VILNIUS, Lithuania – March 18, 2024 – SDK.finance, a leading FinTech software provider, announces a significant milestone in its transaction processing capacity – an increase from 400 TPS (transactions per second) to an impressive 2,700 TPS, on a basic configuration. This remarkable 575% growth positions SDK.finance as a powerhouse for payment businesses requiring high-volume transaction capabilities. 

With the newly achieved workload capacity, SDK.finance can handle over a staggering 233 million daily transactions, which translates into 7 billion transactions a month, with enough room for improvement. 

Increased processing power delivers business benefits

This improved processing speed translates into faster handling of transactions within the Platform, reduced wait times, and a more streamlined user experience. Additionally, the Platform’s enhanced scalability allows businesses to accommodate larger transaction volumes as they grow, without compromising performance. Furthermore, streamlined transactions contribute to improved operational efficiency for businesses, potentially reducing costs and enhancing profitability.

Continuous improvement for client success

“This significant increase in transaction processing capacity positions SDK.finance as a powerful solution for businesses requiring a robust and scalable FinTech platform,” said Pavlo Sidelov, CTO of SDK.finance. “We are confident that this enhancement will empower our clients to deliver exceptional user experiences and achieve their business goals.”

SDK.finance remains committed to ongoing improvement, ensuring its Platform delivers exceptional performance and scalability for its clients. 

About SDK.finance: SDK.finance is a FinTech solution provider that has been helping businesses launch financial and payment products since 2013. Its all-in-one subscription-based cloud platform and a team of expert fintech developers equip customers with out-of-the-box functionality for a swift start to their digital wallet, neobank, payment processing, money remittance, or fiat-to-crypto exchange systems. 

The SDK.finance software powers financial solutions globally, including countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the UK, the USA, Canada, and many more. For more information, please visit the SDK.finance website.  

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VILNIUS, Lithuania – March 13, 2024 – SDK.finance, a leading FinTech solutions provider, today announced its membership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network and the immediate availability of its cloud digital wallet solution on the AWS Marketplace.  

The partnership with AWS empowers SDK.finance’s customers to leverage the scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness of the AWS cloud infrastructure while safeguarding sensitive data and ensuring data localization compliance. This translates to accelerated time-to-market, optimized operational expenses, and a strong foundation for data security compliance.

Isolated AWS infrastructure overview

The SDK.finance deployment model includes an application server hosted on the AWS cloud, while the databases that store transactional and other critical data are exclusively under the customer’s control. 

This approach ensures freedom of interaction with the databases for the SDK.finance software but excludes unwanted access to the data for the sake of data security and integrity. 

Key benefits for businesses

Faster launches

Customers leverage the combined agility of SDK.finance’s Platform and AWS infrastructure to expedite product launches and gain a competitive edge.

Strong data security

Сustomers maintain complete control over sensitive data with dedicated storage outside the SDK.finance AWS environment. They can host the main databases on-premise or in the private cloud to adhere to the data localization regulatory requirements.

Effortless scalability 

With a workload capacity of 2700 TPS (transactions per second), SDK.finance solutions provide the scalability for handling high transaction volumes with ease. 

Cost-optimized operations

The pay-as-you-go pricing model of AWS minimizes upfront costs and allows businesses to only pay for the transactions processed through the SDK.finance engine, reducing the total cost of ownership.

“We are thrilled to join the AWS Partner Network and make the SDK.finance FinTech Platform available to businesses worldwide through the AWS Marketplace,” said Alex Malyshev, CEO of SDK.finance. “By harnessing the power of AWS, our clients can significantly accelerate their time to market, minimize operational expenses, and deliver exceptional experiences to their customers.”

For more information, visit the SDK.finance website and access its AWS listing. 

About SDK.finance: SDK.finance is a white-label FinTech solution provider that helps businesses launch financial and payment products since 2013. With its all-in-one subscription-based cloud Platform and an expert team of FinTech developers, SDK.finance equips its customers with out-of-the-box functionality for a swift start of their digital wallet, neobank, payment processing, money remittance, or fiat to crypto exchange systems. 

The SDK.finance software powers financial solutions across the globe, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, UK, USA, Canada etc. Learn more at sdk.finance.

About Amazon Web Services (AWS):

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a secure cloud services platform, offering computing power, storage, and a wide range of other services to help businesses scale and grow. AWS provides businesses with flexible, reliable, and cost-effective solutions to support their digital transformation initiatives. Learn more at aws.amazon.

