Episode 68: Disrupting The Banking Industry with Yoseph West, Founder Of Relay Bank
Aug 9, 2021
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Yoseph West, Co-founder and CEO of Relay Financial, shares his insights on revolutionizing small business banking. He discusses the challenges entrepreneurs face with outdated financial systems and offers solutions through Relay's innovative platform. Yoseph emphasizes the importance of a strong company culture, even as a team grows from 6 to over 100 employees. He also explores the transition to digital banking, the future of financial technology, and the balance between bootstrapping and seeking external capital to drive business growth.
Relay Bank revolutionizes business banking for small and medium-sized businesses by enhancing financial visibility and collaboration with financial advisors.
Maintaining an intentional company culture is essential during rapid growth, necessitating regular surveys to adapt to employee needs and preferences.
Aligning personal and business values with potential investors is crucial for forming successful partnerships that support sustainable growth and shared success.
Deep dives
The Importance of Stepping Back
Small business owners often find themselves working in their businesses rather than on them, which can hinder growth and automation. Stepping back allows them to reevaluate their business strategies and implement changes that can significantly enhance operational efficiency. By taking the time to focus on the bigger picture, owners can identify opportunities for step changes in their business processes. This change in mindset is essential for achieving sustainable growth and profitability.
The Need for Modern Banking Solutions
Traditionally, small business owners face challenges with their banking experiences, including high fees, poor customer service, and inefficiencies in handling financial data. The conversation highlights the shortcomings of conventional banking systems and the necessity for a banking solution that offers seamless integration with financial management tools. A modern solution like Relay Financial aims to provide insight into financials while improving collaboration between business owners and their financial advisors. This shift is necessary to meet the evolving needs of small business owners who require more agile and user-friendly banking options.
Cultural Design in Fast-Growing Organizations
As companies grow rapidly, maintaining a strong organizational culture becomes vital yet challenging. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being intentional about culture, especially as team sizes increase from small to larger groups, such as from six to over thirty employees. Regularly surveying team members to gather feedback helps leaders understand their staff's needs and preferences, especially in a post-pandemic environment. This approach promotes a sense of belonging and increases engagement among employees, ultimately supporting the company’s growth trajectory.
Adopting Technology to Enhance Efficiency
The gradual transition from legacy systems to cloud-based technologies has empowered small business owners to streamline operations, but challenges still remain. Many still grapple with using multiple disjointed applications, leading to potential confusion and inefficiencies. For instance, Relay aims to consolidate the banking experience by providing features like real-time banking information, expense management, and collaborative tools for financial visibility. Such solutions are designed to alleviate common operational headaches and help business owners focus on growth.
Investor Relationships and Values
When considering external financing, aligning values between a business owner and potential investors is crucial for successful partnerships. The advice underscores the significance of understanding personal and business values before seeking investment, ensuring that chosen partners share a common vision. This alignment helps create a supportive environment where both parties can strive for shared success. Ultimately, a thoughtful approach to selecting investors can enhance a business's growth journey while maintaining its core principles.
Yoseph West is the Co-Founder & CEO of Relay Financial, a business banking platform that gives SMBs better visibility into their financials and simplifies collaboration between small business owners and their advisors — accountants and bookkeepers.
In today’s podcast, he shares specifics on the problems solved by Relay Bank. He and Bradley discuss how Relay Bank is “business banking reimagined for the 21st century.” He also discusses the concept of fast growth culture, including…
Use of remote work
How much work space is needed
Challenges with hybrid work culture
How to set goals and targets
He shares how he and his team has worked to keep the same culture that was created with 6 employees with 50-100 employees.
He and Bradley also discuss the future of banking, looking at predictions based on how things have been going. Finally, they talk through the pros and cons of bootstrapping vs. taking on outside capital.
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