#meniga

What happens in Iceland, shouldn’t stay in Iceland. Last week, one of Iceland’s most promising fintech companies, Meniga, made news as it was chosen by Business Insider as one of the most promising Nordic fintech start-ups. We hadn’t heard about Meniga previously, but this company, which arose from the turbulence of Iceland’s financial crisis, now has our attention as it's gaining impressive traction with global banks. Check out this hot Icelandic company here. 

The sharing economy needs a Motion Pictures Association. Zak Stone’s moving AirBnB takedown piece about his father’s death in an Airbnb rental confronts important questions about its obligations to users of its platform: “Airbnb is willing to send someone to make sure your trees look beautiful in their photos, but won’t deal with whether or not those trees will fall on your head.” Trust, safety and liability issues are not just an Airbnb issue, though. Companies who are threatened by an Airbnb style challenge are sure to step-up their attacks as the sharing economy platforms increase their market share over time. Sharing economy companies—especially the large players—would be wise to voluntarily adjust their business models before regulators do it for them. They should look to the film industry and its effective use of the MPA to dampen externally imposed film standards as a model.   Big consumer banks still don’t get it. In this Bloomberg article, representatives from the big banks have demonstrated that they have still not learned why Millennials are leaving them in droves. A Bank of America spokesperson, for example, was quoted as saying that the bank’s strategy is to move away from “gotcha fees”. In doing so, the statement confirms that the bank’s previous strategy featured “gotcha fees".  The problem is that even if larger banks copy the mantra of straightforward pricing that is emblematic of many consumer-facing start-ups, it still feels like a strategy du jour as opposed to an enduring commitment to care about the customer. In order to win back the trust of younger consumers, big banks will need to do more than keep even with the disrupters because the big banks are starting at a point below zero.

Amazingly, Sony still sells Betamax videos cassettes. If you don’t believe us, see this article which has given rise to an in-house conversation on financial services and future Betamax-like headlines. Here are a few goodbye headlines that we’d like and/or expect to see in five years :   1)    Bloomberg says goodbye to terminals 2)   Fidelity and Schwab say goodbye to charging commissions on stock trades 3)   Banks say goodbye to sneaky ATM surcharges and fees

The rise of the “1099 Nation.” Despite ranting from politicians and some unions, the rise of the freelance workforce is here to stay in our view. That’s why we were pleased to discover this piece from Core Innovation Capital, which sites research predicting that 40% of the entire U.S. labor market could be comprised of 1099 wage earners in five years.  If this prediction proves accurate, the implications for society at large will be quite significant. Moreover, the real challenges facing 1099 earners in trying to access mainstream financial services (e.g, obtaining credit, saving for retirement, buying insurance) have barely been broached by mainstream financial services providers. Core Innovation Capital provides a list of some of the promising companies focused on addressing this huge void.

Three Random Data Points: Iceland

Sheep outnumber people by almost 2 to 1

Beer was not legalized until 1989

The current first lady of Iceland is from Israel

Originally published on www.thefinancialrevolutionist.com on November 13th 2015. 

Diyala: Činjenica da si nekog dotaknuo svojom vokalnom interpretacijom je van pameti…

Diyala je MC i jedna od rijetkih hrvatskih vokalistica u hip hopu, i to ne bilo kakvom hip hopu, a pogotovo ne onom kojeg ćete čuti po nekoliko puta dnevno na anteniziranim hrvatskim radijskim postajama, nego nešto mračnijem i eksperimentalnijem žanru koji je teško uvrstiti u samo jedan žanr. Njen proboj na sceni započeo je još 1999. godine, a iako je ostvarila suradnje s respektabilnim ljudima…

Startup Iceland – Offer to Startup participants and Startup Energy Reykjavik Investor Day

Startup Iceland is coming monday June 2nd. We will have over 250 people who will participate in the Conference. I want to make an offer to all the startups who are participating (and if you are not you should we still have some tickets left, contact me), if you have a pull out banner and want to display it in the coffee meetup area, email me your request. We want all startups in Iceland to take…

Video I took of Meniga.is being announced as the Best Icelandic Website of 2010 at the Icelandic Web Awards. Followed with a shaky part of me and the Meniga team accepting the award :)

Here's what the awards panel had to say about meniga.is

"The best website of 2010 is not only exemplary when it comes to interaction design and usability but also when it comes to ingenuity and education found on the website.

I'm standing outside in the cold London night looking for a Taxi. Adrenaline still rushing through my veins and for some reason I just can't stop smiling... I feel like a kid on xmas, only sheer exhaustion keeps me from jumping up and down. In my bag is an award for Best of show at Finovate Europe 2011.

The past hours went by so fast... I'm trying to gather my thoughts and re-playing all the conversations I just had in my head. Show's over folks, it's time to go home.

Seven minutes to shine

My company, Meniga, was very fortunate to be one of the select few to present at Finovate Europe. An interesting concept where 35 of the most innovative companies in financial eBusiness technology get to demo their products on stage for seven minutes. Followed with the opportunity to network with the 400+ attendees, including banks, analysts & reporters.

The moment we got off stage we knew that our seven minute demo was a success. I immediately pulled out my mobile and starting reading the comments on Twitter... and boom!

The verdict was in

Being almost the last ones to demo at 4 PM we knew the crowd had had a long day and seen many other PFM's prior to ours. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

@sytaylor "Meniga, of all the PFM, this one is the winner. Just look at it. I'd buy it" @jorisvangaal "Meniga defo top of league amongst PFM presos. Something to keep watch on" @sytaylor "I want my bank to use Meniga, that's the best compliment I can give!" @lulveseth "Best PFM of the day in terms of features..."  @dngusev "...Making PFM proactive and human."  @danmux "...Best UI yet"

and a few more followed later in the day @sjl @leimer

The response on the floor when the attendees rushed to our booth was amazing. 

"Your product looks great" How do you do it?" "You must spend a lot of money on design" "It's so simple, yet it tells me so much about my finances"

But here's the thing... we don't spend a lot of money on graphic design. It is an important factor and we do work with some of the best designers in the business but... 

Usability and user experience is what comes first, even if it means cutting features. This is what sets us apart and this is what makes our clients love the product and resulted in us being voted as Best of show.

The power of less

When it comes to usability and user experience design it's really a question of how you approach your product. You need to consider if every single item you put in front of the user is absolutely necessary... if it's not, remove it! Same thing goes with content and help text.

Find what really matters and make it prominent

What is the single most important thing you're trying to convey to the user? Is it hidden in a field of data? Remove the clutter. Find the 20% that actually matters.

Charts are not a silver bullet

Charts are a nice visual element but most people aren't used to reading them and I know some people fear them. Use them with care and only when they provide actual real value.

Test, rinse & repeat