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VILNIUS, Lithuania  – January 31, 2024 —SDK.finance, a FinTech solutions provider, proudly announces its integration with ComplyAdvantage,  the leader in financial crime intelligence.

This integration marks a new era in streamlined compliance processes for SDK.finance clients. With the integration of ComplyAdvantage’s advanced AI-driven technologies, SDK.finance users can improve their Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures and enhance compliance measures in real-time.

How does integration with ComplyAdvantage benefit SDK.finance customers?

Integration with ComplyAdvantage provides SDK.finance users with a robust and seamless solution for enhancing their compliance processes. 

Streamlined and effective KYC verification 

ComplyAdvantage offers SDK.finance customers a streamlined and effective KYC verification service that helps manage and mitigate risks associated with customer identity verification. It provides a high level of security and accelerates the onboarding process for end-users by automating customer screening and monitoring for sanctions, watchlists, adverse media, and more.

Advanced search options

The KYC process offered by ComplyAdvantage includes search algorithm options designed to enable accurate matching, even when there are spelling errors or variations. Likewise, search profiles can be customized based on the risk level per data source. This KYC process not only enhances operational efficiency but also reduces false positives, providing a robust KYC compliance experience for SDK.finance customers.

Enhanced compliance measures

This integration not only streamlines the KYC process but also enhances the accuracy and reliability of compliance measures. By leveraging ComplyAdvantage’s comprehensive risk detection and regulatory compliance tools, SDK.finance users can ensure that their financial products adhere to the highest standards of compliance.

Real-time user identification updates

The system automatically updates the user’s identification status via SDK.finance APIs. This immediacy allows for quick decision-making and ensures that users are promptly informed of their approval status.

Reliable risk mitigation

ComplyAdvantage’s robust risk detection capabilities contribute to reliable risk mitigation for SDK.finance users, identifying and flagging potential risks associated with user profiles, transactions, or activities.

*Please note that the features provided by ComplyAdvantage to the SDK.finance clients are subject to their agreement with the vendor. From SDK.finance’s side, a simple integration process with the provider is enabled.

SDK.finance CEO Alex Malyshev said, “We are honored to welcome ComplyAdvantage, among other recent providers, as our valued partners. This integration marks a significant step in empowering our clients to enhance their compliance procedures and leverage the ComplyAdvantage advanced KYC capabilities without the need to build their own integration from the ground up.”

“The SDK.finance platform enables the creation of a streamlined, efficient ecosystem for neobanks and others in the paytech space, which makes them a welcome addition to the ComplyAdvantage network of partners. Working together, we can help SDK.finance customers by empowering smarter, more accurate decision-making to meet KYC requirements; thus, creating a safer, stronger financial system,” said Raji Soussou, VP Global Partnerships & Alliances, ComplyAdvantage

About ComplyAdvantage: ComplyAdvantage is the financial industry’s leading source of AI-driven financial crime risk data and fraud detection technology. ComplyAdvantage’s mission is to create a safer, stronger financial system by providing companies with the information and insight they need to detect and prevent money laundering and other financial crimes. More than 1000 enterprises in 75 countries rely on ComplyAdvantage to understand the risk of who they’re doing business with through the world’s only global, real-time database of people and companies. The company identifies thousands of risk events daily from millions of structured and unstructured data points. G2 and leading industry analysts have recognized ComplyAdvantage as a leader in AML services. 

ComplyAdvantage has four global hubs in New York, London, Singapore, and Cluj-Napoca and is backed by Goldman Sachs, Ontario Teachers, Index Ventures, and Balderton Capital. Learn more at complyadvantage.com

About SDK.finance: SDK.finance is a white-label FinTech solution provider that helps businesses launch financial and payment products since 2013. With its all-in-one Platform and an expert team of FinTech developers, SDK.finance equips its customers with out-of-the-box functionality for a swift start of their digital wallet, neobank, payment processing, money remittance, or currency/crypto exchange systems. 

The SDK.finance software powers financial solutions across the globe, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, UK, USA, Canada etc. Learn more at sdk.finance

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VILNIUS, Lithuania  – December 5, 2023 —SDK.finance, a FinTech solutions provider, proudly announces its integration with Marqeta, a leading card issuing and payment processing platform. 

Thanks to its open APIs and modern architecture, Marqeta provides instant access to a highly scalable, cloud-based payment infrastructure, enabling its customers to issue cards, set up and manage their card programs, and authorize and process transactions.

This collaboration empowers SDK.finance’s customers to effortlessly issue payment cards and process card payments, marking a significant milestone in enhancing the functionality of the SDK.finance software. 

How does integration with Marqeta benefit SDK.finance customers?

