Handling finances is one of the most time-consuming parts of running a startup. John Andrade joins Startup Savants to discuss his fintech startup Redbank, which aims to help by offering software that organizes financial applications, accounts, and payments so business owners can keep tabs on everything without bookkeeping.
- Startup Savants is a business podcast that tells the stories behind up-and-coming startups.
- John Andrade joins Startup Savants to discuss his fintech startup Redbank.
- Rebank provides startups with software that organizes financial applications, accounts, and payments so business owners can keep tabs on everything without bookkeeping.
After the MBA
During his interview with Startup Savants, Juan said he has always been an entrepreneur at heart. However, he was initially hesitant to start a company until he had more education and training. That led him to enroll in an MBA program. Although the curriculum helped build his financial skills, overall it contained a lot more theory and less practical training than he expected.
“Those 18 months, you basically fall under the false illusion that you understand capitalism and that you understand businesses and how they work inside and out, but it’s all theory,” he said during his podcast interview. ”That confidence is great because it drives you forward, but you have to start from zero in your next thing. And I think that’s a recipe for disaster sometimes where you have like a hundred percent confidence and zero ability.”
While finishing his MBA, Juan said he had to decide what his “next thing” was going to be – stay with his current company or strike out on his own. He chose the latter.
“I hit a sort of fork in the road where the Master’s degree was asking a lot more of me,” he told Startup Savants. “My company was asking a lot more of me as well, and I just had to make a call.” In the end, “The decision was sort of forced on me. It was the easiest decision to make. I was like, let’s go for it. If not now, when?”
Defining a Target Market
Like all founders, one of Juan’s first tasks was to figure out which customers Rebank was targeting and what their needs were. “One thing I made sure that we did in early research was talk to people that we thought would not be customers to understand why,” he said during the podcast. “It helped us sort of form borders around our target.”
Like many companies, Redbank initially sought out anyone who would sign up to be a customer. However, eventually, Juan decided he should go “upmarket” and target customers with more complex needs. Still, “We want to keep it relevant to founders because that’s where finances begin. But we’re building features that bigger companies will pay more for and use more often.”
Redbank strives to ensure that its software is compatible with clients’ existing corporate structures so that it’s useful to them. To do this, it needs to listen to what clients are saying – and what they’re not. “We have a view of how finance evolves from when it’s one person to 30,” he said. “We use that knowledge to shape what we say on our website and what we build, but there’s always a bit of translation required. Customers aren’t very good at telling you what they need, so we’re always tweaking.”
Startup Savants Podcast
The Startup Savants podcast is a business podcast created by The Useful Information Company (TRUiC). Listeners can hear the stories behind startups, as told by their founders who are growing their companies.
Ethan, an entrepreneur, and Annaka, a branding expert, host the Startup Savants podcast. They bring disparate skills and life experiences to their interviews, providing listeners with important business insights and a holistic perspective on the startup ecosystem.
Hear from a variety of real startup founders from around the globe and with varying backgrounds, making their startup idea a reality. Learn from experts sharing their industry knowledge on venture capital, securing funding, and more on the Startup Savants podcast.
Final Thoughts
Juan Andrade joins Annaka and Ethan to talk about Rebank, a startup-to-startup software company that provides young businesses with the financial operating systems needed to succeed. Juan discusses the importance of trial-and-error marketing and how his own issues at his previous job led him to conceptualize Rebank.
You can find the Startup Savants podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
