FinTech Unicorns’ advice to young entrepreneurs – it’s ALL about the Customer

Daniel Seal – Fintech Finance

Most entrepreneurs, or observers of the business world generally, are in awe of companies who successfully go from being a start-up to unicorn status. Unicorn is a phrase we hear often, but we don’t necessarily stop and consider how hard that journey is.

Data suggests that the unicorn success rate (from start-up) is less than 1%. The most bearish surveys suggest figures as low as 0.1%. That is a 1000-1 chance. To set this in context, over the last couple of years – bookmakers have had The Queen as 1,000 to 1 to be the Christmas number one and Bono at 500-1 to be the next Pope!

In other words, unicorns defy all reasonable probability to achieve what they do. So how do they do it? What are their secrets?

First – some context. My day job is the CEO of Unbound – an innovation ecosystem builder. We connect grassroots entrepreneurs, established corporates, dynamic brands, governments and trade agencies. All these elements are needed to inspire communities, foster entrepreneurship and build a digital future, but far too often these groups are not well connected.

We are fortunate to be partnered with Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) – one of the world’s most forward-thinking and dynamic international finance centres – for the FinTech Abu Dhabi 2019 Festival, a 5,000 strong event focused on building these very innovation ecosystems and bringing together 13 global FinTech Unicorns.

When historically asked about what advice to give an aspiring entrepreneur, my instinct and experience always leads me to the mantra: You always need a market looking for a product not the other way around.

At the Fintech Abu Dhabi Festival, and because of the rarity of having these stellar FinTechs in the same place at the same time, we decided to ask these Unicorns what one piece of advice they would give. What was their secret? The answers from Blockchain, C2FO, Careem and OakNorth focused on the importance of the customer.

Nicolas Cary, Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman of Blockchain, a bitcoin block explorer service and cryptocurrency wallet, said:

“Relentlessly focus on delighting your customers by creating something useful.”

Colin Sharp from C2FO, creator of the first market for working capital, said entrepreneurs must be “utterly focussed on the customer, product and geography,” in order to achieve success.

Mudassir Sheikha, Co-Founder and CEO of Careem, the #1 ride-hailing app in MENA, Pakistan and Turkey, went further and said success hinged on a borderline obsession with the customer:

“Stay close to your customers and obsess over their feedback. You don’t have to have the perfect app when you launch, but you have to provide awesome customer service to keep them coming back. Growth is your validation.”

OakNorth, the UK bank for SME business owners, said the same.

“Don’t focus on your valuation, but on the value you deliver for your customers.”

These responses, from companies who defy all the odds to succeed to the extent they do, speak volumes about understanding your market – be it your first customer or your millionth. The customer-centric principle remains constant regardless of the size of the company.

As a society, we have long-term goals and are more focussed on our futures than previous generations probably ever have been – which is laudable and as it should be. Today’s entrepreneurs are as much about purpose as they are profit, which is also as it should be. Companies that are genuinely sustainable in their thinking tend to be better run and more successful.

But here’s the nub of it. I don’t believe, and the evidence doesn’t suggest, that any of these Unicorns set out with the specific, sole objective of becoming a Unicorn. They were focused on the immediate future, getting their product exactly right and pleasing their customer.

As the CEO of Careem alluded – the product does not need to be perfect, the secret lies in listening to customers, continually adapting and shaping your product to fit changing markets.

Unicorn status is a destination reached by those who, with much hard work (and a little bit of luck) have applied these customer-focused principles.