Instant card issuing

The SDK.finance customers have the flexibility to issue virtual or physical cards within the system. The process is fully customizable and empowers end-users to select their preferred card type and design. 

Card management

The card management feature allows end-users to order, activate, top up, block cards, and much more. It also enables managing card processing, inventory, and shipping in bulk. 

In addition, end-users can change the status of their cards through actions like Interactive Voice Response (IVR) used for activating, deactivating, PIN setting, balance inquiries, and reporting lost or stolen cards.

Digital wallet functionality

The end-users can link their existing cards to an internal wallet within the SDK.finance system. This enables them to load or withdraw money from their digital wallet and conduct both online and offline card transactions.

Spend control 

Dynamic spend control provides card program operators with unparalleled control over how, when, and where their payment cards are used. 

It also enables users to set limits on the amount and frequency of transactions within a specific period and restrict spending to certain merchant categories, which means more control over their finances. 

Just-in-time funding

This feature provides greater flexibility in funding choices for the end-users of the solutions created by the SDK.finance customers using its solution. It helps cater to their diverse financial requirements, making the whole experience much more user-friendly.

Note: The complete scope of functionality depends on the individual agreement between the SDK.finance customer and Marqeta.

SDK.finance CEO Alex Malyshev said, “We view the integration with Marqeta as a major step toward enabling our customers to create unparalleled financial products. Thanks to this partnership, they will be able to access Marqeta’s rich capabilities, without having to build their own integration from scratch.” 

“The card issuing and payment processing solutions provided by Marqeta will play a pivotal role in empowering users of the SDK.finance FinTech platform with a range of card-related functionalities,” said Nick Holt – Senior Director Solutions Engineering and Onboarding at Marqeta. “In addition to enabling FinTech and PayTech businesses to streamline card issuing and processing, users will have the ability to customise cards, link them to an internal wallet, and access various types of card funding, including Just-in-Time funding support. These features will contribute to expanding their value proposition through fast and efficient card issuance.”

The SDK.finance card issuing process demo video shows how this functionality can be used by an end-user. 

Explore the card issuing capabilities of the Marqeta integration via the SDK.finance Platform here.

About Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ)
Marqeta’s embedded finance and modern card issuing platform empowers its customers to create customized and innovative payment cards and embedded finance offerings. Marqeta’s platform, powered by open APIs, gives its customers the ability to build more configurable and flexible payment experiences, accelerating product development and democratizing access to card issuing technology. Its modern architecture provides instant access to highly scalable, cloud-based payment infrastructure that enables customers to launch and manage their own card programs, issue cards and authorize and settle transactions. Marqeta is headquartered in Oakland, California and is certified to operate in more than 40 countries globally. For more information, visit www.marqeta.com, Twitter and LinkedIn.

About SDK.finance
SDK.finance is a FinTech software provider that offers a pre-developed FinTech backend for developing and scaling PayTech products like neobanks, digital wallets, money transfer systems, currency exchange solutions, etc. along with dedicated fintech development services. Learn more at https://sdk.finance/ and follow SD.finance on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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SDK.finance is pleased to announce its integration with Corefy, a payment orchestration platform for online businesses and payment institutions. This partnership aims to streamline finance operations for SDK.finance customers, allowing them to integrate with only one payment gateway to connect to 350+ providers such as PayPal, Stripe, LiqPay, Payoneer and Square.

So, customers using SDK.finance to build their financial product, will no longer need to develop integrations with each specific payment processing vendor. Thanks to the integration with Corefy, they will be able to connect as many payment methods as needed without writing any code. This not only allows them to manage all connections in one centralized location, but also saves time and resources, enhancing the operational flexibility.

Benefits of the SDK.finance and Corefy integration:

• Access to payment diversity with support for any payment flow and over 200 currencies & cryptos
• A single integration to access multiple payment options
• Worldwide presence
• Secure PCI DSS-certified online payment processing
• Full control over all transactions in one centralized system

“We are thrilled to partner with Corefy to bring this innovative integration to our clients, said Alex Malyshev, CEO of SDK.finance. This partnership gives businesses the tools they need to streamline their finance operations, improve the user experience, and maintain the highest standards of data security.”

“Cooperation with SDK.finance reflects our commitment to simplify payment operations for businesses worldwide by providing a unified solution that ensures financial flexibility and eliminates the need for complex integrations,” said Denys Kyrychenko, Co-founder & CEO of Corefy.

Here  you can find more information about Corefy and explore how it can benefit your company. 

