Achieving scale in FinTech
“Nothing good is ever easy. If something was good and easy, someone would have done it already.”
The FinTech marketplace is crowded. Differentiation is everything. Marketing, products, and technology have to work in harmony. Scaling your tech securely, to keep up with customer acquisition and retention is vital for success.
In today’s article, I’ll explore three key issues that most impact our FinTech communities and partners. This includes the importance of balancing growth whilst preserving culture, the difficulties in accessing required skills and expertise - and the complexities of meeting and delivering on expectations. I’ll also share how Caspian One has supported these businesses in achieving their growth plans, with our outcome-based project delivery services.
Balancing growth and culture
With increasing customer and investor expectations you need to scale up rapidly, build new products and break into new markets. All the while, optimising your operations. To coin a phrase, you have to grow up fast without growing old.
During the COVID pandemic one of our international clients needed to scale rapidly after acquiring a European business. Unable to fly their resources over from headquarters, we partnered with them to successfully scope, design and build a local operations centre which was essential in supporting their expanding customer base in a new territory for them.
For many in FinTech, it’s where you came from which defines your identity. It's what sets you apart in a competitive landscape. In speaking to our community about aspects of their business culture they wanted to preserve, their responses included:
Innovative Spirit and Agility: Many FinTech companies pride themselves on their innovative spirit and agility. They thrive on pushing boundaries and thinking outside the box. Preserving this culture means fostering an environment where creativity and forward-thinking are encouraged.
Collaborative and Open Work Environment: Collaboration is often at the heart of FinTech success. Maintaining an open and collaborative work environment can be essential for nurturing the ideas and teamwork that drive innovation.
Entrepreneurial Mindset and Creativity: The entrepreneurial mindset is a driving force in FinTech. It's about thinking like a startup, even as you scale. Keeping this mindset alive means fostering a culture of risk-taking, experimentation, and continuous learning.
Meeting expectations
Winning new clients is exciting, with people buying into your proposition and customer promise. Trusting you with their investment. But now you have to deliver for them. Your tech has to keep up with the user experience we’ve all come to expect – instantaneous, accurate, and giving you that dopamine hit we've all become used to.
In 2022 one of our clients wanted to empower their development team with the ability to build and release new services on a Cloud-centric technology stack. We delivered an AWS fundamentals toolset, helping them build a scalable compute platform that integrated with other managed Cloud resources.
As your FinTech venture expands, you'll encounter pressures to deliver, maintain control, and harmonize corporate expectations with your unique culture. Striking the right balance between growth and control is crucial. Meeting investor expectations can equally present a multifaceted challenge. It involves balancing the need for scale with the importance of profitability. Investors often want quick growth, but it shouldn't come at the cost of making a profit. Additionally, the FinTech sector operates in a complex regulatory environment that's always changing, especially when you're trying to scale up. Lastly, in a competitive market, it's crucial to show investors the value of your FinTech venture.
Accessing the necessary skills and expertise
You might have your tech roadmap, amazing product managers and fully adopted agile practices – but finding the right accountable expertise to scale fast, meet deadlines and solve problems can be challenging, especially if you don’t need these skills long-term. Building out the core team with permanent staff can be time-consuming, but very valuable if you have the time and the ongoing need for these skills. Alternatively, you could look to the contract market to access skills quickly - however, you then risk losing some of your culture and that special DNA.
At Caspian One, our teams integrate with yours to form cohesive project teams. They become co-workers, not consultants, and are accountable for delivering against agreed milestones within your overall plan, ensuring their IP is transferred into your organisation.
In 2021 one of our FinTech clients needed to supercharge their e-trading architecture to stay ahead of the competition, including their data capabilities and algorithmic trading. They needed specific skills but not a continuous basis. Our team has sat alongside theirs ever since, delivering against pre-defined quarterly schedules that can flex up or down according to the results of the sprint cycles.
Caspian One’s Projects services provide an indispensable advantage to FinTechs grappling with the complexities of rapid expansion. We’re helping FinTech ventures strike the balance between growth and control, offering project management expertise and the flexibility to meet objectives - on time and on budget. Our access to niche skills and specialized resources ensures that your team is equipped to tackle evolving challenges, while our focus on technology scalability and reliability enhances customer experiences. (Find out more at caspianone.com/projects)
Conclusion
Scaling a FinTech venture is a rollercoaster. Caspian One's Projects service is here to smooth that path. Together, we can achieve scale without losing your innovative spirit. Navigate growth challenges, and meet investor expectations.
For more information, contact me via robbie.hoare@caspianone.com to explore how Caspian One's Projects service can help you navigate the complexities of scaling and meet investor expectations.
“Your story of success is our journey too!”