7 Questions

7 Questions with Mathias Wegmüller, Co-Founder and Head of Business Development of Qumram

(Qumram is among the startups selected to present at the FinTech Forum On Tour | InvestTech event on 25th Sep. in London.)

1. Who are you?

My name is Mathias, I am the Co-Founder and Head of Business Development at Qumram AG.

2. Which services do you sell and who are your competitors?

Qumram Q5 is a the Big Data platform for compliant cross channel recording, e-discovery and user experience intelligence to empower your digital business. The competitors are from the “Insight and Analytics” market, such as TeaLeaf (IBM) and “Archive and Compliance” market, such as Smarsh. We are the only Session Recording and Replay Technology to fulfill Compliance, Fraud prevention and User Experience needs.

3. How did you get your startup idea and how did you finance your startup?

We founded Qumram in 2011. It was a customer (big Swiss Insurance) who financed release 1.0. Since then we keep our boots strapped and are expanding our business alongside with our great customers.

4. What were the biggest challenges in starting?

We have to drive the demand in order to cross the famous chasm. The “Session Recording and Replay Technology” for compliance reason is a disruptive solution for records management. And records management itself is a conservative, risk avoiding discipline. But with high business potential in combination with fraud prevention and customer experience management.

5. What areas within FinTech do you personally find most interesting and why?

There are two:
1st: When does the era of crypto-currencies start to have an impact? And will there be enough “raison d’être” for banks once the trusted third party is not required any more?

2nd. Why is Banking Software business still such a local one? The answer for the “why” has always been national regulations. Which FinTech can leapfrog the national regulations complexity and become global players?

6. What opportunities do you see for FinTech startups in Continental Europe, and how can we help to accelerate it?

A FinTech being successful in Continental Europe has already won customers in different countries and has knowledge in multinational regulations. This will help to accelerate expansion to UK, US and Asia. See my 2nd answer in question 5.

7. What tip would you like to give FinTech entrepreneurs?

Be clear about our business model and the value you are generating with your product or service. Be aware the service fee model is under extreme pressure for all the FinServ companies. Just being more efficient and customer centric than the FinServ dinosaurs will just not be good enough. And ask your customer and their customer what they need.