The business strategies employed in fintech aren't much different from general tech strategies, and they all leverage the fundamental drivers of innovation that drive all the tech in fintech.
Behind every fintech business strategy are a few simple principles:
- Eliminate places
- Eliminate people
- Eliminate things
- Reduce time
- Reduce cost
Every fintech business strategy is a specific implementation of technology that employs some combination of the principles above.
The leading strategies include:
Expand the pool of consumers/users
Who would have thought that people who operate web sites are good candidates for loans? But like many other businesses, they have to pay suppliers (like data centers) promptly to avoid getting cut off, while their customers (like advertisers) aren't as prompt as they might be in paying their bills. Rapidly growing Fastpay meets this need in a sophisticated, integrated way that includes lending money, but goes way beyond just lending money. For example, here's one of their latest services:
Expand the pool of producers/providers/sellers
What if you sell stuff at the local farmer's market? People keep coming up to you wanting to buy your produce. They don't have enough cash, but they have a credit card. What if you could accept their money without going through the nightmare of expense, hassle and non-portable devices regular stores put up with? Enter Square, whose little device and app turn the smartphone you probably already have into a POS terminal and card acceptance device:
Apply technology to make an existing service: better, faster, cheaper
Lots of fintech is direct to consumer, but important fintech companies operate completely behind the scenes, largely invisible to normal consumers. An exciting company that has a new, machine-learning-based approach to credit card fraud prevention is a good example. By doing a far better job of preventing fraud, Feedzai reduces the cost of providing credit card services dramatically. Here's one way they express the issue:
Replace and enhance existing technology
Sometimes, the innovating fintech company is able to completely replace a legacy product. This is ambitious and difficult to pull off, but the rewards are great if you can do it. Everyone is familiar with point-of-sale (POS) terminals and credit card charge terminals that are normally separate devices. For example, here's a card terminal at my local pharmacy:
Poynt has invented a single device that replaces the card terminal the consumer uses to swipe or insert their card as pictured above, but also POS terminal used by the retail clerk. Here it is:
Cut out a middle-man (disintermediation)
This has been a favorite business strategy since long before 1-800 Flowers started cutting out local florists. It's alive and well in fintech-land. A good example is Insureon, which uses the web to attract very specific groups of small business people and sell them insurance that is completely directed to and appropriate for their needs. For example, how many local insurance offices do you suppose cater specifically to the needs and perspectives of dog walkers?
There are hundreds of fintech companies working to extend and disrupt the financial services industry. The business strategies described above are typical, but not exhaustive; and some companies pursue combinations of them. (Note: all the companies used as examples except Square are ones in which Oak HC/FT has an investment.)
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