Frederick Achom on what makes a Fintech start-up successful
What makes the difference between a Fintech start-up that crashes and burns and one that is successful? If you have the idea, the talent and the tech to move into the Fintech space with your start-up, you need to beat the odds. Stats show just one in ten start-up companies makes it.
It’s always easier to have the idea than to make it into a successful reality. Innovation, disruptive tech and forward-thinking ideas are vital for success in the ever-growing Fintech sector today. Competition is harsh and start-ups are not only up against their peers, but also established financial institutions who want their slice of this sector.
Some advice for Fintech start-up companies
Fintech is driven by consumer demand, and more businesses are seizing the opportunity it affords them every day. There are undoubtedly vast opportunities for the right kind of start-ups working across categories including distributed ledger technology, wealth management solutions, alternative lending services and payments solutions.
Consumers are more likely than ever to adopt innovate Fintech solutions, without the need to stick to traditional lenders and banks. Between 2015 and 2017, research from EY shows that adoption doubled. This is increasingly putting traditional financial giants on the back foot as they react to the disruption caused by Fintech start-ups.
How can you guarantee your Fintech start-up will be successful? Well, you may not be able to 100% guarantee success, but by working to key strategies you will give your business the best chance.
Create with the customer in mind
Every Fintech company’s ideas live or due by the user experience (UX). If a consumer finds an app or service too complicated, or it looks untrustworthy, that’s all it takes for a company to fail.
Lots of Fintech solutions we see on the market right now have poor UX, and this creates another sub-category of opportunity for disruptive start-ups. Combine smart design with tech to create a beautifully workable product or service and you will succeed.
Solutions, products, apps and services should be accessible and easy to use for anyone. The end product is aimed at people who aren’t generally interested in its technological complexities. They just want it to work.
Always ensure simplicity
If you can’t explain a Fintech app to the user within in ten seconds, the chances are it won’t work. The world of personal and business finances is complex and stressful for many people. Products and services must appear simple on the surface to stand a chance of survival. Dispensing with extraneous features and fussy embellishments can go a long way to ensuring a product goes down well with consumers.
Retain the human touch
While big data analysis, artificial intelligence and automation can solve many problems for consumers, it can also strip away a human feel. People want to be heard as well as helped. And although tech can analyse their data to improve financial offerings, for example, it can’t hear their individual story. This can get in the way of the trust between start-up and customer.
Innovate for the greater good
Successful Fintech companies have one thing in common – passionate employees. To be successful, start-up owners must activate and encourage this passion by having a higher purpose for their app or solution. The best people in all sectors stay with companies that are standing up for something.
Merely creating a new app in the financial sector can make money in the short-term, but without a deeper purpose, the good staff won’t stay. Create something that’s about more than making a profit.
Fintech start-ups are in a unique position to make real, lasting changes to the way we all maintain our personal and business finances. From the way we pay for things to how we access loans, Fintech has the potential to revolutionise everything. If you can tap into something bigger than your start-up, you have a better chance of becoming – and staying – successful.
