Behind Tech

In this episode, our host Ollie Lane speaks with Mike Oram, Academy Lead at IO Academy, about the importance of software development, the essential skills needed to succeed, and tips for staying up-to-date in this ever-changing field.

Mike emphasises the importance of knowing development in today's world, where technology is ubiquitous and rapidly evolving. He also stresses the significance of having a strong understanding of computer science fundamentals when learning software development, as it provides a solid foundation for building complex systems.

The conversation then delves into the essential skills required to become a successful software developer, as well as advice for beginners looking to enter the field. Mike shares tips for keeping up with the latest trends and technologies in software development, as well as strategies for continuing to develop one's skills over time.

The podcast also covers some critical topics, such as the build vs. buy debate, and how to pick a good developer for your team. Mike provides insights into choosing the right tech stack for your project and building scalable tech that can adapt to changing user needs.

If you are interested in software development, this podcast is a must-listen. Join Ollie Lane and Mike Oram as they dive deep into the world of software development and share their insights on what it takes to be a successful developer in today's fast-paced technological landscape.

As always, we are grateful for our sponsors, RCK Partners, who help UK businesses claim R&D tax credits. Head to https://rck.partners/ and check out https://www.behindlogin.com/ to see what we do at Behind Login.

In this month’s Behind Tech podcast, Ollie spoke to Ed Ventham from Assured, Cyber insurance specialists, about the growing cyber risks within the technology world and how businesses can protect themselves.

As digital technology continues to advance, so do the threats that come with it. Cyber attacks have become a common occurrence in the digital age, affecting both individuals and businesses.

In our episode we cover:

The Assured business and the problems they solve for their clients

• Cyber risks across different business areas
• Some case studies and examples of real-world threats
• How businesses can mitigate the risk and stay ahead of the bad guys
• The future of the fast changing industry

It’s a great episode to get a deeper understanding of the cyber market and some practical tips and tricks to protect your business from cyber attacks.

As always we are very grateful of our sponsor, RCK Partners help UK businesses claim R&D tax credits. Head to https://rck.partners/ to find out more.

Lessons from a FinTech Founder; Ollie Lane talks to Conrad Ford about the journey from building his first FinTech to becoming the Chief Product Officer of Allica Bank. 

In this episode Ollie and Conrad talk about the journey to building Funding Options back in 2012 exploring the lessons, challenges and mistakes made along the way and how Conrad has applied this experience to build out the product function at Allica Bank. 

In this fascinating episode our conversation covers: 

1. Conrad's background in corporate strategy within big banks 

2. The catalyst for launching Funding Options and the journey to acquisition by Tide at the end of 2022 

3. Some of the key challenges, successes and lessons learnt building the business from start-up to scale-up 

4. How those experiences have influenced how Conrad runs the team at Allica Bank

As always we are very grateful of our sponsor, RCK Partners help UK businesses claim R&D tax credits. Head to https://rck.partners/ to find out more. 

To find out more about Behind Login and how we help FinTech's and Financial Services teams understand their competitors' products and services visit https://www.behindlogin.com/ 

In December’s Behind Tech podcast, Oliver Lane spoke to Ben Feridooni about the world of bank card packaging within FinTech.

When most people think of FinTech your mind goes to popular apps, websites and other technologies that dominate this mainly digital industry. But there is a very important slice of the market that often gets overlooked - the physical card and packaging experience.

The traditional card packaging market conjures images of phone sim-cards and gift vouchers, but as consumer-led Fintech’s came onto the scene with trailblazers like Monzo, Starling & Revolut going to great lengths to differentiate themselves from traditional banks, the world of packaging and the “unboxing experience” moved into the FinTech arena.

Ben and I spoke about the origins of Burgopak and the FinTech clients they currently serve, the value and business case for investing in the card “unboxing experience” and the future of physical cards in an ever evolving digital world.

If you want to find out about more about our sponsors, RCK Partners head over to https://rck.partners/

Don't forget to leave a rating and review!

In today's episode Oliver Lane interviewed Stephen Bradley, Senior Consultant at RCK Partners. 

In this episode we had the exciting chance to talk to our podcast sponsors who make the Behind Tech podcast possible about the world of R&D Tax Credits. RCK Partners have seen meteoric growth having only been in operation for 3 years and already handling over 1,000 R&D claims each year. The conversation focused on a practical guide to claiming R&D tax credits interwoven with some interesting case studies and success stories. From how businesses can identify qualifying R&D expenditure to the process and common pitfalls of making a claim, Stephen gave us the low down on the world of R&D tax credits. 

Some key highlights for us:

- The UK government spent £14.9 billion on R&D tax credits in 2021.

- RCK helped clients with over 1,000 R&D claims in 2021.

- There's a heck of a lot of R&D happening in the chicken farming space - who knew!?

If you want to find out about more about our sponsors, RCK Partners head over to https://rck.partners/

Don't forget to leave a rating and review! 

In this month's Behind Tech podcast our host spoke to Martin O'Donnell, CPO and Co-founder of DebtStream, about the world of Debt Collection and Recovery.

