Ross Freiman-Mendel – Networked Identity, Reusable Personas, and the Future of KYC
In this episode of The Future of Identity Podcast, I’m joined by Ross Freiman-Mendel, Head of Product Growth at Persona, to explore the shift from one-off, siloed KYC toward network-based and reusable identity products. Ross walks through Persona’s consumer and enterprise identity networks, including Reusable Personas, Persona Connect, and emerging work on Know Your Agent (KYA), and explains why redundant verification has become one of the biggest unsolved problems in identity.
Our conversation goes deep on the practical realities of building reusable identity at scale. Ross shares concrete adoption metrics, including 2× higher conversion rates, significantly faster completion times, and why over 90% of Persona customers are now activated on the network. We also unpack how network-based identity improves fraud detection while simultaneously reducing user friction – one of the rare win-win scenarios in identity.
In this episode we explore:
- Why redundant KYC is breaking onboarding experiences and how transferable identity solves it.
- The difference between consumer-owned identity wallets (Reusable Personas) and enterprise-to-enterprise sharing (Persona Connect).
- How network-based identity acts as a trust signal, improving fraud outcomes without global blocklists.
- Where mobile driver’s licenses and digital wallets fit into Persona’s platform-agnostic acceptance strategy.
- Why AI agents are accelerating the need for identity portability and what Know Your Agent could look like in practice.
This episode is essential listening for anyone building or buying identity verification technology. Ross offers a grounded, metrics-driven perspective on how reusable identity is finally moving from theory to production and why networks, not standalone checks, will define the next era of digital trust.
Enjoy the episode, and don’t forget to share it with others who are passionate about the future of identity!
Learn more about Persona here.
Video timestamps from the Ross Freiman-Mendel interview
You can watch the full video interview on our YouTube channel, or skip to the timestamps below to find the sections that are most interesting to you.
1:38 – Ross introduces himself and Persona
3:37 – Intractable problems that this category of product solves
5:28 – Why Persona is building this product now
8:40 – Distinction between enterprise and consumer identity networks
13:42 – How reusable IDs create greater ease for customers and how Persona tracks it
16:41 – Network-based identities generally have higher trust signals
23:20 – Inputs versus outcomes as the reusable personas
26:09 – Challenges and successes faced by Persona with regards to reusable identities
36:12 – How third party digital IDs factor in
44:03 – Know Your Agent and agentic AI flows
50:56 – What the future of identity looks like to Ross
How to get in touch
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