Leda Writes for Fintech Futures: for love or money

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, CEO of 11:FS Foundry creates #LedaWrites. This week the terrible false choice - for love or money?

What a terrible false choice.

“I wouldn’t do that for love or money.”

Well, quite. You do it for both or you don’t do it at all.

How many times have you represented your bank and sat in front of a start-up or tech provider and told them they have to do a proof of concept (POC) for free to convince the behemoth, saying, or implying, that your convictions and the dream you peddle by definition pit you in the box that gets to strive and toil and not get paid until the cynics are convinced.

Yours is the dreamers discount.

Not so any more.

We’ve been playing with digital enablers long enough. We know what is possible.

The world has changed. Yes banks pay consulting firms to draft landscape presentations and VC firms are making a killing creating balanced portfolio investment strategies that take the sting out of the future, take the risk out of hope, allow the well-to-do to buy optionality. And why the hell not, if you can afford it. But that is not the same as living or building or becoming.

We’ve been playing with digital enablers long enough. We know what is possible. We truly

know what is possible. The tech has outrun and outsmarted us every step of the way. And is that not wonderful.

I bloody love millennials

Where you see entitlement I see conviction.

They know stuff.

And one of the things they know is the world can and therefore should be better. So ask a millennial how they feel about the choice between being ethical and being successful, being smart and being good, and they will tell you to take a hike and I will be right there clapping my heart out.

And here I am. Not a millennial by a country mile. Speaking to bankers who are even further away from the “entitled snowflake” cut off point than me. Saying hey you know what? Things have changed. I will show you an architecture diagram. And cost projections.

Things have changed. I will show you an architecture diagram. And cost projections. But before we are done here, I will talk to you about our vision.

And I will add as much PowerPoint and gratuitous excel as you need to feel comfortable. But before we are done here, I will talk to you about our vision. About what gets my team out of bed in the morning. About what drives and motivates us. Which is partly each other. And partly a conviction that we can make a difference in the world, in our own way.

It is new. To be able to say this and not expect to be shown the door.

It is new. To feel entitled to say this and still stand by your pricing and industry-leading credentials.

It is new. To know you can say this and follow it up with, this is who we are. Take it or leave it.

It is new. It is wonderful. It is revolutionary. It is the new normal.

Change isn’t the new normal. This is.

Read the whole story at Fintech Futures.