Thread by @amarkoradia

A talk by @kunalb11 on fintech(or not) for the @CFAinstitute
Spent the sunday evening learning about the ever-changing world!

Sharing some takeaways in the below thread.
Also, he's the founder of @cred_club!
Try it,here's the link: cred.onelink.me/spQx/c7785d8c

High contribution of women is the only way per capita income of any country will shoot up.
Bangladesh has seen a rise in the no working women and is far ahead of India! (shocking stat) (2/n)

Every home has a CTO. He/she is generally in 14-18 age bracket. Guides the family on adoption of tech and apps. Slowly but steadily that person is becoming the Chief Procurement Officer as well. (3/n)

So, a product that might be designed for a 40 year old has be actually sold to a 16 year old who takes the decision to on-board! So your template social media targeted marketing will fall on its head (4/n)

My fav is @kunalb11's def of 'UNCLE' is based on how he uses the phone. (you gotta watch the video for this) (5/n)

*Millennials*
They are the most efficient when it comes to communicating. Also, the current generation is way more smarter and more aware then the previous as it has been historically. They're born with internet. They'll call out all bullshit by verifying on Wiki, etc. (6/n)

Also, they judge people on the kind of whatsapp groups 1 is a part of, what kinda content you forward, what you believe, etc (7/n)

INDIA is 25 countries put together for administrative convenience by British!(So true! Anyone who has a SME/business catering to multiple states will vouch for it). English is our neutral platform. Others are Tea, Cricket, Samosa, Pizza,etc. We bond and connect over these.(8/n)

A country/society prospers through finding neutral platforms of TRUST! (More about these platforms like @Olacabs , @Uber , @Airbnb later) (9/n)

*Disruption* Definition with the example of @WhatsApp starting with payments. When a larger product with a huge distribution & trust decides to offer a feature, it causes massive disruption. It has 300mn Daily Active Users (DAU). The idea came as follows:(10/n)

People used to ask/give payments while chatting and make the transaction another app and exchange screenshots(we all have done it 4sure). Once integrated, the other app is worthless. Like the in chat video player, no need to go to @YouTube ! (11/n)

Another eg: We all have owned a digicam at some point of time. Cell phone were more widely owned. Adding the feature of a high res cam has lead to the death of the good old digi cam. Now, its just another icon in every phone.
Many such products have become mere icons! (12/n)

Historical example of disruption: the Indian/Arabic numeric system threatened the roman numbers used by Europeans. So, they quickly adapted the Indian numerics to english and migrated. Roman numbers died in trade!
(Whatta perspective of looking at history) (13/n)

Future possibilities:
1.A TelCo who has 500 mn customers decides to lend?
2.A hardware co having 300 mn phones decides to do Investments/MF? (since it knows everything about your demographics, income, spending style, etc)
They both have distribution and lack capabilities (14/n)

Distribution is 10x more powerful than capabilities, since the later can be bought( in form of exp & skilled employees) but distribution is hard to buy!
(this is GOLD) Applies to most new businesses all around in the startup space! (15/n)

The world has become like a superconductor. Dissemination of info is faster than ever. eg everyone knew about demonetization in <2 hrs. When things spread fast, the distribution platform the enjoys trust can make anything into a new feature. (16/n)

*Decentralization*
1.Conglomerates emerge in countries which have low trust. People trust only a few brands and they have the power to sell everything from salt to tech to metals(TATA's)
2.Nepotism: star kids enjoy some partial trust. (17/n)

India is a low trust market.
-We empty the fuel tanks before giving the cars for service.
-We double check the bill in an eatery.
-Prefer a DD v/s cheque.
(Can think of many more examples like not giving lifts to strangers, etc)
(18/n)

In 1972, Dr. Arrow won the noble prize by proving that "Any country that has low trust has lower economic growth"
Thus removing trust barriers is critical for growth. (19/n)

With ratings from drivers and riders, @Uber acts as a trust agent and has helped people to trust in cab nightmare zones like delhi and blr. Same with @Airbnb: 2 strangers trust each other without having any central trust agent!(20/n)

Decentralization is a function of not needing a brand to create trust between 2 parties. eg: A shoe buyer looks for a brand logo for trust and quality. this trust can be replaced by the platform. (21/n)

How Advertisements are changing: An @instagram influencer having 10mn followers can give more exposure to a brand than a TV ad.
Every human who has some influence has become an ad now.
(Eg: Me. I have bought at-least 20-30 people to @cred_club)
(22/n)

*Crypto&Money*
Humans agreed on currency by having Trust within the community/society.
India has seen 10 instances of demonetization in the past. New ruler. new currency. Our love for *GOLD* is directly proportional to the lack of Trust & lack of willingness to pay taxes. (23/n)

Currency, taxes and power are inter-related.
Every currency&religion became big when a supreme leader endorsed it.
religion and currency are similar concepts. they blow up when multiple people come together and believe in a common concept. (24/n)

All human behavior has moved from rich to poor. Never the other way around. From shoes, to chandeliers to fashion. People have been mimicking the one's who have influence, wealth and power. (25/n)

*Driving traffic*
Tracking traffic in malls, we see kids events organised so that families come and spend. Similar concept exited in the past in India. Temples. They are the traffic drivers. Very high DailyActiveUsers (DAU). Shops around temple monitized the much better. (26/n)

Other shopkeepers realized and built temples around their shops.
@Paytm launched news since the DAU of news > payments.
Lines are constantly blurring in #FinTech
#TikTok in china is into lending (am shocked here). They provide 1 click loans. So does the youtube of china(27/n)

Closing remark "Question what you believe if it is true anymore & are you prepared for the ever changing world we are living in"
Monologue ends. Q&A with Naveet Munot of @SBIMF (28/n)

My fav response by @kunalb11 on being asked about large old cos v/s new age tech cos:
"Any co that has an IT dept is not a tech co"
Entire audience chuckles on this remark(most of them work in such cos which have an IT dept :D ) (29/n)

Today's youngster is like an American citizen
-watches the same @netflix content
-is a global citizen
-laughs at the same meme's
-speaks english(like never before in the past, the entire country speaks english)
thus flow of ideas is more fluid.
(30/n)

#Food4Thought
Self driving driving cars may disrupt the hotel industry. People driving long distances might no longer need to park & sleep off at a motel. they might just sleep while the car drives itself(i'm startled here)
The competition is not coming from the same sector(31/n)

Distribution combined with trust will disrupt everything!
#Satyavachan sar! (32/n)