About SDK.finance: SDK.finance is a FinTech software provider that offers a pre-developed FinTech Platform that serves as a powerful foundation for developing and scaling any PayTech products like neobanks, digital wallets, money transfer systems, currency exchange solutions etc.

About Corefy: Corefy, a payment orchestration platform, provides an adaptable, scalable, and cost-efficient infrastructure catering to the needs of payment institutions and merchants across all scales and sectors.

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SDK.finance is pleased to announce its participation in FinTech Surge 2023, which will be held in Dubai from October 15-18, 2023. This event is a prestigious meeting place for financial technology industry giants, technology pioneers and disruptive startups, showcasing the latest innovations in paytech, insurtech, regtech, wealth & asset management and digital banking.

At FinTech Surge 2023 you will have a unique opportunity to meet the brains behind SDK.finance in person – CEO Alex Malyshev and CTO Pavlo Sidelov. They will be present as exhibitors and ready to interact with attendees, share insights on our innovative FinTech solutions and explore potential collaborations that can drive innovation in the industry.

So, remember the details:

Date: October 15-18, 2023

Location: Dubai Harbour
Find us: Hall 7, booth H7-A20

Fintech Surge is a transformative experience that brings together the world’s most innovative FinTech companies, industry leaders, investors and regulators. It’s where strategies are forged, partnerships are built, and the future of finance is shaped.

We are proud to be part of this prestigious event and invite you to join us in Dubai during this dynamic gathering where the FinTech world comes together to create limitless opportunities.

Stay tuned to SDK.finance for insights and news from the event by following our official social media channels and visiting our website.

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Pavlo Sidelov, our CTO at SDK.finance, was one of the speakers on stage at FinTech North’s Leeds Open Mic FinTech Showcase on September 28.

The event took place in Leeds, England, and gathered the leading minds in the FinTech industry, representing established financial services organizations, professional services firms, and more.

Pavlo Sidelov shared his expert insights on the toughest FinTech challenges, pointing out the main ones faced by companies willing to modernize or build new PayTech products.

• Developing products and services from scratch

Building products from scratch is one of the most difficult challenges in the dynamic world of FinTech. The task can be daunting for teams lacking the technological background and understanding of the solution’s architecture.

The caveat for expert development teams is the belief that they will be better off building the software from scratch. They believe that this approach offers full control over the process and helps take into account all the nuances of the prospective product. But in fact, it is a very time-consuming and lengthy process and the perfect product is at risk of not happening at all. 

• Lack of resources for product design and architecture

As said above, when a company spends a lot of resources on development from scratch, it often lacks time and resources for proper design and architecture. 

This, in the FinTech industry, can lead to challenges in user experience, competitiveness, scalability, and integration difficulties. To succeed in this dynamic industry, FinTech companies must recognize the importance of robust design and architecture as essential components of their success.

• Legacy code

Legacy code is a major challenge in the FinTech sector, as it is often a limiting factor for solutions innovation since it can be extremely complex, and difficult to maintain or modernize without disrupting the product’s functioning.

How can SDK.finance help handle the FinTech challenges?

SDK.finance was created in 2013 as a response to the challenges of building FinTech products from scratch. The SDK.finance`s pre-developed FinTech Platform serves as a powerful foundation for developing and scaling any PayTech product. 

Instead of starting from the ground up, its customers receive a ready-made FinTech backend allowing them to develop a wide range of FinTech products. These include digital wallets, neobanking solutions, money transfer services, currency exchange offers, offline payment processing systems, payment gateways, and much more.

This is a time and resource saver that allows customers to focus on the UI UX, design, and integrations, accelerates the customers’ time to market, and insures against legacy code issues thanks to being built using the latest technological stack.

Dedicated development team option

In addition to the ready-made Platform, SDK.finance also offers a dedicated development team of seasoned professionals to streamline the development process. With more than 10 years of experience in the FinTech industry, SDK.finance development team members deeply understand the financial landscape and are ready to turn the customer’s product vision into reality.

Combine SDK.finance FinTech backend software with the expertise of the development team to develop your payment product faster and more efficiently.

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The SDK.finance team recently participated in the Ripple CBDC Innovate Challenge, an event that brought together visionaries and innovators like ExtoPay, WhisperCash and STB to explore the potential of Ripple’s CBDC protocol and the XRP ledger, a decentralized public blockchain. Our mission was to harness the power of these technologies and develop solutions that improve efficiency, security, and transparency in financial systems. 

