How Andrew Chau’s Fintech Company Put the Prairies on the Map
Four years in the past, Neo Financial was a handful of individuals in a room within the Prairies attempting to determine the way to reimagine the Canadian banking trade. Today, co-founder Andrew Chau’s fintech firm (he additionally co-founded supply app Skip the Dishes in 2012) has greater than 700 staff working to present its million-plus shoppers a greater relationship with banking. Neo’s intuitive app affords real-time spending insights and has greater than 11,000 service provider companions the place customers can earn money again. This yr, it’s launching a journey card with Cathay Pacific Airways and constructing a bank card for Tim Hortons within the espresso chain’s foray into monetary providers. With buyers like Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures and Shopify’s Tobias Lütke, Neo Financial is now valued at over $1 billion.
Title: CEO, Neo Financial
Degree: B.Com., University of Saskatchewan
Age: 36
From: Saskatoon
Currently lives in: Calgary
When I used to be a child,I assumed I’d develop as much as be: I simply knew that I needed to construct one thing someday. My dad and mom needed to construct their very own future after they got here to Canada from Vietnam—they owned a restaurant for 30 years. I virtually grew up in that restaurant, peeling carrots and potatoes. So I developed this sensible view of “If they can do it, I can too.”
The greatest takeaway from my schooling is: When I take into consideration my journey via college, courses themselves have been extra of a formality. It was the entire extracurriculars—the golf equipment, the social points—that made a distinction as a result of that’s the place I met the individuals who I’d go on to collaborate with. University is the place I met the individuals I co-founded Skip the Dishes with.
My first job ever was: I labored in gross sales, cold-calling individuals and attempting to influence them to join these cable-TV packages. I discovered so much via that have—principally the way to cope with listening to “no” on a regular basis.
A big problem I needed to overcome was: When we began Skip the Dishes, we had no credibility—we got here from the center of Canada, we didn’t go to an Ivy League faculty. We put in a ton of blood, sweat and tears to show that we may construct a significant business within the Prairies. And the second time round, with Neo Financial, we felt once more that we have been debunking the parable that you need to be in New York or San Francisco, with all of the sources and networks related to these locations, in an effort to construct a tremendous tech firm; we are able to do it right here too.
My most influential mentor was: I by no means actually had a conventional mentor. Instead, I made some extent of speaking to as many individuals as potential to get as many views as potential. The finest mentors to me have been my colleagues, my friends and different founders who’ve been via what I’m going via.
Related: Ask a Recruiter: How Do I Find a Mentor?
One factor I used to be pressured to be taught the arduous method was: Becoming a dad or mum for the primary time. (My son is now two.) There was no simple method of studying how to do that, no matter all the recommendation I acquired—you simply find yourself diving proper into it and studying alongside the way in which. I’d be holding a fussing child who was attempting to seize the laptop computer whereas I used to be attempting to run a Zoom assembly.
The factor that retains me motivated is: I need to assist Canadians save more cash, earn extra curiosity on their financial institution accounts and discover ways to price range higher. Right now, the large banks don’t actually serve these wants. As an upstart, we’re able to query issues like month-to-month financial institution charges and discover a higher method of doing issues.
“For those who are thinking about entrepreneurship, I usually just encourage them to go and do it”
The greatest false impression about being an entrepreneur is: It’s not as glamorous because it seems. Behind all of the media bulletins about launching new merchandise, elevating capital or profitable partnerships, there are a whole lot of individuals pulling all-nighters. In profitable a partnership like Tim Hortons or Cathay Pacific, there are millions of behind-the-scenes hours, from preliminary conversations to constructing the code to launching the product.
The recommendation I all the time give others now could be: For those that are enthusiastic about entrepreneurship, I often simply encourage them to go and do it. Build a plan to determine the way to dedicate time to an concept and the way to construct sufficient capital. It may imply sleeping much less or taking over a aspect gig, however there are all the time methods. The query is, are you keen to make these investments to have the ability to begin one thing?
