Step 1: Mentality (!)

Building custom software is not a task fulfilled in a day or two. Thus, pack yourself with patience and trust the process!

Step 2: The Choice

Choose among the many options for software development companies by analyzing your priorities and aligning your ideas with the abilities of the service provider. Aim for a reliable company with past experiences in the startup sector that is equipped with excellent development capabilities and proper methodologies, because new businesses should be wary of the potential damage a poor choice can cause.

Step 3: Discovery

In this step, the service provider helps you prepare a solid project specification, which later on will be translated into a technical plan.

Step 4: Into the “Development Land”

The whereabouts of this land are defined by the hired developers’ team and the technical specification that the project requires. In this stage, the laying of the foundations for the build begins. Then, the tech team is ready to integrate the design into a functional unit. With a touch of magic, they also ensure rigorous testing at this stage.

Step 5: The Launch

Houston, Can You Hear Me? After numerous careful discussions and refining processes, the project is opened up for the more general public.

Step 6: Support

Although this is a hard-and-fast rule for everybody, startups should always seek to be up-to-date and competitively ready for rapid reactions to shifts in the market, as well as the customers’ preferences. After the initial launch and the successful working project, the new business owners should always rely on the development team and their prompt post-deployment customer support. Whether it is a new update or a new feature, never hesitate to reach out for help.

Despite this being a very basic step guide, startups should stick to this backbone and redefine their plans. Having an idea in mind and executing it, unfortunately, comes from two very different planets. Choosing a winning card in the face of a dependable dev team is as important as the success of the company. Without having this support, building an online presence might turn out to be the downfall of your idea.

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Gamification

The millennials grew up spending hundreds of hours on  PlayStation and Nintendo. That inevitably influenced how they interact with new stuff.
Gamification is the use of game design techniques and mechanics in a non-game context to solve problems. In the context of fintech apps, gamification could increase user engagement. You could add simple things like prompting users to set goals (e.g saving X amount) and reward them upon achievement.   If they receive meaningful rewards for their engagement, it could also increase their customer loyalty .

Onboarding

Onboarding is an underestimated part of the app experience. It is literally the first impression that your users have with your product and as the old saying goes first impressions matter. Fintech apps due to their nature, have usually lengthier onboarding process than apps in other categories. There is plenty of data that needs to be collected and that is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, too lengthy onboarding may turn off millennials from using your app, on the other hand too short one would rob you from the chance to collect data, engage them and explain the basic terminology or functionality.  A good example is Acorns: a spare change investing app. Not only it is stunning visually and easy to follow, but it does a good job of explaining what is the app really about in the first 30 seconds. Good practices that you could take home from them: use story-telling to emphasize the value of your product, ask only for the necessary information and prompt users what to do next on each step.

Clean UX/UI

The best fintech apps are the ones that are easy to understand at one glance. You could use different graphs, charts to transform complex financial data to be easily readable on a mobile screen
Another important aspect are the colours. Some studies show that 60% of consumers decide on a product based on colour alone. Another study by  ComScore   in 2017 showed that 21% of millennials would delete an app simply because they don’t like how it looks. Usually, finance and money are perceived as serious subjects and are portrayed in more conservative colours. Although it is a matter of personal taste, millennials generally prefer colours that convey more mindful and optimistic vibes.

Focus on the Ecosystem and brands

Lastly, focus on building an ecosystem around your app and product that would add value and make it useful.
How many savings, payments or banking apps the world and millennials really need?  The answer is probably less than there currently are. “We don’t need another fintech app frankly,” said Satya Patel, a partner at Homebrew Ventures at the Future of Fintech conference in NY back in 2017. Millennials value practicality and convenience above all, so focus on building something that would be useful in different ways.Build  a real challenger product  rather than another shiny mobile app.
A good example is Starling bank and its in-app marketplace that integrates with dozens of other services. On top of its main functionality, there is another whole layer that allows users to look after their travel insurance, pensions etc. That really sets the Starling bank apart from other challenger banks.

Fintech, millennials and mobile is a match made in heaven. However, it is a crowded marketplace. You would have to carefully study your audience and opportunities before releasing an app.
If you’re looking for an experienced app development partner, then Payapars is right for you.

The post The Fintech Millenials Battle: How to Create that Wins Their Hearts and Minds. appeared first on Payapars.

So far the UK start-up ecosystem has been generally unaffected. On the contrary, investment in Start-ups has risen after the Brexit decision Recent developments, however, leave room for worry as no-deal Brexit looks probable. Transferwise was one of the first prominent Startups to raise the alarm as it activated its contingency plan and applied for a license in Brussels earlier this month. We take a look at the two most common Brexit threats that Start-ups face and their possible solutions:

Risk#1: Tech employees shortage and rising employee costs

EU professionals already form 10 % of the workforce in the UK. A recent survey of members of the union Prospect has found that two-thirds of EU citizens working in a range of specialist sectors say they might leave the UK because of Brexit. Needless to say, this would hurt tech startups. It would be harder to recruit skilled professionals and their salaries would go up. Many Startups have limited runway, in terms of time and financial resources. If they need to wait for months to hire a good developer, it would impact their time-to-market and overall chances for business success.

On the other hand, even if the majority of employees decide to stay, all of them will have to come in through the Tier system. This means that those relying on an international workforce will have to incur the cost of registering as a Licensed Sponsor and all the issues associated with being a Licensed Sponsor.

Possible Solution:

Find a nearshore partner that could help you out with your tech resource needs. For years UK companies have looked east when it comes to tech talent. For example in Bulgaria, Startups could find booming IT industry, great technical expertise, good English skills at a reasonable cost.

Risk #2: Currency risk

After the referendum in 2016, the pound slumped to a 31-year low. No-deal Brexit would most probably have a similar effect (at least in the beginning) as markets would be uncertain around the future of the UK economy.

On the one hand, this would make British products and services cheaper for export. On the other hand, UK companies would pay more for the same services from abroad.

Possible Solution:

Negotiate prices with your current vendors and sign new partnership agreements or forward contracts.

Risk#3: No Access to the Digital single market

Starting 2015 the European Commission started implementing its Digital Single Market strategy, which seeks to harmonize the rules across members regarding the distribution of digital services. This would lead to difficulties in selling new products and services from the UK.

Possible Solution:

Apply for Estonian E-residency. Estonia is the first country that offers E-residency. This is not an equivalent of normal citizenship but allows foreigners to set-up companies and business accounts in the country. The application is done entirely online and costs only 100 Euros. With the residency, you could establish EU counterpart to your Startup.

Although no-deal Brexit is unlikely to happen, it is a wise idea for UK start-ups to insure themselves for this scenario. If you are a UK Start-up looking for tech expertise or resources, contact us today.

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