3. Our Company's Early Challenges.mp4

3. Our Company's Early Challenges.vtt

ENGLISH

{{00:00:08}}
The biggest challenge for any FinTech
startup, but particularly in the space

{{00:00:12}}
that we're in is getting regulated.

{{00:00:15}}
Most startups, you start with a tiny team,
no budget, you iterate, and you pivot

{{00:00:20}}
your way to finding the answer, and you
fast get feedback from customers and see

{{00:00:25}}
what people like and what people don't.

{{00:00:27}}
But in such a regulated space,
as we're operating in of asset

{{00:00:30}}
management and lending and
broader alternative investments.

{{00:00:35}}
You can't do that.

{{00:00:36}}
You need to build such processes,
such structure, such rigor into the

{{00:00:40}}
business at such an early stage.

{{00:00:42}}
You have to hire such a really
experienced and expensive team up front.

{{00:00:46}}
And as a result, you need to
raise quite a lot of money.

{{00:00:49}}
The first two years really
for us was about that.

{{00:00:51}}
It was about getting the
foundations in place.

{{00:00:53}}
And we're now regulated by the FCA and
we have been since the end of September

{{00:00:57}}
and we've now launched customers.

{{00:00:59}}
But the biggest challenge for any founder,
for any start up person is two years of

{{00:01:05}}
Not that we didn't have any learnings,
but no real product and customer hands.

{{00:01:09}}
It stunts and challenges some of
that ability to get fast feedback.

{{00:01:13}}
So it's now that we're iterating
and improving and building on our

{{00:01:17}}
product and eventually getting to
a product market fit that hopefully

{{00:01:20}}
means we'll have a product that can
be suitable, relevant and and exciting

{{00:01:24}}
for hundreds of thousands of people.

{{00:01:27}}
The hardest one in any business is the
fact that we're embracing new technology.

{{00:01:32}}
When you're embracing new technology,
it's very difficult to understand if

{{00:01:36}}
you've got your finger on your pulse or
if you're going in a different direction.

{{00:01:40}}
We, to try and offset that, we
brought in a lot of advisors.

{{00:01:44}}
We brought in strategic advisors as well
as advisors in, in, in the technology

{{00:01:49}}
to try and help us through the issues.

{{00:01:52}}
The other real challenge was
the regulatory playing field.

{{00:01:56}}
It's a completely new
market for a lot of people.

{{00:02:00}}
The regulatory market has
changed a lot over the years.

{{00:02:03}}
I've dealt with central banks and
the Bank of England 10, 15 years ago.

{{00:02:08}}
And it was very much conversations,
whereas today it's very much

{{00:02:11}}
at arm's length relationships.

{{00:02:14}}
So that makes it slightly more difficult
to understand their thinking, to

{{00:02:17}}
understand how to comply with them.

{{00:02:19}}
So I'd probably say the hardest challenge
was the regulatory environment and

{{00:02:23}}
understanding how we would remain
aligned within the environment.

{{00:02:29}}
So one of the early challenges that
I faced personally was, I would say

{{00:02:37}}
the, Getting started was 50 percent of
the way of the journey and the other,

{{00:02:45}}
the main challenges that we faced
was just understanding what to do.

{{00:02:50}}
Now you want to start a company, great.

{{00:02:52}}
So what, do you do?

{{00:02:53}}
How do you get from A to B, right?

{{00:02:55}}
So it's having the right connections
which after spending in over a

{{00:03:01}}
decade in finance, I thought I had.

{{00:03:05}}
But working in finance is not
the same as creating a start up,

{{00:03:09}}
they are very different ballgame.

{{00:03:11}}
And also making sure that you understand
exactly who your customers are.

{{00:03:19}}
We had to do lots of customer testing,
we had to I personally, I was walking

{{00:03:23}}
into shops sitting down with merchants
and asking questions and trying to

{{00:03:29}}
then correlate all these questions
and translate it into something that

{{00:03:32}}
we can actually execute very quickly.

