How to Make Compliance Your Secret Growth Weapon

Building a successful fintech consulting firm without venture capital requires more than industry knowledge. It demands a willingness to sacrifice, a clear understanding of what customers need, and the ability to treat compliance as a commercial function rather than a cost center.

Tedd Huff founder & CEO of Voalyre a fintech advisory firm sits down with Jas Randhawa, founder and CEO of Strategybrix, a compliance consulting firm that serves high-growth fintechs, exchanges, and partner banks. The discussion covers the hard lessons learned from bootstrapping, the common mistakes fintech founders make, and why approaching compliance strategically can unlock growth rather than block it. Jas spent over 20 years working with major banks like Citibank, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC. His background as a computer science engineer gave him an inside view of how compliance systems work, from KYC and onboarding to transaction monitoring and fraud detection.

Takeaways:

1️⃣ Prepare budget negotiations with specific numbers and risk examples so you walk in ready to win.

2️⃣ Replace compliance roadblocks with conditions for approval that define the guardrails needed to say yes safely.

3️⃣ Audit your onboarding flow against competitors to remove unnecessary friction that causes customer drop-off.

4️⃣ Create a one-page explainer showing how your AI compliance tools process data and produce outputs for regulators.

5️⃣ Build a trusted advisor network and schedule calls this week to validate major hiring and spending decisions.

Links:

Jas Randhawa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randhawajas

Strategybrix: https://www.strategybrix.com

https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategybrix

Fintech Confidential:

Podcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listen

Newsletter: https://fintechconfidential.com/access

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidential

X: https://x.com/FTconfidential

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidential

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential

Supporters:

Under: Streamlines application and underwriting with digital form processing. https://under.io/ftc

Skyflow: Zero-trust data privacy vaults as an API to collect, secure, and tokenize personal information while keeping compliance and usability. https://skyflowsecure.com

Dfns: Wallets as a service with API-first, multi-chain design secured with MPC; powers crypto payments across 50+ networks. https://fintechconfidential.com/dfns

Hawk AI: Real-time screening, ML monitoring, and dynamic customer risk ratings to strengthen fraud and financial-crime prevention. https://gethawkai.com

About:

Jas Randhawa is the Managing Partner at StrategyBRIX, a boutique Risk and Compliance Consulting firm. Before StrategyBRIX, Jas was the Head of Financial Crimes and Compliance at leading fintechs, including Stripe and Airwallex. In addition, at PwC, Jas built and led the firm's Financial Crimes practice across the US West Coast. He has over 18 years of experience building and managing programs in the Compliance space.

StrategyBRIX is a boutique consulting firm specializing in risk and compliance management for fintechs, crypto platforms, and digital banks. Founded in 2021, the firm helps organizations build sustainable financial crime compliance programs that balance regulatory rigor with operational efficiency.

Tedd Huff is the Founder of Voalyre, a professional services advisory firm focused on global payments. He is also a video podcast host and executive producer on the Fintech Confidential network. Over the past 25 years, he has contributed to FinTech startups as an Advisory Board Member, Co-Founder, and Chief Experience Officer.

DD3 Media is a media creation, management, and production company delivering engaging content globally.

Chapters:

00:00 Highlights

01:34 Under (Sponsor)

02:03 Welcome Jas Randhawa

03:26 Bootstrapping Strategybrix

04:45 Challenges in the Banking Sector

09:36 The Importance of Customer Focus

17:29 Skyflow Privacy Vault (Sponsor)

18:45 Scaling a Consulting Firm

25:41 Building and Leading a Team

32:48 Sustaining a Consulting Business

33:50 Importance of Team Dynamics

34:30 Curiosity and Learning in Team Members

36:01 Common Compliance Mistakes

38:35 Budgeting for Risk and Compliance

40:34 Effective Compliance Negotiation

43:54 Onboarding and Compliance Design

49:18 Dfns Wallet as a Service (Sponsor)

56:59 AI and Technology in Compliance

01:03:32 Advice for FinTech Founder

01:05:06 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

01:06:40 Hawk AI (sponsor)

01:07:27 Disclaimer