The FinTech Mafia and the Firing Machine at TRH Open House

Have you ever been fired at? 10 times? Within 3 minutes? That’s what happened at the FinTech panel during the recent Open House in Mumbai.

The stage was all set. The esteemed panelists (including yours truly, Ravinath and Kalpesh) were seated in neatly aligned seats.

Our host, Suresh Venkat, the legendary ex-CNBC personality, was ready with his ever smiling face, making us feel comfortable and welcome.

In the initial few minutes we spoke about our fintech businesses where I presented about Invezta.com, the first low-cost, zero commissions, robo-advisor for common investors.

The presentation is embedded in the post below.

And then, Suresh took charge of the flow with his meticulously planned list of questions. I have hardly seen a host with that kind of preparation, backed with data, and ability to maneuver the discussion effectively. (I am keeping Arnab Goswami out of this comparison matrix.. ;)).

The panel discussed the following points of interest:

• How the advancement of technology can help the penetration of finance/investments in the retail space. Suresh presented interesting statistics suggesting that even with all the developments and internet penetration, the financial inclusion has been sluggish. The entrepreneur in us saw the same thing as an opportunity.
• Leveraging data and technology, how the new age digital apps/tools can help win the trust of clients and help them be more open to transact, invest and benefit from the development
• How fin-tech developments ranging from banking to payment systems to investing aided by the easing of regulatory hurdles can make life easier for consumers in time to come

So far so good. We had time to think and respond to the questions but then Suresh drops the bomb.

“Rapid-fire round”, he says and I could imagine Coffee-with-Karan. We only had water bottles, so it was Water-with-Suresh.

Not only the panelists, but also, Alok was included in the line of fire. 4 of us, including Alok, and Suresh with the terminator machine (the paper chit which he had been hiding till now), ready to open fire.

It was a nice volley of questions and fun to go through. Questions on the idea of unicorn, money that will make one happy, funding, 3 words on XYZ etc. kept us waiting for our turn (to pass).

I must commend Suresh for such an awesome preparation and making the discussion interesting for the panellists and the audience.

I have certainly missed some fun parts of the event. Request others to contribute via comments or otherwise and we can include it over here.

Here is the presentation that I did at the OH.

[Ps – If you are browsing via a mobile device, click on the IN logo (linkedin) and directly view this deck on slideshare. The UX is much better :)]

Please feel free to reach me on any questions (I have an ASK SHARAD page on trh). Please have a look at Invezta.com and help my team make it better.

Twitter: 3sharad

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 Read Mohul’s roundup of the remaining sessions here!