I met Jack Ma once. In 2018. For about 10 seconds.

Bambu had got into the final 10 of an Alibaba start-up competition. And Jack Ma was walking around saying hi to the final 10 of us.

He was very pleasant to talk to. Even though it was only a few seconds.

He said one piece of wisdom that I took away.

“Spend no time thinking about your competitors. Only think about your customers.”

His point is if you optimise for your customers, your competitors will have to worry about you.

Loved that advice.

In wealth tech what does the customer want? (The customer being the end retail investor.)

• A simple and intuitive digital experience – This is hard as wealth is complex and confusing. But just like digital banking a huge amount can be done. Just think where banking is today compared to ten years ago. Wealth is on that journey but still far to go.
• A customer-first, product-second approach – I’ve got on my soap box about this before. But hey. Let’s do it again. People don’t wake up and think ‘Lets buy a mutual fund today’. They want a better financial life. So give them that. The product is not that product.
• No minimums and lock-ins – Or stuff like that. No. It’s your money. Full flexibility.
• Immediate access – 24 hours transactions. Global access. Regulations will progress massively and will progress for the better for the end customer. Technology means wealth is accessible to all. Wealth is really just data. Data of what you own, where, and how much. It must be 24 hours and fully flexible.
• Beautiful – How your app looks and performs means a lot. The best-looking app, with all other things being equal, will win. What does your app look like?

So listen to Jack.

Customer first and you won’t need to worry about your competitors.

Because your customers will be yours and happy.

Best,
Ned Phillips
Founder & CEO