Why Enterpise FinTech is different

Enterprise FinTech is a unique sector. By enterprise FinTech I mean software built and designed for banks, fund managers and other financial institutions. So if you are considering an enterprise FinTech business, here are a few key differentiators:

Smart customers

Nearly everyone you meet at a financial firm will have a college degree and likely more experience than you doing what they do. Whether a buyer, a user or someone along the chain, you will be continuously faced with clever and capable people. As such, they will not accept a mediocre product, missing features or poor support. The upside is that they often know what they want and will tell you. You will not have to waste time A/B testing the color of your buttons or new ideas.

Rich customers

Let’s face it, financial institutions have all our money. They know how money works and how profit is made. They have budget for products that solve their problems and they even have budget for ones that create more problems. Rich customers are demanding, but they will appreciate that superior support and attention to their requirements demands a premium. The upside is that this keeps you on your toes and also keeps gives you funding to support those extra features and requirements.

Legal contract experts

Financial institutions are built on buying and selling contracts. They have unrivalled legal capabilities and if they don’t have it, they will hire the best there is. As such, it is imperative you either get a firm understanding of legal contracts in-house or also hire the best. Contracts are subtle and a single clause in a 100-page contract can de-value your business.

Data privacy

Big firms (not just in financial services) are big on protecting their data and their customers. Don’t take this lightly! Cater to this. Demonstrating your awareness to this can be the difference in a buying decision. Too often, VCs and consumer startups will preach the business model of acquiring and selling customer data. This is completely unecesary if the customer is willing to pay for their data privacy. Just imagine you are selling their data back to them.

Regulation, but really processes

Finally, large institutions face a barrage of regulations that they must comply with. Understand that regulation is simply a process that needs to be implemented their side. Similar to data privacy, processes are the backbone of any large organisation. make your solution fit with their processes where you can and where it doesn’t explain how their processes can be improved with your solution.

Given the fact that enterprise FinTech will tell you what they want, pay for it and openly describe processes (ie. solutions) they need to implement, it is wonder why this market is so under-served.