Lived Experience: The X Factor in Finding Great Companies

great idea and the entrepreneurial skills to bring it to life could operate on a level playing field—in other words, if entrepreneurship were more democratic—our society would be much better off. From the customer’s perspective, a pedigree doesn’t matter, but from an investor’s perspective it often matters far too much. A top investment bank or consulting firm will care where you went to school and what your grades were, and your CV may determine whether a Fortune 500 company will “buy” your expertise. But these things won’t matter to your customers—as long as you are giving them a great product or an outstanding service. We have learned the value of empowering entrepreneurs who have lived experience, and the competitive advantage this offers forward-thinking investors. Locating and supporting entrepreneurs with varied life experiences can lead to more successful companies. We believe that it can, in fact, lead to the development of products and services that the majority of people actually need and are asking for, rather than those that a small segment of investors think people want. This competitive advantage is particularly true with financial services technology, or the FinTech sector, where new ventures are more likely than those in other fields to be business-to-consumer enterprises. Many EdTech companies, for example, deal with schools and school boards or offer their services to major companies like Pearson. In the health sector, entrepreneurs are more likely to deal with hospitals or insurance companies than to be at a patient’s bedside. FinTech is different. While there are certainly plenty of business-to-business financial services, many of the most innovative ventures deal directly with the consumer—investment advisor and money manager services, fraud protection, and, increasingly, alternatives to predatory check-cashing and lending companies. Therefore, the product seller and the product user are likely to have a stronger connection, due to their lived experiences. FinTech also addresses the needs associated with small businesses, which many aspiring entrepreneurs are familiar with. In this essay, we introduce a number of entrepreneurs from backgrounds and regions that traditionally have received too little investment, but who nevertheless