Return to Normal
It's All About Culture
What is the new normal? This month, we discuss the return to the new normal that includes the same pressures and opportunities before the pandemic. Namely, the strategic imperative to be digital. All these forces have been with us and either got accelerated in the pandemic, such as touchless payments or online account setups, etc., and they will continue to be forces for change now.
Ultimately creating forces for change is our biggest task at Vestigo Ventures. Our goal is to find the best ideas and back the business models most likely to win in this new digital world. So to achieve this goal, we ask ourselves the following questions:
- How do we create and maintain our culture to make this happen?
- How do we evaluate talent for the team or on a team of entrepreneurs?
Now that we can get back to our routines, we plan to keep what was good, like using online video meetings, and go back to what helped reinforce our culture, such as team dinners. This getting back together is most welcomed and exciting in many ways.
I am sure you are finding that in returning to dinners with family members that have been on hold for months or to friends you have not seen in a year, it's a combo of exhaustion - not used to the stimulation and exhilaration from having the joy of personal contact. It makes the past year fade quickly.
But we must be sure we are rebuilding our routines in new and better ways. As you will see in our interview with Ray Wang, one of our advisors, and Frazer Anderson, companies need to understand and thrive in a new world of digital dominance. This is perfect timing for those reinventing their business or inventing it in the case of startups. The world is different, and there are new opportunities and threats. How quickly you read those and adapt them is pivotal in building a successful business.
We always find times like these to be filled with possibilities. This is why we are so bullish on early-stage FinTech investing. There has never been a better time to back those companies bringing positive change to financial services than right now. As we get into our new routines and methods, the focus on digital breakthroughs and creating a culture of success will be front and center for us.
— Mark & Dave
Vestigo Ventures in the News
Vestigo Supports the Launch of the Mass FinTech Hub
We are excited to announce that Vestigo and other fintech/financial services industry leaders will support the Mass FinTech Hub to spur entrepreneurial and economic growth.
Mass Fintech
Envisions Interview
Everyone Wants to Rule the World
w/ Ray Wang, Founder and Chairman at Constellation Research
Pre-Order Ray's newest book here.
Will There Be a Return to the Office?
COVID has been an unprecedented driver in displaying how teams can be highly effective and productive in a fully remote environment. Therefore, as vaccines continue to roll out in the United States, it begs the question of "are we returning to the office?" or "what does the future of work look like?"
Here at Vestigo Ventures, as with many other companies, saw the pandemic as an opportunity to re-evaluate how we work and what is the most beneficial for the team in the long run. In addition to our internal discussions, we also surveyed the CEOs of our portfolio companies to get their views about the future of work. Below we display the results from our survey.
When will the office be re-opening?
Our survey found that over 70% of our portfolio companies will be returning to the office Summer of 2021. It is also important to note that many of these companies will be adopting a hybrid model that will lead to much more variation.
What percentage of your employees will stay fully remote?
Next, we asked our CEOs how the return to office will look like (i.e., most of their employees come in every day or only a small portion). Our survey found that just under half of our portfolio companies will have less than 25% of their employees staying fully remote, whereas the other ~50% is split among 25-100% of the team staying remote.
Do your employees want to return to the office?
As our final question, we asked our CEOs whether they believe that their employees want to return to the office in their judgment. Our survey found that over half find that their employees want to return to the office for work post-pandemic.
As we begin (yes, this is only the beginning) to transition out of quarantine and restrictions, workplaces will continue to evolve, and new challenges will come with this change. At Vestigo Ventures, we expect to be trying all sorts of return-to-office models and iterate on what we find works best for our team.
As a final note, it is reassuring to see that many of our CEOs return to the office in the Summer of 2021, showing signals of a return to a "normal" life. We at Vestigo are definitely looking forward to when we can casually grab a drink together and discuss the next big idea in FinTech!
- Vestigo Ventures Team
Portfolio Updates
Alloy Rebrands with a New Logo and Website
It is amazing to see the continued success and growth at Alloy. As the company continues to mature they decided to commit to a rebrand that represents their approach to modernize identity decisioning in a legacy financial services industry.
Posted by Bethany Walsh on Jun 14, 2021
John Thiel Joins LifeYield's Fiduciary Board
We are thrilled to announce that financial services visionary John Thiel will be joining LifeYield's board. Thiel brings invaluable industry knowledge and a deep understanding of challenges faced by enterprise firms as they develop wealthtech solutions.
Railz Partners with Visa
It is incredible to see the continued success of Railz! Railz has partnered with Visa to better serve their SMB customers to their data-as-a-service API. With this single API, Visa's clients can now access their SMB customers' accounting data for card management, underwriting, and portfolio management.
Interesting Reads
James Allen
Erik Brynjolfsson
Dave Kuraguntla
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