Hi I’m Jordan, I love helping people think & grow their products. Hope this helps! You can find me on Twitter and via my Newsletter :)
I hate when people ask me if I work in “tech.” It is like they think tech is an industry on it’s own.
Newsflash for the world, the future of any company is driven by technology. If you want to build a successful company today (success meaning one that strives to be as big and impactful as possible), I’d argue that it must be a technology company.
So to the people asking me if I work in “tech”, the answer, is that the future is tech. The way I see it, every “scaling” company in the future integrates technology. Period.
The ironic part of this whole mess is that the critics of “the bubble” (which I am very aware of) are often those in incumbent industries like Finance, Accounting, and Consulting.
I’d argue that those industries are just as ripe for disruption as any other. In fact, I’d bet that in the next 10–20 years, we will see major changes in the way each of those spaces evolves. The truth is that while I cannot predict the future, the only thing we can be certain of is inevitable change. As the world evolves, so do our needs.
Finance, in particular, excites me. There is so much opportunity to be made around money and we can dramatically improve people’s lives if we solve issues around personal finance, lending, trading, and so many more.
And people are dying for it!
According to an analysis of over 10 million users performed by credit bureau TransUnion, almost half of millennials (Americans age 18–36) have “subprime” credit — meaning a credit score that is below 600. A score below 600 is low enough to give many lenders pause before extending a line of credit to an applicant. Contrast this with older Americans — such as baby boomers — and there is a stark difference, with older generations much more likely to land in the “Super Prime” rating level — TransUnion’s highest rating tier. — via the Credit Repair Blog
A quick picture of this:
$1.44 trillion in total U.S. student loan debt
44.2 million Americans with student loan debt
Student loan delinquency rate of 11.2% (90+ days delinquent or in default)
Average monthly student loan payment (for borrower aged 20 to 30 years): $351
Median monthly student loan payment (for borrower aged 20 to 30 years): $203
TRILLIONS! We are sitting on a friction-full gold mine of incredible business opportunity.
I think the natural answer is that more and more people will be interested in building for the Finance world. We will see more companies launched. More competition. And overall a better situation for both consumers and businesses.
If you ever have any questions, send me an email jordangonen1 at gmail dot com ! Thanks so much!