At SDK.finance, we believe in the transformative capabilities of CBDC technology to revolutionize money management. Our team hadto leverage Ripple’s CBDC protocol and XRP ledger to drive improvements in cross-border payments, reduce fraud, and increase transparency in the financial sector. The Ripple CBDC Hackathon provided the perfect opportunity to showcase our ideas and contribute to this cutting-edge technology.

How did SDK.finance cope with the challenge?

The SDK.finance team has provided pre-built components, including a backend wrapper with APIs specifically configured to facilitate currency exchange, account balance tracking, and XRP settlement. With fractional functionality allowing the XRP ledger to be set up as 1,000,000 drops, we wanted to improve scalability and adaptability to various CBDC project requirements.

Development journey 

1. First, we defined the requirements for the solution, considered the needs of central banks and financial institutions, and addressed the technical blockchain limitations.
2. Then we designed the solution, created an architecture, and defined detailed technical specifications.
3. Finally, we conducted extensive testing and gathered feedback from central banks and financial institutions to ensure compliance with the Hackathon rules.

Our development team used various technologies, including Java Spring, Linux, MongoDB, Postgresql, Typescript, and Vue.js.

Key findings

Based on this experience, we have determined that Ripple’s CBDC protocol and XRP ledger provide a solid foundation for advanced financial, payment, and currency ecosystems that benefit central banks, financial institutions, merchants, and individuals.

What’s next?

We plan to expand SDK.finance integrations with the leading service providers and continue to develop new product features and components based on XRP Ledger for WEB3 and PSD3.

About CBDC Innovate challenge by Ripple

The Ripple CBDC Innovate Challenge is a remarkable event. It attracted 1218 participants from around the world, all competing for $200,000 in prize money. Companies were tasked with developing or improving creative CBDC-based solutions using Ripple technology.

Ripple’s CBDC platform provides a comprehensive end-to-end solution for central banks, governments, and financial institutions to issue their own central bank digital currency. 

This platform leverages the XRP Ledger’s robust blockchain technology to seamlessly monitor and customize the entire lifecycle of fiat-backed CBDCs. Check our acticle about general ledger in banking to  explore its posibilites for financial business.

The event’s criteria included technological implementation, potential impact, quality of idea, originality, practicality, and real-world applicability. SDK.finance is honored to have participated in this exciting competition alongside other innovators.

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In the past ten years, I’ve gained valuable experience, talked to many potential FinTech founders from more than 100 different countries, and participated in mentoring programs to help new business owners launch their own companies.

I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and would like to share my experience with young entrepreneurs to help them avoid the same problems and protect them from the most dangerous pitfalls on their way to success.

So these are the seven lessons I’ve learned during my ten years as an entrepreneur.

Lesson 1. The right people

Your personal success depends on several strategic parameters, and you must focus on achieving the best possible combination from the start.

The first and most important step is to find the right people to work with. I spent 5 years working with not exactly the right people and projects. Try to avoid making the same mistake at all costs.

If you don’t trust your co-founders or you aren’t sure that you can rely on them and overcome the challenges, don’t start a business with them.

But how do you find the right partners to start a business with?

Shared values

It is really hard to find the right person with the same values because you can not evaluate, these need to be felt. You must be on the same wavelength,  think in a similar way, understand each other and have similar dreams, and speak a common language. Also, you have to support your partners. If you have any doubts about a person, trust your heart.

A business partnership is often compared to a marriage. Actually, it is much more serious than marriage.

Exploring new things

Concentrate on learning new things. Starting and running a startup is a difficult journey that requires constant learning. A typical company that succeeds in the marketplace is made up of hundreds or thousands of highly skilled people. All of them together know quite a lot.

Imagine starting a business with some of your friends. Now you are competing with all these professionals who are already in the market.

Make learning new things the main priority, because you can be quite far from what they already know.

Scientific thinking

It is a learning approach based on asking the right questions and trusting facts, not assumptions.

When you draw a conclusion based on something other than data, pay attention – that’s the tipping point. Realize that it is only a hypothesis that needs to be tested, but not a final decision.

An experiment with performance monitoring is the best technique to definitively prove a hypothesis. Repeat the experiment several times and compare the results to ensure that the validation procedure is reliable. They must be identical or barely different; this would show that the procedure and measurement are correct.

You can use the data and results of a proven hypothesis to improve your product. The results are also used to establish a foundation for the next experimental cycle.

To start an IT business IT you have to validate thousands of hypotheses. Try as much as you can to build a great product for your customers.

Being open to feedback

Be open to criticism from your teammates, partners and, of course, your clients. Although it can be painful to deal with negative feedback, do not be defensive or ignore it.

