Johan Lorenzen: second wave of Fintech startups
We are launching a video series “5 wise minutes” to talk with some of the top experts in our network about trends and advice for early stage startups. In our first episode we caught Johan Lorenzen during his visit to Startup Wise Guys Fintech program in Riga, brought about in collaboration with Swedbank. Below is a short excerpt, but to get the full view, you are invited to see the full interview (and it is just a bit more than 5 minutes).
Since building one of the first Neobanks in Europe and leaving Holvi he’s convinced that in this time a lot has changed. “I think we are now seeing the second wave of Fintech. There was a first wave of enabling, building real stuff on top of payments that enabled a lot of new services to be built and could make a change in people’s life. What are you seeing now is more deeper changes. Now we know the financing ecosystem and the banking ecosystem. We are ready to take on the challenges of the next level and we are opening up a lot of new areas within Fintech.”
Johan thinks that one of the biggest reasons behind the change is technology that has become a lot better. “You can now pick and choose a lot of services off the shelf that weren’t there before. Anyone who’s building a new Fintech can concentrate on the parts that bring value, distribution and scale to the company instead of building the fundamental Lego blocks.” Johan is convinced that the costs, convenience and number of obstacles that a new startup has to conquer to enter the Fintech space are becoming less and less.
Asked about advice for young entrepreneurs in Fintech field, Johan says: “Fintech is a little more complex, therefore there’s a need for good understanding of regulation, product, market, technology, customers and marketing. If a founder is able to navigate only a part of it, it limits the prospects of the company. Therefore it is important to look for co-founders and the team from this perspective. You’ve got to cover all the basics,” says Johan. “Also there’s a lot of value to be gained from having a lawyer on board especially for fintechs. At Holvi we were lucky enough to work closely with one. It’s a huge differentiator.”
But all in all he says that building a startup: “It’s a major decision and a hard journey. You will be spending more time in your startup than anywhere else in your life. Choose good people to be around and have fun”!
5 wise minutes is a series of talks and interviews with the smart, awesome, and inspirational people mentoring or otherwise being part of Startup Wise Guys accelerators. Stay tuned for more.
