud and the quiet return of on-premise 16:56 Partners, direct sales and marketing: what opens doors 19:43 Quick fire: underrated, overrated, correctly rated 22:23 Is AI in core banking actually a thing? 26:46 Where AI helps you sell, and where it does not 29:32 Can you speed up a bank's buying decision? 34:15 The red flags that make a prospect the wrong customer 38:27 Hiring: market knowledge, gravitas, and why culture wins 44:30 The biggest mistake of his career More from GTM Hive Watch the full Fintech HiveMind series and get the next episode when it drops More on Tuum: tuum.com Our sponsor Thanks to our sponsor, the FTT Fintech Festival by VC Innovations, the UK's largest fintech festival, in London on 9 and 10 November 2026: FTT Fintech Festival, London, 9 to 10 November