On the contrary – pay more attention to the comments you have received (and even those you did not really want to hear) and structure them. Consider them a source of priceless insights and think about how you can improve your approach or product.

It is important that your business partner has the same attitude because you will get mutual feedback. Sometimes you will have to say things that people do not like to hear. 

Therefore, both you and the other person at the helm should know how to effectively handle feedback in order to use it to the company’s advantage. To use feedback to improve the business, you and another person at the helm need to take it in quickly and effectively and draw conclusions from it.

Commitment is key

Running a startup is not a walk in the park. I remember the day my business partner and I transferred almost all of our money into a corporate account to pay salaries to our team. It was about 60,000 euros, and we realized that we might never get our money back.

Commitment means working hard for the company, no matter what the circumstances. If you are committed, you have many opportunities to succeed even with a mediocre product and an unattractive market. In my case, it was the commitment that allowed me to share these lessons with you today.

Lesson 2. The right idea

Now that you’ve found the right business partner, what’s next? How do you decide which business idea is the best? What product should you launch?

Ten years ago, we explored many ideas, trying to create something unique that no one had done before. But every proposal resembled what had already been done and ended up in the trash.

Today, I can admit that trying to be unique was a big mistake and a completely wrong way of choosing company concepts. But why?

Pain and value

A startup is about adding value to many customers who experience pain by solving their problems.

Let’s start with pain and value. Customers struggle with some problems every day, but sometimes they are not satisfied with the traditional way of solving problems. That’s a pain. So when your product solves a customer’s problem and eliminates the pain, that’s the value.

10X value

The ability to maximize value for the customer is the bottom line. Consider the 10X rule, which states that a product must be significantly better than a common method of solving the same problem to be successful.

A well-known example is the evolution of cab companies. Fifteen years ago, a popular method was to order a cab by phone, which could take 30 minutes of calling, talking, explaining the exact meeting place, and waiting. Now it only takes a few minutes without even calling. This is a good example of the 10X rule. Ordering a cab today is 10X better than it was 15 years ago.

However, why is this so important?

Because the inertia of people’s behaviour matters. Normally, people do not like to change their habits. Imagine how small the market share will be of a startup that offers little value to the market. Nobody will change their behaviour without a good reason.

Only if your product significantly improves the lives of your customers, your startup has a chance to conquer the market.

Market size

A babysitter brings value to a particular family, but his or her job is not a start-up. Running a marketplace for finding babysitters could be a startup because there are many customers solving the same problem

You have discovered a market where many potential clients are dealing with the same problem. But exactly how big should it be? 

According to some VCs, a company with potential should have a market size of at least $1 billion annually. As an entrepreneur, you should focus on clients, not statistics. So, I prefer to look at the market in units.

Let me demonstrate the point with a simple example.

There are about 10 million parents with children in the USA, and they spend $2,500 per month (or $30,000 per year) on babysitting, according to statistics. So the goal of your startup is to improve the lives of 10 million American families.

Consequently, a startup idea that deserves attention should significantly ( 10X ) improve the lives of millions of potential customers.

Lesson 3. The right business model

What’s the next step once you have found a great business partner and market opportunity? Choose the appropriate business model.

The best position for your company is to have customers who will use your product for a lifetime. It is right to look for a product with a potential lifespan of decades, as the customer lifecycle of many products is only a few years.

The right business model (some terms)

Let us assume the example family in need of a babysitter uses your product for ten years and spends $120 annually. The LTV in this case is $1,200. Before you reach this value, you will definitely need to invest some money in marketing and advertising – these are the customer acquisition costs.

Calculations

Let us assume that your CAC is $200. Make sure you have a very long payback period, which in our example is 18 months. The payback period is the time it takes to recoup the investment in the CAC. A normal payback period for small retail customers is about 5 months.

Ok, you “buy” a customer for $200 and he brings you $1,200, of which the remaining $1,000 is your budget for everything else, including the cost of revenue (direct costs for servers, customer support, etc.)

$1200-$200=$1000

Let us assume your cost of revenue per customer per year is $40 per customer per year or $400 per customer lifetime. This leaves you with a budget of $600 for 10 years or $60 per year to pay bills and develop your product.

$1000 – $400/10=$60

Even with 1 million active customers, you will only make $60 million a year. That’s not much, and this business idea does not look promising for a startup.

$60*1,000,000 = $60,000,000

So rethink the idea, market or business model to find cost-effective customer acquisition channels and increase monthly revenue.

It sounds so simple: you maximize customer LTV and minimize CAC. In reality, however, it’s easier said than done. Besides, even a small startup needs a budget for customer acquisition and product development, so we’ll talk about investments next.

