However fintech space is getting cluttered with more and more companies are entering in execution and scale up is proving to be the challenge for the entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are lacking with the domain expertise as compared to technological expertise which they have. Simultaneously foreseeing the future of banking in the country with fintech companies are entering into banking space and vice-a-versa, Vinod Keni, Founder & Partner, Peachtree Management Advisors spoke to Entrepreneur.com.
In the fintech space what are the basic things that the startups should take care of while scaling up?
In the fintech space the entrepreneurs should take care of the regulatory part first. Without complying with the regulatory part one cannot build the venture. In the fintech space a lot of entrepreneurs are coming from a technical perspective with having out of the box thinking but they also need somebody who has domain knowledge and experience, somebody who is coming from the financial services space. The startups entrepreneurs actually build an organization but it has to be really valuable organization addressing the need of the market. Fintech is the long haul it is not 2-3 year time frame it is going to take five to 10 years time to build the venture.
How start-ups can keep pace with the rapidly changing technology to stay ahead of the curve?
In my opinion the technology is just an enabler it is not necessary that it has to be the latest and the greatest one. The entrepreneurs have to essentially understand how technology can make your offerings much more efficient and how it can make your operations better. It is not necessary that the entrepreneurs have to keep changing the technology. Because if they are in that cycle then they are always going to be on that cycle, always going to be in need of capital, always essentially be going there and trying to still build. They need to build, stop, sell, get feedback and go back and do it if they need to.
What are the roadblocks that the start-ups come across?
Most of the challenge is with the execution capabilities and talent of the entrepreneurs. It’s not the dearth of money it’s the lack of execution and the lack of scaling up capabilities. If entrepreneurs are executing and scaling up then having right team to do it is necessary which will keep them ahead.
We see that the banks are entering into fintech space and vice a versa so what are the changes you see going forward?
Banks will play a major role in the fintech space. In fintech there is a trust issue because its finance so customer still wants to see trust and for a lot of fintech companies building a trust is going to take a while. So to accelerate partnering with banks is essential and banks will also realize that fintech with technology coming in the traditional banking is always going to be under threat.
Hence partnership is going to be one way of doing it and the sector is going to go through massive change only because of the changing expectations of the customers which also means that banks of the future are not going to be the banks that you now see.
According to you how many consumers are using fintech platform for transactions?
It’s very small and I think it is only going to change in the next 7-8 years. It’s a long haul as many companies have now started and they have to think of 7-8 years plan. Along with this the 4G penetration is going play a major role. People are not paying much attention to it but it’s a game changer. It is going to change significantly and it is way ahead of technologies that are available even in the best. Simultaneously UPI is going play a key role.
(As told to Sunil Pol of Entrepreneur India)
