where can i purchase accutane Should I invest in bitcoin/BTC? I am being asked this question very often these days, and as always I find easier to write a blog post when I see myself repeating the same opinions. And I still believe that “If you don’t have strong opinions, you do not have an opinion.” But first a little […]
Category: Venture Capital
Investing In Challenger Banks
I am back from a summer sabbatical, it feels good to write with a purpose again, and this time it’s about investing in challenger banks. This blog post has been planned right before my summer vacation, based on first-hand experience. My last one about the topic of challenger banks — it has been an almost […]
“Challenger Bank” Challenges — Getting Customers
I have written in a previous post about the business model challenge facing all challenger banks. Today I am moving to the next big problem – customers. A successful business model describes a way of making money and be eventually profitable, and for a retail bank it also means people, customers ready to use the […]
“Challenger Banks” Challenges — The Business Model
“Challenger Banks” are financial services and technology startups that are offering (mostly) retail banking services to consumers, attempting to replace the more traditional incumbent banks that most “banked” people use today. They attempt to capitalize on general discontent with banks (bad customer service, high fees, shady business practices, no lending, horrendous business processes), and on […]
Fintech Disruption?
I have been talking about Moven for a while now on the conference circuit, to an audience that included bankers and investors in fintech. Here are my main talking points, in a more elaborate version than what I say on stage, where time slots are tighter. What is Moven? Moven is a “fintech” “neo-bank” early […]
Bootstrap If You Can
For an aspiring entrepreneur, there are many ways to learn about how to start a company, how to pitch to a VC, how to get funding. We used to survive without good books about the startup process itself, but now we have Steve Blank. And many entrepreneurs that were not at ease when dealing with […]
A Dynamic World
Every now and then I receive an email from a recruiter who has seen a particular keyword in my Linkedin profile and is offering me the “opportunity” to talk with a company that is looking for that skill. Not really reading my profile, not understanding my career progression, just the simplest rule of all: if […]
Back to the (Fintech) Future
Another Career Switch I have spent three years of my life as a venture capital investor, talking with over a thousand fintech startup teams, looking for outstanding teams, excellent ideas, and good enough execution – in this order. My previous experience as entrepreneur, software executive, and internal innovation promoter has helped – many times too […]
Competing with Incumbent Banks with a Stacked Deck
In a very interesting piece about a financial services conference, I found out about Victoria Raffe, a former bank regulator in the UK, now an independent consultant, talking about the process of getting approval for new banks in the UK. As someone following closely fintech startups like Moven (and Simple before that) and others that deliver […]
Hiring for Insurance, or Potential?
The “job description” has achieved gospel status in the modern corporation, from startups to large multinationals. It lists tasks, responsibilities, competencies, skills, and anything else the hiring organization, through the hiring manager and HR specialist eyes, thinks is important to help filter and select candidates for a job. I refer to this hiring strategy, jokingly, […]