Three Quick Takes: Motif
Hardeep Walia, CEO of Motif, speaks about humanizing investing and innovation in FinTech
Author: Nipun Jasuja
On December 1, 2016, Wharton Fintech Club had the honor of hosting Hardeep Walia, Founder and CEO of Motif, for a Lunch and Learn event on Wharton campus.
Hardeep’s talk was a huge hit among Whartonites — he spoke from the heart, offered fresh and insightful perspectives on Fintech and life, and charmed the audience with his eloquence and wit.
While there was a world of wisdom in what Hardeep had to say, here are the three quick takes that really resonated with us:
1. Most people think conceptually about investing.
I am sure you’ve had a recent conversation with a friend where you said something like “I think drones will become big and I would like to invest in them. But I don’t know how”. Or “I have a firm belief in companies with female CEOs”.
Most of us do not understand the complexities of investing or think in share counts, but we do hold firm beliefs and would not be opposed to betting on them. Motif allows people to act on such bets. It’s built around the amazingly simple insight that humans think in concepts and themes. And as long as humans can express it, Motif can make it work. Check out this Bloomberg article that explains how Motif works.
2. Disrupting financial services is extremely challenging…
You generally have to work with an industry that you are trying to disrupt. And unlike many other industries, the incumbent in the case of FinTech is a smart cookie. If you are thinking of a problem, chances are that stalwarts such as Jamie Dimon have already thought about it. They perhaps have been unable to solve these problems because they are really hard to crack. Add regulatory complexity to the mix, and disruption becomes even more challenging.
3. …but as long as you have a sustainable advantage, you can succeed.
Hardeep’s advice — think beyond distribution (which has been the focus of FinTech innovation but is extremely challenging given the scale requirements), keep regulation at the forefront of your decisions, and evaluate your idea against the litmus test of innovation — if a big incumbent can build something that took you two years to build in three months, then it wasn’t innovation to begin with.
