Elizabeth Lumley, Startupbootcamp FinTech MD, on startup success and world domination

By @SimonCocking. Great interview with Elizabeth Lumley Director of Global Ecosystem Development @sbcFinTech and @sbcInsurTech Frequent guest host of Breaking Banks  @Breakingbanks1 Global FinTech Diva for Life!

Your background, how did you end up doing what do you now?

Over 20 years ago I answered an ad in the New York Times for a reporter position at Inside Market Data, which was (and still is ) a newsletter covering the real-time market data industry in financial services. I only saw ‘reporter’ and ‘New York’ – I barely knew what a stock was and knew nothing about technology. I learned and I stayed.

The part of banking and financial services I deal with aren’t the Hollywood central casting Masters of the Universe – they’re the plumbers of the industry – the people who work the data, networks, regulations and infrastructure that keeps everything, sorta, ticking along. Ask anyone who works in infrastructure in any industry – get that right – and everything else will run smoothly – get it wrong (or ignore it as it ages and deteriorates) then we have problems. That is what FinTech and the entire financial services industry is dealing with now.

What you do sounds like a lot of fun (as well as challenging), what is a typical day like?

It can be. Working with startups is rewarding, and frustrating in equal measure. On a typical day you may want to hug a founder and strangle them all in the space of ten minutes. People who start their own businesses are a special beast. The best are so hard working and believe passionately in what they are doing – it can be inspiring.

A typical day for me, at the moment, is speaking with large banks and corporates mostly on the same subject. “HOW can we work with startups?” There answer is not easy. Large banks need to let startups in, offer them a playground (or ‘sandbox’) to test their assumptions and pilot their products. They need to examine where the barriers lie inside their organisations that stop that from happening and build strategies to work around those barriers. It takes bravery, a strong leader and hard work to make that happen. But, in my opinion, most banks have no choice. Any person who works at a bank and looks at the developments and companies emerging that hold the label ‘FinTech’ and say – ‘Well that doesn’t apply to my business’ is signing his own death warrant.

Your two sbc projects (FinTech + Insurance) how are they going?

FinTech in London is entering its third year – applications open in March! Insurance, we call it InsurTech at SBC, is very buzzy at the moment. Everyone is excited about how Insurance will be disrupted in the coming years. I can probably say that in terms of the hype cycle, people are becoming a bit wary about all things ‘FinTech’ – but no one is weary yet in InsurTech.

The team, lead by MD Sabine VanderLinden, has ten awesome startups, currently in week five of a three month programme. Whenever I head down to visit the InsurTech cohort, everyone is working away – they have a few startups that deal with wearables, one that looks at new ways to deal with contents insurance, and yet another that is looking to ease much of the pain many firms will face when Solvency II comes into force.

What trends are you excited about?

AI – I, for one, welcome our robot overlords (They read this publication, right?) [-> probably]

Mentoring – your top tips?

For startups? As a mentor your job is to offer guidance, your expertise and your contacts. Your job is not to tell a startup what to do. They are not your companies (unless you decide to buy them, or invest a shit load of money). Your advice is but one data point on their road to validating their assumptions.

Also – fall in love with the passion and the dreams of the startups. A good mentor is one that finds a startup and falls in love with them – with the team, with the idea, with the business model. A *meh* mentor offers a bunch of advice to 10 startups – then leaves. Being an entrepreneur is a lonely business – acting as an advisor to them on this journey counts for a lot.

How has the last 12 months been?

Intense. I left Finextra after six years last year and went straight into the MD role at Startupbootcamp FinTech – three weeks before selection days. It was like trying to buckle yourself in on a moving rollercoaster.

Anything you’d do differently?

I tend not to sit around and think about what would have happened in some alternative universe, which doesn’t exist, where I acted and did things differently. Every mistake or success, decision or accident is all part of the journey most people take. It’s what forms the basis for the decision you make today.

What are the pros and cons of being London based?

London really is the FinTech capital of the world. Every business in the financial services universe is here – investment, corporate, retail banking, asset management, insurance etc… This is combined with a mature tech environment, investors and an interested and progressive regulatory environment. All of the people and companies you would like to deal with are within a few miles of each other throughout London. Never underestimate the power of serendipity. I’ve had more success that came out of ‘bumping into someone’ than any other method.

The cons are BANK ACCOUNTS. They number one problem I had as MD of the FinTech programme was getting personal and business banks accounts for startups not originally from the UK. This country need to sort this out pronto.

Your plans for the future?

Global domination. FinTech doesn’t just sit in London or New York or Singapore. It sit inside every industry and every country – it is the rails and the platforms for which money is moved and spent and saved and loaned. It improves the lives of women in the third world and makes it easier for fund managers in New York to manage reporting – and everyone in between. Startupbootcamp aims to have a presence – in one form or another in a wide range of global hubs – acting as link and building on the strengths of each city.

Personally – yes. Global domination. I want to be as well known in Asia and the US as I am in the UK and Europe – and use that influence to create stronger networks for our startups and to promote innovation and FinTech in general.

Thought leaders, who do you follow / like? Who inspires you?

I love all of my Twitter followers – I send them all Christmas cards ;-). I like people who are smart and who care about the topics that are talking about – not just about their own self-promotion. I’d hate to make a list – as I would leave great people out. All the FinTech Girls – I love them.

I know if I list people, I will get it in the neck for the people I forgot. To be safe – one of my heroes is Margaret Atwood. Not only because I love her books, but because she has never shied away from progress and has a non-snobby view of technology. She’s in her 70s and is a celebrated novelist, paper books and all that, yet she is all over Twitter (she even wrote a short story on Twitter). People who sneer and new forms of communication or technology, out of some misguided view that it will make them seem smarter and more intellectual, tend to irritate me.

How do you manage life / work, and online / offline balance?

My husband works from home. So he does most of the cooking, all of the laundry and most of the first line of childcare (although our son is now 11 and pretty self-sufficient.) I dedicate a lot of time and energy to my job and my career. But when I switch off I switch off. I try not to take work home from me if I can help it, so I can concentrate on my family.

For those that don’t know, what does Breaking Banks cover, and why is it a great listen?

Breaking Banks is great because it doesn’t have an agenda – outside of FinTech. Rachel and Brett are looking for a variety of voices and great stories. What’s going on in banks, in FinTech companies, in new technologies – who is making waves and who is getting attention and why. It’s a great forum to share these stories and I’m honoured they asked me to take part.

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