Lesson 4. Investment

I have met with many potential investors over the past ten years, and at first, I did not understand why some of them did not want to invest in my company. However, I eventually received money from unprofessional investors. Now I understand that this is the worst situation for a startup. Do you want to know why?

• Firstly, stay calm – you do not need money to grow your business… if you can prove that your idea is worthy. How can you do that? Talk to VCs – this is a good way to verify that you have done your homework well. If professional VCs want to invest in your idea, you are on the right path. If not, take their feedback home and improve the idea.
• Second, and most important, unprofessional investors can steer you in the wrong direction by asking the wrong questions and measuring success from the wrong angle. The likelihood that they will introduce you to the right people – potential employees, business partners and future investors – is extremely low.
• Third, not every market and every company is investable. They are chasing unicorns and decacorns, so some markets are not big enough for them.

With the right idea, you can survive without investing at all. However, if you attract professional investors and sell them shares in your business, you are buying years of your life. It’s priceless and definitely worth it.

Another important thing is that you will always have competitors in the market. You have a few months before they show up. Many of them will be very good, and they will have investments from VCs, be willing to buy customers and hire the best staff.

It won’t be simple to survive without money. The reality is that businesses with great ideas but little financial support are going to lose out on customers. 

Investment is the fuel for your rocket, in other words. To win time and the market, you must have it.

Lesson 5. Competition

Competition to me is a Formula 1 race where you are the driver, engineer and pit crew at the same time. It is a good sign for you when other teams have fantastic cars with powerful engines, new tires and other essential elements for the race. There is no market worth entering if there is no competition.

Pizza vs. Uniqueness

It may sound strange, but there are many situations where it makes more sense to run a pizza restaurant in a city where there are hundreds of them than to come up with something original. Pizza offers more chances to win than an original product that no one else provides. Have you ever thought about the fact that no other business offers this product because maybe no one needs it?

For a startup, it is better to enter a competitive market with a newly invented product than to focus on a high priority on uniqueness.

Mr. Second

Remember that the iPhone was not the first cell phone, Facebook was not the first social network, and Google was not the first search engine.

If you analyze your competitors’ strategies and focus on what your customers need, your startup has a chance to succeed.

On the one hand, there is no ingenious invention that works forever, and something better will surely be offered in the future. On the other hand, there are growing expectations from customers who want the same UX they have come to expect from other world-class services. Therefore, keep reviewing what your customers need and reinvent your offering. This could completely change the direction of your startup.

Lesson 6. Execution is King

When you are competing fiercely with big companies, you have an execution problem. When everything looks great on paper but is terrible in practice, it’s easy for anyone to let a startup fail.

Playing with a value proposition, making assumptions in Excel, talking to VCs and motivating each other by dreaming of a great product and brilliant opportunities in the future is not the same as facing tons of development, marketing and support problems at the same time.

Assumptions do not work

Be ready from the start that your assumptions may be wrong and that you have underestimated everything several times. It can take up to six months of work to create a simple website that you can present to someone without feeling embarrassed.

Organic traffic through search engines is a channel for attracting customers, but do not rely on it for the first year, because you need to put a lot of work into search engine optimization before you can get visible results.

The hypothesis testing life cycle, the A/B testing lifecycle, the product development lifecycle, and the software development lifecycle all need to be put in place for a IT startup.

Team & Efficiency

You need to hire highly skilled people to help you achieve your goals, and you need to pay them competitive salaries. The top companies already have the best talent among their employees and pay them well. You need to make your startup attractive to talent.

As your startup grows, it can become a slow organization and lose efficiency unexpectedly quickly. It’s difficult to start a business that does not struggle with unproductive meetings, poor communication, useless red tape, etc. This can turn into a problem.

Lesson 7. Exit plan

When founders make plans for their startup, they rarely think about exiting. It is a big mistake. There are several exit options founders can choose before starting a business.

The Death Valley

The first – and most common – exit is to close the business, with debt and problems.

The numbers below are quite striking:

• 5 out of 10 new businesses fail in the first 5 years of operation (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• 7.5 out of 10 high-risk startups fail 
• 9 out of 10 startups fail (source and some other statistics)

You are starting a business in Death Valley. Remember, it is your decision and you are responsible for taking such a risk.

Moment of glory

The second exit strategy is a moment of glory when you find a buyer willing to purchase your company and pay your price for the shares. This kind of news usually gets people excited about how much money investors make in mergers and acquisitions and how high the value of startups is.

