Yvette Wu from Yield Exchange

Yvette Wu is the Co-Founder and CEO of Yield Exchange.

Yield Exchange is a B2B SaaS platform for organizations to access competitive GIC rates with speed, transparency, and ease.

Their platform acts as an online GIC marketplace for investors such as Canadian municipalities, universities, school boards, hospitals, and large corporations to access competitive rates directly from their partnering financial institutions.

Takeaways

Building a double-sided marketplace requires addressing the needs of both sides: depositors and financial institutions.

How Yvette solved the Cold Start Problem with Yield Exchange's marketplace.

Deeply listening to users' feedback and understanding their pain points is crucial for product development and iteration.

Hiring should be job-dependent, with a focus on potential and diversity of perspectives.

Maintaining focus and work-life balance is essential for long-term success as a founder.

Finding support from fellow founders, mentors, and advisors is valuable for personal and professional growth.

Chapters

00:00 Yvette's Background and Journey

06:08 Internal Consulting and Skillset as a Founder

07:36 Enterprise Risk Management and the Genesis of Yield Exchange

10:15 GICs and their Use in Innovative Ways

13:17 Creating a Marketplace for GICs

17:36 Building the Initial Marketplace for Yield Exchange

22:18 Product Development and Feedback from Users

26:45 Digging Deeper and Asking the Right Questions

30:29 Hiring and Building a Diverse Team

33:53 Growth Strategies and Prioritization

37:02 Finding Support as a Founder

40:36 Maintaining Focus and Work-Life Balance

44:28 Favorite Book and Excitement for the New Year

46:51 Dealing with Hard Times

48:03 Message to Listeners

My podcast supporter!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fasken's Emerging Tech and Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ practice is comprised of 80+ dedicated legal professionals across the Canadian market. We're deeply involved in the startup ecosystem and have worked closely with founders from startup to scale-up to exit. Our team is a leading Canadian law firm for VC financings and tech M&A and act for many of the best-in-class startup and scale-up innovation-based companies and entrepreneurs in Canada.

Given this experience we understand market trends and can assist in guiding your company forward as you scale – we take a holistic and strategic approach to helping our clients achieve their goals and provide the full suite of services including corporate, corporate finance, M&A, commercial, IP, data and compliance, employment, tax and beyond. We are excited to help the next generation of unicorns!