Name: The Winning Formula – Essential Traits for a Successful Founding Team
Uploaded: 2024-05-08T10:59:03.117Z
Duration: 228.48
Description: Fintech Founders explores the key traits for a successful founding team 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.

4. The Winning Formula.mp4

4. The Winning Formula.vtt

ENGLISH

{{00:00:08}}
The key first one for me is, and this,
I've believed in this from my early

{{00:00:13}}
days, is listening to the customer.

{{00:00:15}}
So we spend a lot of time in
the market talking to customers,

{{00:00:20}}
understanding the stresses they have.

{{00:00:22}}
Small businesses that the owners spend
their personal time managing the business.

{{00:00:28}}
So that gives us the belief that we
were on to a product that actually

{{00:00:31}}
would be valuable to the end customer.

{{00:00:34}}
And so for me, the most important
is spending time in the marketplace,

{{00:00:37}}
talking to the customers.

{{00:00:39}}
The next one then is how
can you embrace technology.

{{00:00:43}}
to actually be a benefit.

{{00:00:44}}
A lot of people see technology and
it's a wonderful subject, but how

{{00:00:48}}
do you actually implement technology
so it's actually a benefit and

{{00:00:52}}
it doesn't hinder the end user.

{{00:00:55}}
And again, the challenge there is
some customers might be the grey

{{00:00:59}}
market such as myself, and therefore
their view on technology is very

{{00:01:04}}
different to the younger generation.

{{00:01:06}}
So you have to make sure the product
offering addresses all generations.

{{00:01:11}}
A successful funding team.

{{00:01:12}}
Must be based on trust.

{{00:01:14}}
And I think, just like every relationship
everything's got to be based on trust.

{{00:01:19}}
Because without trust, you won't
be able to go to that next level.

{{00:01:25}}
A successful founding team also needs
to, there needs to be a complete and

{{00:01:29}}
holistic understanding that you're on
a journey that is going to push you

{{00:01:34}}
beyond what you have ever done before.

{{00:01:37}}
And if you've got people on the team that
are not willing to go that extra mile or

{{00:01:42}}
commit 100%, then that would potentially
cause a fracture within our team.

{{00:01:46}}
So I would say trust, commitment
to the vision, and the

{{00:01:51}}
resilience to see it through.

{{00:01:53}}
Those, I would say, are the features
of a successful founding team.

{{00:01:57}}
It is always great to connect
and combine different people

{{00:02:03}}
with different experience.

{{00:02:06}}
We were lucky to have founders

{{00:02:11}}
I'm from FinTech one of our founders
is from building high load products and

{{00:02:18}}
actually had some experience in crypto.

{{00:02:21}}
There is always good to have
different mentality, though.

{{00:02:24}}
Some of the people and
wish to work with sales.

{{00:02:30}}
Some of the guys likes to dig deeper in
the product and think about something new.

{{00:02:36}}
And some of the guys love to
just manage the operational part.

{{00:02:41}}
And it's always great to find the
perfect team with different stars.

{{00:02:47}}
I've worked now in four startups
and I've founded two and I think

{{00:02:51}}
there's a common thread across
all of those and that is grit.

{{00:02:54}}
It's resilience and it's staying alive.

{{00:02:57}}
The likelihood that you have exactly the
right solution to solve that customer

{{00:03:01}}
problem that you're trying to solve
up front first time is extremely rare.

{{00:03:06}}
Some founders of course just get
lucky and it just happens to work but

{{00:03:10}}
most startup stories are not that.

{{00:03:12}}
You, the first thing
you ship is not right.

{{00:03:14}}
The first product that you build
doesn't really fully solve the problem.

{{00:03:18}}
So it's about taking those ups
and downs, it's about continuing

{{00:03:22}}
and grinding it out and eventually
you will get to the problem.

{{00:03:25}}
And most startups They don't fail
because the product didn't work,

{{00:03:29}}
they fail because they didn't
keep and stay alive long enough.

{{00:03:33}}
Grit and resilience is something we
really try to embed into the Sidekick

{{00:03:36}}
team and it's been my biggest learning
as a founder over the last 12 years.

The key first one for me is, and this,
I've believed in this from my early

So we spend a lot of time in
the market talking to customers,

Small businesses that the owners spend
their personal time managing the business.

So that gives us the belief that we
were on to a product that actually

And so for me, the most important
is spending time in the marketplace,

The next one then is how
can you embrace technology.

A lot of people see technology and
it's a wonderful subject, but how

do you actually implement technology
so it's actually a benefit and

And again, the challenge there is
some customers might be the grey

market such as myself, and therefore
their view on technology is very

So you have to make sure the product
offering addresses all generations.

And I think, just like every relationship
everything's got to be based on trust.

Because without trust, you won't
be able to go to that next level.

A successful founding team also needs
to, there needs to be a complete and

holistic understanding that you're on
a journey that is going to push you

And if you've got people on the team that
are not willing to go that extra mile or

commit 100%, then that would potentially
cause a fracture within our team.

So I would say trust, commitment
to the vision, and the

Those, I would say, are the features
of a successful founding team.

It is always great to connect
and combine different people

I'm from FinTech one of our founders
is from building high load products and

There is always good to have
different mentality, though.

Some of the people and
wish to work with sales.

Some of the guys likes to dig deeper in
the product and think about something new.

And some of the guys love to
just manage the operational part.

And it's always great to find the
perfect team with different stars.

I've worked now in four startups
and I've founded two and I think

there's a common thread across
all of those and that is grit.

The likelihood that you have exactly the
right solution to solve that customer

problem that you're trying to solve
up front first time is extremely rare.

Some founders of course just get
lucky and it just happens to work but

You, the first thing
you ship is not right.

The first product that you build
doesn't really fully solve the problem.

So it's about taking those ups
and downs, it's about continuing

and grinding it out and eventually
you will get to the problem.

And most startups They don't fail
because the product didn't work,

they fail because they didn't
keep and stay alive long enough.

Grit and resilience is something we
really try to embed into the Sidekick

team and it's been my biggest learning
as a founder over the last 12 years.

Fintech Founders

Expert Insight

Fintech Founders explores the key traits for a successful founding team 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.