However, the reality is that mergers and acquisitions often end with the death of a startup. But let us face it, this type of failure is definitely preferable to the former. 

Take Instagram as an example, which was sold for $500 million after Snapchat rejected a takeover bid. Even today, when Snapchat’s shares are seven times cheaper than when it was acquired, the company’s valuation is 16.6 billion.

Way to glory

The third option for a startup is no exit at all. Many other startup founders, including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and others, are still running their companies. Remarkably, a true dream startup may not even have an exit.

Zombie or cash cow

Unfortunately, it is more likely that founders will not be able to sell their company because there are no buyers for it. It is normal for a small business that is not interesting to investors.

Such companies can exist for years without having any real business opportunities. They are called “zombies.” Do not waste time and close your zombie company as soon as possible if you have one.

A lot of hard work ahead

Do you still believe that in 1-3 years you will be done with your work and sitting at the top of the pyramid, living the good life while others work for you? Very unlikely. It’s much more likely that 10 years from now you’ll still be sitting in the office every week at 9pm on Saturdays. In other words, get ready to be satisfied with an office as a jet-set life from now on.

One thing if you are running your own business, you can be sure that there’s a lot of hard work coming your way.

The post Essential Insights for Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Reflecting on My Journey as a Startup Founder appeared first on SDK.finance - White-Label Digital Banking Software.

October 21, 2022, Tallinn, Estonia – SDK.finance is honoured to have won the Whitelabel FinTech of the Year Award at the Go Global Awards 2022, organized by the International Trade Council in partnership with the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency (formerly ‘EAS – Enterprise Estonia’).

Represented by our CEO, Alex Malyshev at the venue, the SDK.finance team is thrilled to have become one of the event’s 9 winners in the FinTech section.

Go Global Awards 2022, held on October 19-21, brought together senior executives from the world’s most innovative technology companies, financial institutions, venture capital firms, along with manufacturers, exporters, government and trade associations representatives from 80+ countries around the globe, offering businesses a perfect opportunity for connecting with potential partners and customers.

Winners of the FinTech section of the Go Global Awards 2022 (Alex Malyshev is far left)

This year’s event was dedicated to celebrating the innovative companies that drive the economy forward and demonstrate their resilience even during these challenging times, and the venue for the awards ceremony – the Estonian Maritime Museum, was spot on for the purpose. 

Alex Malyshev, CEO of SDK.finance, said: “Starting from the first line of code, we have been dreaming about going global and making the life of FinTech founders easier with our white-label platform. Today, SDK.finance software is developed by a team spread across 9 countries, and delivered to clients from 5 continents. 

Basic statistics from the event

• Amount of award entrants total: 8142
• Participants: 512
• Total business awards given: 61

We are proud to be recognized at the international level, among 8,000+ participants and 61 winners. It spurs the team’s determination and inspires us to keep up the work that fosters innovation in the financial technology sector, which makes a difference for millions of end-users across the globe.”

Background

About SDK.finance

SDK.finance is a payment technology vendor providing a white-label API-driven FinTech platform for building payment products on top. Available as a hybrid cloud software or with source code license, the SDK.finance software caters to businesses of all sizes – from startups seeking affordable software to SMBs and enterprises that require top customizability and independence from the vendor.

SDK.finance customers save at least 1 year of active development for building a neobank, digital wallet or remittance app, payment acceptance business, marketplace payment solution etc. 

About the Go Global Awards

The International Trade Council’s Go Global Awards celebrate organizations that drive the global economy through their innovations, technologies, and strategies. The Go Global Awards follow a rigorous three-tiered review/selection process. andidates begin the application process with a pre-screening / ranking phase. The top 20% of nominations across all categories are then cross-reviewed to ensure consistency. Finalists are then selected and move forward to the live judging event, where they present before independent members of the Go Global Awards Committee. The Awards Committee then cross-reviews the finalist presentations and the final decisions are announced at the Go Global Awards Day.

The Awards bring together hundreds of senior executives from some of the world’s most innovative manufacturers, exporters, technology firms, international service providers, venture capital firms and financial institutions.

While the Go Global Awards offer the opportunity to be recognized and honored by their peers it also goes beyond winning trophies and citations. The program aims to build a community of senior executives from across the globe to support one another, share ideas, create partnerships, and build on their existing knowledge and connections.

Read our article on Key CBDC Insights from the Global Digital Monetary Institute Symposium to explore the latest advances in digital finance.

The post SDK.finance Wins the Whitelabel FinTech of the Year at the Go Global Awards 2022 appeared first on SDK.finance - White-Label Digital Banking Software.