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Challenges of the Financial Industry - An Analysis of Critical Success Factors for FinTechs

FinTechs are attracting ongoing interest in both academia and practice. With the use of techniques borrowed from grounded theory, we analyze material from 10 interviews with managers and Chief Executive Officers at FinTechs and 8 interviews with venture capitalists (VCs). We examined 15 critical success factors (CSFs) for FinTech ventures. These are divided into 9 factors that generally apply to general ventures: (1) team, (2) entrepreneur, (3) capital, (4) product/market fit, (5) idea and execution, (6) pivoting and continuous learning, (7) customer acquisition, (8) internationalization, and (9) networking. In addition, we examine 6 factors that have specific relevance to FinTech venture success, namely, (10) technological advantage, (11) regulatory knowledge, (12) B2B focus, (13) incumbent partnerships, (14) growth potential, and (15) exit options for VCs. Our study expands the literature on CSFs for FinTechs and provides recommendations for entrepreneurs to be more successful.