Tatjana will be presenting at the 10th FinTech Forum/ 5th Anniversary Edition on 22nd Nov. 2018 at The Airport Club, Frankfurt. Learn more/ register here: http://www.fintechforum.de/announcing-the-first-set-of-startups-partners-5yftf/
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
Tatjana is Chief Marketing Officer at RYSKEX, where she is responsible for the worldwide B2B marketing, further development of the blockchain-based ecosystem and the continuous company building of RYSKEX. After her MBA in Innovation and Leadership she is now a PhD student and conducting research on how AI might improve the corporate risk management. In this context she founded the BLOCKART Institute, which research activities are supporting the RYSKEX ecosystem.
Before starting at RYSKEX she worked in the FMCG industry and gained experiences as a management consultant with focus on innovation, business models and information security.
Tatjana loves to travel, to discover new, hidden places and to push herself to the limit doing sports.
2. Which services do you sell and who are your competitors?
We offer a hedging platform for non-insurable risks embedded in a B2B ecosystem, bringing together risk management units and institutional investors in a blockchain based p2p approach supported by AI and an internal token. Competitors are mostly startups that have the aim to disrupt the insurance industry or innovate the way of risk handling. In some cases big player in the insurance business start own initiatives aswell, like B3i, that can be competitive.
3. How did you get your startup idea and how did you go about launching it?
Our co-founder Dr. Marcus Schmalbach developed the idea in the course of his doctoral thesis. Using the possibilities of new technologies as drivers to make non-insurable risks tradable fascinated and still fascinate the entire team. Our journey and the launch of our MVP and pilot was not easy. It was about a new approach of risk transfer, bringing together a new product and a new customer base – but we have successfully mastered it.
4. How did you finance your startup, and what learnings would you like to share from the fund-raising journey?
Two family offices have invested in us and our idea. What we have learned? I think we are just at the beginning of our learning curve. Let’s talk in one year again.
5. What areas within FinTech do you personally find most interesting and why?
Most interesting areas in FinTech are the kind of the AI approaches with focus on the B2B sector. I am interested in the impact AI will have on companies and the calculation of goods with a special focus on stock exchange and insurance business.
6. What opportunities do you see for FinTech startups in Continental Europe, and how can we help?
The world is in a continuous upheaval as far as digitization is concerned. Many innovations have already been introduced, but the developments are constantly progressing in a very exciting environment. Stay hungry, stay foolish. Do not close yourself off from changes.
7. What tip would you like to give FinTech entrepreneurs?
Just hold on and never give up ☺ First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you and then you win! (Mahatma Gandhi)