MD Interview Series: Ramin Niroumand

Today, we interviewed Ramin Niroumand about the idea behind FinLeap, his responsibilities, and his opinion on the Fintech industry’s future.

FinLeap.com: How did the idea for FinLeap get started?

Ramin: In 2014, Jan Beckers, CEO of HitFox Group, a successful company builder in the digital advertising space, approached me and told me about his idea to start company building in a new sector – Finance. Together with the HitFox Group, we launched FinLeap because we saw a deep structural change in the financial industry. Customers demand easy and mobile financial services and banks were stuck in legacy and an unbalanced cost/income structure. Thus, we want to establish sustainable, customer-centric and technology-driven businesses that offer products which are suitable for the changed customer demands.

FinLeap.com: What are your responsibilities in the company?

Ramin: I am responsible for strategic management and business model development. I work with all the founders to ensure business models which are not only sustainable, but also innovative for the existing market.

FinLeap.com: Since all the ventures are so different, what is the best way to provide for the ventures’ needs?

Ramin: Each venture has its own needs which I have to account for. Good communication between our management team and the ventures is the key. Only then, we can significantly increase the rate of success for each of our ventures and speed up the process of launching a Fintech companies. Once the company is launched, the co-founders are in the driver’s seat: they act independently, but of course, can always rely on FinLeap’s experience and resources.

FinLeap.com: How does FinLeap’s business model work?

Ramin: FinLeap has the objective to reshape financial service as we believe that consumer empowerment should be the focus. We combine entrepreneurial execution with industry expertise and technological capabilities to launch several ventures each year. FinLeap provides seed funding, access to a strong network of investors and top talent. Our co-founders also benefit from a stable platform which provides services such as HR and legal advice. Thereby, we give them the ability to focus on executing their business ideas. At the same time, by repeating activities that recur when founding a company, we mitigate several risks that early-stage companies often face.

FinLeap.com: What do you find most interesting about your job?

Ramin: I enjoy the ability to see results quickly. FinLeap enables companies to launch in a very short time compared to competitors. Once launched, our ventures immediately begin growing and refining their approach in the market. It is very rewarding to see how an idea can turn into reality that benefits both consumers and the financial industry.

FinLeap.com: How do you personally keep up with the dynamic Fintech world?

Ramin: Of course talking to customers is most important when it comes to challenging your idea versus the real market need.

Also, I value the exchange with other fintech entrepreneurs and actors from the financial industry. Discussing trends and taking the opinions of like-minded leaders into account allows me to stay up-to-date and see things from a different perspective at the same time. Industry events, for instance, serve as such a touch point for exchange.

FinLeap.com: Do you have a particular Fintech trend you follow with interest?

Ramin: The distribution power of the internet made it possible that many different financial services can be provided by many different, small digital companies – unbundling financial services. This has been a trend for a while. Rebundling of unbundled services is definitely a trend that I am most interested in.

FinLeap.com: Where do you see FinLeap and the Fintech world in the future?

Ramin: I see FinLeap as a successful company builder with a large family of ventures. We want to keep up with the dynamic Fintech sphere and always bring innovative ideas to the table. As for our ventures, I see them as not only rapidly growing, but also becoming very independent. In my opinion, the Fintech industry will become 100% digital and mobile in the future.

In two weeks, we will be back interviewing MD Hendrik Krawinkel who is responsible for Finance and HR at FinLeap.