Five ways to build a strong fintech startup in a downturn

Chirag Shah is the CEO of Nucleus – a London-based financial fintech startup that leverages AI and ML to power its services. Fintech offers one unique CRM hub called myNucleus, which enables introducers to upload deals, track their progress and provide customers with a decision in minutes. To date, Nucleus has received over 30,000 proposals and approved over £650mn via the myNucleus portal. We asked him five questions to find out his perspective on the current startup climate.

What makes a successful fintech startup?

For those looking to establish a fintech startup, I would define the key ingredients for success as primarily the drive and the ability to challenge the status quo – if you don’t offer something new or innovative, you risk being overshadowed by your competitors in what can feel like an already saturated market.

All innovation must be supported by first identifying the customer’s pain points. Once you have this insight, it’s about building an intuitive user journey and providing tangible, ongoing benefits to the customer. It is crucial that every moving part of the business is optimized as much as possible to ensure that you offer a real solution that fully meets their personal needs.

Which fintech sectors are seeing the most movement in terms of startups and why?

At the moment, there is the most movement for start-ups in the payments, open finance and Web3 arenas – this is due to a need for reliable infrastructure in place, especially from a digital perspective, so that businesses can seamlessly facilitate growth.

Given today’s economic volatility, anything related to payments and cash flow is a priority for businesses – business owners need technology that makes life easier and gives them one less thing to worry about amid interest rate chaos and high bills.

Investing is tough. How can fintech attract investors in this difficult climate?

Attracting investors in this difficult climate is tough, but not impossible. It all comes down to clarity – fintechs seeking investment need to outline clear unit economics and show a path to profitability that is actually logical and reliable.

In today’s climate, investors will prioritize the most structurally sound investment, and as a start-up owner you must convey a realistic vision for success.

A key point is also that, given the current constraints on spending, you need to demonstrate an ability to acquire users without giving them financial benefits for using the product – an element that will differentiate you from other investment seekers.

Which leadership qualities are essential for building a scaling fintech?

As a leader building a scaling fintech, having a team that truly believes in the product and business goals is absolutely invaluable. Flexibility is key – you must prioritize user feedback over your own vision for the business and use this feedback as the driving force behind any instrumental changes. Beyond that, it’s really a question of dedication – dedication to achieving the best possible user journey, and dedication to constant improvement because there will always be ways you can generate value for the user.

What does the future of fintech look like to you?

Looking at the future of fintech, in the SME sector, I am confident that fintech products will continue to be at the forefront of transforming the SME ecosystem.

I envision fintech products becoming increasingly integrated into everything an SME does – whether it’s how payments are processed, understanding customer behaviour, reporting and other administrative tasks, as well as how SMEs access funding.