Why is fintech so fascinating? Without a banking or trading background, I am fascinated by the fact that most of the startups I see in this space are working on something hard, different and potentially massive. So what is great about fintech?

First, fintech is hard. Fintech requires more than sourcing and selling. Smart SEM or customer acquisition tactics. It usually requires deep integration into the technology of partners, that often use legacy systems. And 600 page manuals. Nope, not everyone has a sexy REST Api in this world. Digging through these manuals, negotiation for adaptions to better ingrate ones service and convincing the slow moving world to allow to draw data or push some is time consuming, requires special skills and can be frustrating. And mastering difficult things is always rewarding. The results are difficult to copy and give a certain form of gratification that feels like beating a system, rather than only overcoming a difficult hurdle.

Second, fintech startups often work as enablers or as a platform for people. Or at least have an impact cross vertical, not only for a single case. They enable other companies to exist, scale or internationalize. Fintech startups enable people to pay easier, invest smarter, save time and resources that can be used otherwise. They often make your life better, rather than just serving a specific need.

Third, most startups I see have a good possibility to become unicorns or at least scale massively with little resources. And I don’t mean the upfront cost in tech. Which can be big. The leverage is unbeatable. Small teams can have a dramatic impact. If successful. Investors call this unlimited upside potential. There are enough examples which succeeded, or are on a good path getting there. And this is fascinating both for an investor and for someone who is interested in the business part of the newspaper in general.

And finally, the innovation we are going to see in the financial technology space in the next years is going to overcome borders, disrupt historicly existing systems, make ourselves wonder why things were socially accepted the way they were and ease our lives fundamentally. The best is yet to come.