Boot-strapping

A teammate from two prior start-ups told me about a new business he was putting together with experienced Fintech entrepreneurs in an underserved financial market.

​He felt the breadth of my experience across technical and non-technical businesses would bring a useful perspective to the team, and was confident I’d build good rapport with his co-founders.

​In the age of fintech, it’s easy to be swayed by trends. We both had enough high-risk experience to recognise the danger of potential distractions. He needed my help as an external source of discipline – helping them to build and stick to a framework of key development milestones to ensure they were getting the right things done quickly. He knew he’d get a direct, rational, objective opinion with no ego (and some sharp-toed boots).

​We had a few group brainstorms about a path to market – taking their prototype solution through several successive stages of customer testing and trials. The team set up and executed our plan, securing vanguard customers to help lead development.

​They continue to work toward the latter goals in the framework, and we are in touch regularly to top up and re-set their relevance and pace.