The importance of networking to succeed in the Fintech Industry

By Evandro Castro - 10/02/2021

Ever since I arrived at IESE in 2019 and started to get involved with the Fintech Club, I always heard that good knowledge of the industry and a strong focus on networking are essential to succeed. The reason behind it is that, unlike big companies that are already used to hire MBAs and often come on campus, Fintechs (mostly startups and scale-ups) don’t have structured programs, and also cannot determine months in advance if, when and for which role they will need to hire. It absolutely does not mean that they don’t hire – and historical data show that it’s been increasing throughout the years – it’s just a different process that we have to be aware of, and it requires a lot of personal drive and dedication.

Suddenly, I saw myself facing an enormous challenge, because according to my last performance reviews at my former job, networking was my biggest weakness, and I would need to rely on it to get a summer internship. Not only did I consider myself not good enough in networking, but I also saw it in a negative way, something like a brown-noser way of succeeding by getting advantages due to relationships. I clearly had to get used to it, and luckily the fact that Fintechs hiring happens later than other industries gave me enough time to practice.

My plan of action was simple: 1. Narrow down the recruiting focus to only Fintech startups, avoiding distraction from other processes; 2. Participate in every event organized by the club and subscribe to newsletters / podcasts to increase my knowledge about the industry and understand what type of value I could bring to them; 3. Use every opportunity to improve my networking skills, by attending treks and career fairs and talking to companies, even the ones I was just a little interested in. In the beginning it felt like everyone around was a natural networker and I was the only one putting lots of energy on it and coming back home totally drained, but I kept going and soon enough I was already getting used to it and even having some fun in the process. In the end, I got my internship at Carlo – a startup from Monaco that built a payments app for local merchants – in the last week of May. The opportunity came in the last minute, when I was almost starting to regret having narrowed down so much the recruiting focus, but it was perfectly what I was looking for, and I was totally prepared for it.

Even after it worked out, I never stopped thinking how I could turn networking into a life-long practice that I could internalize and use for my professional life as a tool to build relationships and improve chances of success. It turns out that the reason why I was not enjoying the process so much – besides the fact that I’m a little less extroverted than the MBAs’ average – was that I had the wrong mindset towards it, and I’m very grateful for the CDC for offering us a course named Networking with Impact, by professor Nicolas Constantinesco, that opened my eyes. The course is meant to change the mindset of students with networking, by presenting Adam Grant’s research and theory presented in the book Give and Take, which classifies 25% of professional as givers, meaning that they are willing to provide help without expecting something in return, and the simple process of giving already satisfies them.

This basically removes the limiting belief that when I approach people for networking, I’m wasting their time for something I need and for which they’ll get nothing in return. It basically means that if you send 20 emails for people from which you seek for advice, statistically 5 of them will be happy to answer and talk to you. Professor Nicolas’ final advice was: “Connect with the giver in yourself, then go ahead and find some other givers to connect with”. This change in mindset has made things a lot easier for me ever since.

As one of the VPs of the Fintech Club, part of the team responsible for organizing the treks, I had the perfect opportunity to finally put the new mindset in practice. On the 7th and 8th of December 2020, the Fintech Club has organized the first Virtual Fintech Trek. The objective of the Treks organized every year by the club is to get closer to relevant companies in the European Fintech Landscape, get to know their offices, their business models, challenges and most importantly to have the opportunity to network with them, potentially leveraging these contacts to get summer internships or fulltime job offers. It’s also a huge opportunity for them to know more about IESE, the club, and hire high talented professionals interested in the industry.

Usually the club organizes two treks: In November to London (by far the biggest Fintech hub in Europe) and in December to Berlin (another relevant hub for Fintechs and startups). Fintechs from both cities have a good record of hiring IESE MBAs, so it’s important for the club to maintain the relationship with these companies so that they keep the school in the top of their minds when hiring. As the months went by in 2020, the situation clearly showed us that an ‘in person’ trek wouldn’t be possible, not only for the obvious reason of not putting the students at risk by traveling during the pandemic or even due to travel restrictions, but also because companies themselves were operating in a ‘working-from-home’ setting, with no expectation of going back to office in the near future. At first, not having the opportunity of visiting companies’ offices seemed like a big impediment to achieve the biggest goal of the treks, the networking, but in an industry in which the recruitment is mainly driven by networking, we clearly couldn’t afford not to do it either.

With the leadership of André Cardoso, our VP of Public Relations, our team – composed of 1st and 2nd years - embraced the challenge of organizing the first Virtual Fintech Trek, trying to compensate for the difficulties of the situation and leverage on the opportunities that it brings.

In the first conversations, we focused on companies with which we already had pre-established relationship due to previous treks, or even in desired companies located in the two cities in which we usually perform the treks, but soon enough we realized that we didn’t have the location constraint anymore and could diversify further the portfolio, and so we did. We were able to cover at least 5 of the 10 industry verticals, with companies from 7 different countries. Payments was the most represented vertical, as it’s usually the vertical that attracts more interest among students. Companies were so open and willing to participate that our concern quickly moved from not having enough companies to having too many for the two days of event.

With the aim of maximizing the interaction among students and companies to make up for the lack of personal contact, a big part of the time was reserved for Q&A and breakout rooms with fewer people in which students could clarify their questions, demonstrate their enthusiasm with the industry and build a relationship with the presenters. The sum of previous knowledge, thorough research, enthusiasm, and interest in the companies and their challenges made students and presenters engage in very insightful conversations from which both sides could benefit, and my personal experience, both in organizing and participating in the event, could not have been more fulfilling and joyful.

As a final message, I invite you to embrace a positive mindset and be bold while networking. Go ahead and speak up your mind, ask questions, propose new ideas, show your interest. You might lack the complete knowledge in the beginning, but maximizing the interactions is the best way to keep improving it. There’s always something new and powerful to learn in every interaction.

Enjoy the ride!

Evandro Castro

MBA 2021