{{00:03:34}}
was quite challenging.

{{00:03:35}}
I would say, mainly, making sure that we
actually understood how to get started

{{00:03:43}}
in itself was, quite challenging.

{{00:03:46}}
Although we had a great experience in
Fintech, it was extremely hard for us

{{00:03:51}}
to find essential things for Fintech,
like bank account or bank acquirer.

{{00:03:56}}
I can tell you the story.

{{00:03:58}}
I knew a few I call them bank acquirers,
and when we got our license, we

{{00:04:04}}
came to the guy we worked for 3 5
years, and he gave us a proposal.

{{00:04:11}}
I saw the rate, and it was
1 percent higher than the

{{00:04:15}}
rate I usually got from him.

{{00:04:17}}
And I asked, why?

{{00:04:18}}
He said, oh crypto is a high
risk that's why I'll charge you

{{00:04:23}}
1 percent additional percent.

{{00:04:26}}
This is the difficulty that
we faced all over our company.

{{00:04:30}}
A way to become a large
successful company.

The biggest challenge for any FinTech
startup, but particularly in the space

Most startups, you start with a tiny team,
no budget, you iterate, and you pivot

your way to finding the answer, and you
fast get feedback from customers and see

But in such a regulated space,
as we're operating in of asset

management and lending and
broader alternative investments.

You need to build such processes,
such structure, such rigor into the

You have to hire such a really
experienced and expensive team up front.

And as a result, you need to
raise quite a lot of money.

The first two years really
for us was about that.

It was about getting the
foundations in place.

And we're now regulated by the FCA and
we have been since the end of September

But the biggest challenge for any founder,
for any start up person is two years of

Not that we didn't have any learnings,
but no real product and customer hands.

It stunts and challenges some of
that ability to get fast feedback.

So it's now that we're iterating
and improving and building on our

product and eventually getting to
a product market fit that hopefully

means we'll have a product that can
be suitable, relevant and and exciting

The hardest one in any business is the
fact that we're embracing new technology.

When you're embracing new technology,
it's very difficult to understand if

you've got your finger on your pulse or
if you're going in a different direction.

We, to try and offset that, we
brought in a lot of advisors.

We brought in strategic advisors as well
as advisors in, in, in the technology

The other real challenge was
the regulatory playing field.

It's a completely new
market for a lot of people.

The regulatory market has
changed a lot over the years.

I've dealt with central banks and
the Bank of England 10, 15 years ago.

And it was very much conversations,
whereas today it's very much

So that makes it slightly more difficult
to understand their thinking, to

So I'd probably say the hardest challenge
was the regulatory environment and

understanding how we would remain
aligned within the environment.

So one of the early challenges that
I faced personally was, I would say

the, Getting started was 50 percent of
the way of the journey and the other,

the main challenges that we faced
was just understanding what to do.

So it's having the right connections
which after spending in over a

But working in finance is not
the same as creating a start up,

And also making sure that you understand
exactly who your customers are.

We had to do lots of customer testing,
we had to I personally, I was walking

into shops sitting down with merchants
and asking questions and trying to

then correlate all these questions
and translate it into something that

I would say, mainly, making sure that we
actually understood how to get started

Although we had a great experience in
Fintech, it was extremely hard for us

to find essential things for Fintech,
like bank account or bank acquirer.

I knew a few I call them bank acquirers,
and when we got our license, we

came to the guy we worked for 3 5
years, and he gave us a proposal.

I saw the rate, and it was
1 percent higher than the

He said, oh crypto is a high
risk that's why I'll charge you

This is the difficulty that
we faced all over our company.

A way to become a large
successful company.

Fintech Founders explores the early challenges and overcoming obstacles with our experts Henry Orunkoya, Founder, Wollette, Petr
Kozyzkov, Co-Founder & CEO, Mercuryo,Matt Ford, Co-Founder & CEO, Sidekick and Andrew Martin, Founder & CEO, SMEB.