Fintech Product Lessons from Binance and N26

Concentrating on problems with the biggest impact can optimize resource use in startups.

"The principle is simple, like you work on problems that have a 10x positive or a negative impact. ... In most main tech companies, one of two problems. It's a growth problem or a compliance problem, because both of them can have a negative or positive 10X impact."

- Identify issues that significantly affect your startup's success. - Prioritize tasks that offer the highest return on effort. - Allocate resources to areas with the greatest potential impact.

Building a culture of experimentation can lead to faster growth and better product decisions.

"The moment you build experimentation, you've now made it scientific. ... It's extremely empowering once we can, it takes a long time to move the team in that direction. But once you get it there, the PMs just, it's a natural kind of dopamine hit every time you run an experiment and then see it move metrics."

- Transition from intuition-based to data-driven decision-making. - Empower teams by validating ideas through experiments. - Use experimentation to drive growth and continual improvement.

Embracing founder mode by being deeply involved can drive high-leverage outcomes for startups.

"That humility and attention to detail is required to work on the high leverage problems. A lot of the high leverage problems are not, as I said, not strategy decisions ... A lot of them are like, why is this thing not working as well as it needs to be?"

- Dive deep into critical issues regardless of your role or title. - Addressing detailed problems can lead to significant impact. - Maintain humility to engage with all levels of the organization.

Focusing on learning and growth rather than early compensation can lead to greater long-term success.

"Largely, I would say do not optimize for compensation, especially early in your career. If you're truly on a track to become like a ... an executive someday or found your own company and make it successful, you will find that the compensation is so much back-loaded."

- Prioritize roles that offer growth and learning over higher pay. - Recognize that significant compensation often comes later in your career. - Invest in building skills and experiences that will pay off long-term.

Beginning your career in regions with high talent density can accelerate learning and opportunities.

"Early in your career, you want to be in intensely talent-dense areas. For all the reasons that we mentioned before, finding the high growth companies, finding the networks that will make you successful."

- Seek out locations with a strong startup ecosystem to expand your network. - High talent density areas offer better opportunities for growth and mentorship. - Leverage the early career compounding effects these environments provide.

Ensuring that new products align with a company's DNA is crucial for startup success.

"Certain companies can never succeed at certain types of products, right, like Microsoft with mobile or Google with social or Facebook with Enterprise. It's just the DNA of the founder actively acts against you succeeding there."

- Assess whether a new product fits the company's core competencies. - Recognize that misalignment can hinder product success despite best efforts. - Focus on initiatives that leverage and enhance the company's inherent strengths.

Fintech startups often face complex trade-offs between satisfying customers and meeting regulatory requirements.

"In FinTech, you have 2 customers. You have your usual customers and you have your regulator. You need to keep both of them happy. And usually what makes one happy makes the other one less happy."

- Understand that regulators are as important as customers in fintech. - Develop products that balance user experience with compliance. - Recognize that navigating these trade-offs is critical for success in regulated industries.

Prioritizing rapid experimentation can lead to quicker insights and product success for startups.

"A lot of new people in their career like, oh, I just want to think about strategy. ... Strategy is a little bit overrated for product. For most product managers, your strategy should be how fast can I go from hypothesis to data."

- Focus on testing hypotheses quickly rather than overanalyzing strategy. - Use data from experiments to guide product decisions. - Recognize that speed to insight can be more valuable than detailed planning.

Understanding and optimizing your strengths is crucial for founders and startup teams aiming for success.

"You need to optimize for what you're great at. ... I'm firmly in the camp that you need to know what you're great at, what are your superpowers."

- Focus on roles that leverage your strengths rather than improving weaknesses. - Identify your superpowers early and find jobs where success depends on them. - Recognize that excelling in your strengths leads to faster growth and fulfillment.

Learning how Binance fostered extreme ownership and rapid decision-making offers valuable lessons for startups on building effective teams.

"There's a culture of one to many and doing that as often as possible. So the leadership team, for example, met every day... which meant that none of the decisions were blocked for more than 24 hours."

- Implement flat hierarchies to speed up decision-making. - Hold daily meetings to address issues promptly. - Encourage extreme ownership by empowering individuals regardless of their title.