It doesn’t sounds like the most exciting topic (unless you’re a fan of Channel 5’s Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away!), but as with many industries across the globe, by leveraging digital channels and new technologies the market has significantly shifted to delivering intelligent, consumer-led products and services.

DebtStream provide white label self-serve solutions for businesses to handle debt collection and recovery process, from open banking services to assess affordability to personalised nudges and gamification through the payback process.

Oliver spoke to Martin about the changes in the industry as digital becomes more widely adopted and FCA regulation evolves to promote better customer outcomes, and heard about the journey of DebtStream from a founding team of 3 to working with some of the biggest businesses in the UK.

Thanks to our Sponsor RCK Partners for making this happen! To find out more about RCK and R&D Tax Credits head to https://rck.partners/

In the first episode of the rebranded Behind Tech podcast our host, Ollie Lane, spoke to Will Goodwin, co-founder of Tumelo, about the power of shareholder rights and how with just a click, Tumelo allow you to vote on AGM proposals of companies you're invested in.  

In the episode we dive into a range of topics including: 

• Tumelo as a business and Will as a founder; how he started, the founding team, value proposition and plans for the future 
• The fundamentals of shareholder rights and AGM voting 
• The approach and challenges of integrating a B2B technology solution with Financial Services and FinTech platforms 
• Success stories of past AGM voting and the impact Tumelo has had on the business world 
• Tumelo's recent £15.5M funding round and the expansion plans in the US 

There's some great conversation packed into this 34 minute episode so grab a coffee, sit back and dive in! 

If you're enjoy the Behind Tech Podcast, please leave us a rating and a review. 

In this episode we spoke to Ali Kazmi, Founder at AI Simulator. AI Simulator has been designed to simulate the real world process of investing in the private market, giving you a unique chance to learn in a safe environment; a first of its kind in the world. 

AI Simulator solves a very interesting and real problem of FinTech founders and Angel investors facing challenges when finding, sorting and picking investors or investment opportunities that are right for them. AI Simulator has created as platform that allows these FinTech founders and Angel investors a sandbox platform from which they can practice, test and refine their approaches to finding suitable investors and investment opportunities. 

We spoke about: 

• Ali's background in different business funding roles and the 'investment gap' that exists within the industry 
• AI Simulator's proposition, the problem they are solving and the vision for the future 
• What investors should look for when picking investment opportunities
• What start-ups should look for when picking investor opportunities
• How onboarding investors can change a businesses dynamic and what to look out for 

There's some great conversation packed into this 41 minute episode so grab a coffee, sit back and dive in!

To find out more about our sponsor, RCK Partners simply head to the website: https://rck.partners/ 

If you're enjoy the Behind Tech Podcast, please leave us a rating and a review.

In this month's podcast we spoke to Mary Agbesanwa, FinTech Growth Lead of Seccl. Seccl are a custodian and investment technology provider, that offer a suite of APIs that FinTech's can integrate with to run their own platform, and get to market fast.

The conversation focused around the requirements of building an investment app, how to find product market fit and the challenges that exist for founding teams as they look to build their proposition from the ground up. 

Seccl don't charge any clients upfront for integration and instead monetise through transaction volumes, which creates an interesting dynamic as they select the right business as their clients/partners.  

It was great to hear Mary talk about some of the considerations and metrics Seccl use to determine suitability of future clients, and some of the lessons FinTech's can learn as they build out their go to market product. 

We’d love to hear your feedback and ideas for future topics. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review :) 

Welcome to The Behind Login Podcast

Each month we interview different people from across the Financial Services and FinTech industry, from business leaders to regulators to founders to VCs and beyond. 

In each episode we discuss a different topic based on the latest news and trends within the industry, with a unique perspective from our podcast guests based on their expertise.

In our latest Podcast, our Director Oliver Lane talked to Dan Gold, CEO & Co-founder of Stratiphy  about ‘Leveraging existing technology and tools to build an investment proposition’. 

We explore the Stratiphy journey and business model ahead of the Beta Launch in Summer 22 and dive into the breadth of services and tools that businesses can leverage to build investment propositions.  From building the tech stack to creating a community, we talk about how to build a great product from the ground up! 

Have a listen, we’d love to hear your feedback and ideas for future topics. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review :) 

Welcome to The Behind Login Podcast

Each month we interview different people from across the Financial Services and FinTech industry, from business leaders to regulators to founders to VCs and beyond. 

In each episode we discuss a different topic based on the latest news and trends within the industry, with a unique perspective from our podcast guests based on their expertise.

In this episode I am joined by Chris Worle, ex-CDO of Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK's biggest wealth management platform. Chris joins me to talk about 'The "Uberisation" Of Financial Services' and how technology innovation has given rise to the concept of Backend as a Service (Baas), and how businesses can now spin up end to end FinTech digital products through a series of APIs and 3rd party services with very little effort.

We explore the trends in the industry as a result of this shift, and how brands can stay ahead in the rapidly evolving market.

My quote highlight for the episode is "You can walk around a [conference] room and put together all the pieces to build a bank".

We would love to hear your feedback, so please like, leave a review and subscribe!