I am now obsessed with Ben Horowitz and his management principles. If you don’t know him, Ben Horowitz is a co-founder of the venture capital firm A16Z and the author of “The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers“. He introduces the idea Read more…
If you work in FinTech compliance, you already heard me say that hard work, extensive research, attention to detail, and deep regulatory knowledge is not the best way to solve compliance issues and add value within FinTech. You may be shaking your head in disbelief and I totally get it. Read more…
Most compliance officers would agree that onboarding and reviewing corporate customers is one of the most painful and annoying KYC tasks ever. It takes forever, it’s confusing, and everyone involved (customers, UBOs, compliance officers, and relationship managers) hates every step of the process. BUT WHY? Why cannot we all simplify Read more…
Today’s article is inspired by my conversation with a taxi driver about money and Putin. I came to Salzburg for the Opera Festival and a taxi driver asked me (mixing Russian and German with some heavy Slavic accent) if I was pro or against Putin. I said “obviously against” and Read more…
Do CEOs and founders worry about compliance too much? In this episode, Yana wants to discuss some things that are more fundamental, like problems, issues, or misconceptions that she believes have been around for a long time. She hopes that this conversation will show you a different way to approach Read more…
Today I wanted to give you a quick overview of the concept of international sanctions, how they work and how they may impact a FinTech company, especially from the standpoint of technical implementation and tools. Warning: this is not compliance training. 😉 There are so many conspiracy theories, wrong interpretations, Read more…
Could your idea be the beginning of a new startup? Listen as Tom and Yana discuss this controversial topic and, as usual, disagree about much of it. Yana shares that she believes you can start a business with an idea, but you must first get it validated. Tom agrees that Read more…
Do you feel freedom as an entrepreneur? Listen as Yana and Tom discuss this and the four liberating examples Yana and her friend came up with and how they relate to freedom. Tom and Yana also share their predictions for the economy in the next few months, and as strange Read more…
Creating fresh new ideas is sometimes very difficult. Listen as Yana and Tom discuss ways they generate new ideas and why it is harder when you have a deadline. They also chat about junior entrepreneurs being afraid of someone stealing their ideas and why they have never worried about it. Creation Read more…
Do you think trust in a startup company should be earned over time or granted right away? This question has been on Tom and Yana’s minds for the last few weeks, and as usual, they both have opinions on it. Listen as they each share their thoughts and insights on Read more…