Know Your Customers (And What They Want)
Customer Delight = Successful Startup
Our thesis at Vestigo Ventures is that the industry needs to lower costs to serve a larger audience and needs to delight clients. Many of our portfolio companies are doing just that in conjunction with incumbents. Consumers know what they want and have been well taken care of by consumer technology companies. It is time for the financial services to follow suit.
Our June issue covers the importance of supporting customers. For a startup company, getting market acceptance for its product or service from its targeted consumer is the key to moving beyond the early stage of growth.
We hope everyone continues to be well.
—Mark & Dave
Envisions Interview
Know Your Customers (And What They Want)
w/ Harry Bartle, EVP of Enterprise Sales at LifeYield
Turning Customers to Clients
Members of the Vestigo Team have spent many years working to positively impact client outcomes. Throughout our careers we have learned LEAN and Agile as we focused on process improvements. We have implemented Net Promoter Score systems as means to improve customer outcomes. All of these have proved to be helpful in advancing the cause of turning customers into clients who loved the businesses and services that we were part of.
At a startup, it’s critical to put a client at the center of everything you are doing in the business. Their success is yours! We thought we would share a few points that you might find helpful as you think about your clients. Here they are:
- Measure satisfaction often and review trends over time
- Pay attention to comments and feedback - even negative comments can be turned into valuable insights for the company
- Quickly incorporate feedback
- Be consistent in your policies and make them clear to clients and to employees
- Empower employees to do what is right
- Surprise your clients with unexpected positive actions
We have also found that you should use whatever techniques or systems you like but it is imperative to pick one and stick to it. We are always happy to learn your secrets to client delight. Send your thoughts to HMalahov@VestigoVentures.com so we can share them with others.
—Ian, Mike, Frazer & Halina
Mark Casady on The Shrimp Tank Podcast
We live in very challenging times when change is happening, whether we are ready for it or not. Our own Mark Casady “sat down” for an interview with Ted Jenkin and Mark Scribner - hosts of The Shrimp Tank podcast - to discuss his views on the current state of the financial services industry and venture capital.
With nearly 40 years of professional experience as a financial services leader and a venture capitalist investing in fintech, Mark offers a unique perspective for both small and large business owners on how to handle the change and benefit from the trends that drive the financial services industry forward.
Mark also provided valuable advice for entrepreneurs working on their pitches. While the size of the market and technology are often well represented in pitch presentations, team descriptions tend to be short and dry. Do not forget about the team! They are the ones who bring great ideas to life!
Portfolio Updates
Alloy and SentiLink Partnership
Detecting synthetic fraud in financial institutions just became a lot easier! In the current environment where digital banking is on the rise, it is evident that fraud identifying solutions should become more sophisticated too. With Alloy's best in class API and dashboard to manage KYC/AML and SentiLink's customer verification process, this partnership is bound to deliver great results!
Posted by Alloy on Jun 9, 2020
The Building Blocks of Tax-Smart Asset Location
How do you rebuild an investment portfolio in the current environment? LifeYield might have an answer to that! Their 5 step process for creating a customized smart-household solution sets a solid foundation and positions their clients for success. Check out this article to see how tax-smart asset location and household management can help!
Jack Sharry
Interesting Reads
Laurén Robbins To
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