Podcast April 6, 2022

Open-Source Fintech & Building Human Connections Through Partnerships

In Fintech, it takes a village…

If you want to change the world of finance, you need to find the right partner and get a community behind you.

In this episode, Jared Jones, Head of Ecosystem at Moov Financial, explains how MOOV has built a thriving community by galvanizing the Fintech industry around their open-source releases.

Join us as we discuss:

  • The value of open-source Fintech
  • How to maintain the human connection in payment partnerships
  • Why everyone in the community should get excited for Fintech DEVCON

The value of open-source Fintech

Open-source, being a community-based approach to solving a wide range of challenges, brings the problem-solving power of many sharp minds together into one powerful solution.

In the specific context of the Fintech world, open-source solutions are:

  • Enabling accelerated development of compliance and risk management policies
  • Providing an increased surface area for integration with banks and neobanks
  • Reducing costs and lead times for critical bulk functions and processes

While open-source is a popular approach, for good reason, it’s rare to witness it being deployed in Fintech.

It’s one reason why remaining part of the open-source community is so important to Jared and the rest of the Moov team.

Another reason is the exponentially increasing scope and depth of collaboration and transparency within open-source as a whole. Access to documentation, rationale, experiments, and more: it’s a Fintech developer’s dream.

Moov and open-source contributions

There are close to 40 open-source projects that Jared’s team are working on at the time of recording this episode.

The work covers mainstream functions and exploratory concepts and innovation.

Moov is showing no signs of slowing down as far as open-source development goes, particularly because of their values.

“We’ve really galvanized Fintech around the payments open-source libraries that we’ve released.” — Jared Jones

How to maintain the human connection in technology partnerships

Fintech is the bridge between the orthodox traditional world of finance and the cutting-edge environment of technology.

Amid all of those juxtaposed dynamics, human beings still matter the most.

Jared outlines Moov’s philosophy of giving first as a baseline for making decisions, and it’s evident throughout the business. It’s aligned with the company’s commitment to contributing as part of the open-source community.

Mechanics of a good partnership

Jared raises a valid point: Partnerships arise because both parties have needs that they either can’t or won’t fulfill independently of each other.

There needs to be a mutual value exchange.

Here are some outcomes of a solid partnership:

  • Topline revenue
  • Sales acceleration
  • Brand awareness by association
  • Resource capacitation and upskilling

Above all else, a solid partnership is still about building connections with people.

When you focus on the human element, building mutually-beneficial relationships based on cooperation becomes easy.

Fintech marketplace expectations

Consumers’ expectations have evolved alongside Fintech. Despite entirely new infrastructure and products emerging, like blockchain and cryptocurrency, people are now accustomed to the ability to move money instantly.

This is why Moov and Currencycloud have partnered together, to continue making moving money easier and more accessible to everybody.

“Partnering is about working together on something that has mutual benefits, not only to the partner, but also the customer.” — Jared Jones

Thought leadership space

Even when Moov is not actively giving away their time and expertise or delivering value to partners, they’re attracting other like-minded people who value critical and lateral thinking.

The high-caliber community surrounding Moov has been made possible through the creation of space and structure for it to blossom. Crafting time and space for a distinct purpose like applying the mind in different ways, to otherwise mundane challenges, is a potent way to foster thought leadership.

One of those ideal spaces is Moov’s Fintech DEVCON.

Why everyone in the community should get excited for Fintech DEVCON

Fintech DEVCON is that wonderland that Fintech developers dream of, where finance and technology intersect. It’s a space where the context is informed by the exact path and challenges that Fintech developers face.

Created by Moov, it’s an extension of their open-source philosophy and devotion to giving back into the community for sure.

What’s there to look forward to?

It’s an exciting time to be working in Fintech, open-source or not.

Demand and supply are both rapidly evolving.

Almost every week, Jared sees an update about a new niche within the industry that offers something intensely useful that could genuinely redefine the relationship between people and their financial products and assets.

“We think that developers rule the world. And we think that finance and moving money is way too hard. So, we’re trying to make it really easy for vertical SaaS companies, marketplaces, and everyone in between to move money however they like to move it.” — Jared Jones

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Until next time!

 

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