Quotes by Taavet Hinrikus - Page 2

The financial crisis of 2008 created a seismic shift in the dynamics of trust in financial services. FinTech would have happened without the global financial crisis - but it would have taken much longer.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Dynamics
Financial Crisis
Shift
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The growth of FinTech has been driven by adoption across age groups, but the demand from the millennial generation to innovate and think about financial services differently has been a catalyst for change.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Adoption
Catalyst
Demand
Driven
Financial Services
Innovate
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There are so many instances in banking where 'free' simply doesn't mean free, whether it's opaque overdraft charges or credit card providers that are quietly raising interest rates without customers noticing.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Banking
Credit Card
Noticing
Opaque
Providers
Card
Charges
Interest Rates
Quietly
Raising
Rates
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To be a global business, you need access to the best talent from around the world - fix this, everything else falls into place. Whether it's homegrown or imported, we don't mind where it comes from - we just want the best.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Homegrown
Best Business World
Everything Else
Imported
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If we think about how long Google spent searching - I think they came around in '98? And, OK, Gmail came in 2004, but it was literally built by one engineer as a 20%-time project. It was probably 10 years before Google started diversifying.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Searching
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There are lots of people building the next TransferWise, not in a sense of competing with us but in a sense of building large, successful companies that are doing something important. I just enjoy helping these founders navigate the journey.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Competing
Founders
Navigate
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Talent is a complex subject: from the education our kids get in kindergarten and beyond to the re-skilling of some parts of the workforce; from the opportunities available for research to how we attract the best people to work in our companies.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Workforce
Education Best Work
Attract
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Sometimes, companies are better placed than politicians and governments to make change happen. That doesn't mean that they should not be held to account and follow international rules. But with the right motivation, they can be the force for change.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Account
Governments
Held
Placed
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Doing something that empowers people makes you realise how boring it would be to work for a place where the goal is just to make more money. It's much easier to get out of bed and look forward to 12 hours of work if you're making the world a better place.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Better Place
Work Money World
Work Money Better
Empowers
Realise
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People bought bitcoin because they thought it would be worth more tomorrow. And a lot of people got lucky. But we're not seeing real people use bitcoin. And we don't know what problem it solves. Now, blockchain, I think, is a genius advancement in technology.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Advancement
Bitcoin
Genius
Blockchain
Real People
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There's most definitely a Davos bubble. You're in a small Alpine town that, for just four days in January, sees its population tripled with world leaders, CEOs, media, police, the army... and a whole bunch of people who aren't invited but just come to hang out.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Army
Invited
January
Population
Bubble
Ceos
Sees
World Leaders
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Financial services have always been about trust. Perhaps the biggest barrier to entry has been getting new customers to trust an unknown brand or service, and that's particularly true with digital disruptors who lack a physical presence on the local high street.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Entry
Financial Services
Unknown
Barrier
Presence
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At TransferWise, we started out as - and continue as - idealists. We start with what we can do to make things better and how we can solve problems, focusing on what people need. It turns out you can focus on building the best service and be successful as business.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Turns
Focusing
Idealists
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People need the financial sector to be safe; people also need the financial sector to go through a massive phase of innovation. That means delivering on the positive rhetoric, like around settlement accounts, not allowing Open Banking to be diluted, and leading the way on AML.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Accounts
Allowing
Banking
Delivering
Innovation
Massive
Rhetoric
Settlement
Positive People Way
Diluted
Phase
Sector
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The attitude to failure is one of the characteristics that's often called out as the difference between the U.S. and Europe. And we do need to be less risk-averse, more embracing of failure. Having failed makes you look bad in Europe. But in the U.S., it makes you look experienced.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Attitude
Failure
Characteristics
Europe
Bad
Between
Less
Often
Difference
Embracing
Failed
Experienced
Having
Makes
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There's always been a lot of interest in the tech community about how to foster innovation and creativity - both within a company but also in the ecosystem of a tech cluster. In both cases, creating opportunities for people who don't encounter each other normally to meet and talk is key.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Cases
Innovation
Always Community People
Cluster
Ecosystem
Encounter
Foster
Community People Always
Normally
Tech
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The technology is not an end in itself: it is a tool. It can make it easier for us to communicate or manage our finances. It can help us take care of our health or help policemen in their work. It can create jobs and boost growth. It can enhance transparency and accessibility to services.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Accessibility
Boost
Communicate
Manage
Policemen
Transparency
Enhance
Finances
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In 2011, when we launched TransferWise, it was our frustration with banks not giving us what we wanted or needed as customers. The motivation was a strong desire to solve a problem and not just fix something that was broken but create a better alternative and a new system for doing things.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Frustration
Strong Desire
Alternative
Banks
Better New Doing
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A seed depends on a whole host of factors to grow - from the fertility of the soil to the right mix of rain and sun to not being eaten by a passing bird. The same goes for an idea. For an idea to really take hold, other factors come into play, from timing to the emerging technology that makes it possible.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Bird
Depends
Emerging
Factors
Fertility
Passing
Rain
Soil
Timing
Eaten
Mix
Seed
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The fact that Skype was founded in Estonia, the fact that Skype had a successful exit, which meant that Estonia benefited in a major way, meant that entrepreneurship became legitimate. There were more than a thousand people who either worked or had worked at Skype who had seen what it takes to build a global business.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Estonia
Exit
Skype
Thousand
Business People Way
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When we talk about technology changing the world, we often hear about how it makes our lives easier, more connected, safer, or even healthier. They're all things we can easily identify with. The Internet makes our lives easier; services like Skype and WhatsApp allows us to be more connected - the examples are endless.
Taavet Hinrikus /
All Things
Changing The World
Connected
Easier
Our Lives
Skype
Whatsapp
Technology World Internet
Examples
Healthier
Identify
Safer
Services
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I spent my workdays at Skype creating a more connected world. We were shrinking the distances between people, making it easier to connect across countries. Then I'd go to my bank to transfer my euros to pounds, and it was like going back in time 50 years: expensive, inconvenient, and painfully slow. It was a nightmare.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Expensive
Inconvenient
Nightmare
Shrinking
Skype
Time World People
Bank
Distances
Painfully
Transfer
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I was in my early 20s when Estonia joined the E.U. For a kid who'd grown up in the Soviet Union, it seemed like my country had come of age. For a country that had been isolated and cut off from the rest of the world, it seemed like we were becoming part of the global community. It opened a whole new world of possibility.
Taavet Hinrikus /
Early 20s
Estonia
Isolated
New World
Possibility
Soviet
Soviet Union
Joined
Opened
Whole New World
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Taavet Hinrikus Quotes - Page 2

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