11:FS

In this weeks’ Fintech Insider we have an interview with author, CEO, blogger, and fintech insight extraordinaire, Chris Skinner! We grabbed Chris and took him to the pub for a drink and a quick conversation on his new book Digital Human. Listen to the interviews in full on Fintech Insider here, stream it below or read on for a few key insights.

There’s a lot of recession talk at the moment. Are we entering the next recession? Are we already in it? We all remember the 2008 financial crisis, and, more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, and all the financial trouble they caused.

I speak to a lot of banks and I get asked the same question: “How do I test my product ideas?” The secret is understanding how your customers measure value and align your proposition to their definition of success. However, the temptation for a lot of corporate innovation teams is to jump straight into product design which ultimately slows you down and sends you in the wrong direction. To set off in the right direction and accelerate to market you need to return the customer Job. Jobs To Be Done is a technique being used by some of the most innovative digital brands in the world.

I’ve read an awful lot of research reports in my professional life. I also studied History at university and if that doesn’t set you up with the ability to detect sense from nonsense when it comes to research, I don’t know what will. More recently, I’ve written a lot of market research reports and have every intention of writing more in the future. But I want my next set of research outputs to be different. So I turned to Twitter, that great hotbed of opinion, to conduct a survey (with many methodological holes) to find out what people’s biggest bugbears are with most of the content out there today.

You may have noticed recently that we’ve putting out a bit of content around our interns, like Petrit, Sam, and Tom. In a move that should surprise no-one, we’re launching the start of our internship programme today! For all you students and fintech fans we’ve got a list of top tips you should follow to get ahead of the curve. The rest of our wonderful readers should be sharing this with everyone you know looking to get into fintech. You don’t need a degree to apply, just be awesome.

Over the last two years we have kept coming back to one diagram, the 11:FS Banking Battlefield. We use this to explain the changes we see in the financial services industry. In fact, one particular workshop we did in Australia last year had us talking through this diagram for the entire day! Seriously. It also featured in three bank board packs in the last 6 months which is also a pretty good indication we’re onto something.

For many large financial institutions, cloud is, increasingly, the answer. Not that they’re necessarily sure what the question is, but the answer is definitely cloud.

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she returns to her adventures in the land of appalling customer care.

Jason Bates interviews Laurent le Moal, CEO of PayU, the leading online payments provider, dedicated to growth markets, at Money20/20 Europe in Copenhagen.

Tom Shaw has excelled through the 11:FS internship programme. Starting as a Growth Intern at 11:FS he’s helped us immensely . That’s just part of what we offer our interns and that’s what it means to be at 11:FS. He’s using analytics to aid in choosing which products we offer our clients, project managing the website redesign, and even ran Tough Mudder as part of the 11:FS team. We offer real responsibility.

Here at 11:FS we’re very proud to announce that tomorrow four members of our team will be running the gruelling London West Full Tough Mudder to raise money for Kidney Research UK. It’s an issue and a charity close to our hearts, especially so for one of our team members.

Petrit Berisha is one of the many success stories coming out of the 11:FS internship programme. Now an Assistant Producer working across all 11:FS media output, Petrit began as a humble intern. Petrit learned from all aspects of business that 11:FS has to offer before finding a home in the Media team. He managed to thrive under the pressure of multiple challenges and rose to the occasion time and again. That’s just part of what we offer our interns and that’s what it means to be at 11:FS.

Fintech is constantly evolving and creating new ways to deliver a positive customer experience. But if they can do it, surely everyone else can too?

🚨 Breaking news: what happens when two (crowdfunders) become one 🚨 The UK’s two largest crowdfunding platforms, Seedrs and Crowdcube, have announced their intention to merge. While it’s still subject to competition authority approval, this marks a significant shift in the crowdfunding landscape. But does crowdfunding have a future? Is it just a glorified form of marketing? Or is it a new asset class and the key to financial inclusion for the masses to get involved in early-stage investing?