Most fintech startups begin by building financial features. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Finally.com CEO Felix Rodriguez explains why that’s exactly what you shouldn’t do.

Start with Software, Not Fintech As counterintuitive as it sounds for a finance platform, Felix argues against starting with fintech features. “I’d probably start with some kind of software and then figure out how to layer fintech in. Just because fintech, it’s very costly and takes a lot of time, rightfully so.” This approach lets you prove value and acquire customers before tackling complex regulatory requirements.

Be Your First Sales Rep While many founders rush to build a sales team, Felix took a different path. “I feel like if I could sell it myself, if I could solve someone’s pain, then I can help teach others what’s resonating in the market and with customers.” Even after scaling to thousands of conversations monthly, he still participates in larger deals to maintain market connection.

Pipeline Trumps Everything In the race between product features and customer acquisition, Felix is clear about the winner. “What you really should be focused on is ways of getting customers… pipeline over everything. Then you can build something long term.” This customer-first approach shaped Finally’s entire growth strategy.

Verticalize Your Message Generic platform messaging killed early conversion rates until Finally discovered the power of vertical-specific communication. “A dentist probably doesn’t care about, like, invoicing. They don’t invoice consumers that come in for their dental work. So definitely don’t send a dentist messaging about sending invoices.” This insight transformed their marketing approach.

Systems Enable Scale Finally’s growth from 30 to 1,000 monthly prospects wasn’t accidental. “It’s all about the process and the systems… Having good processes and good systems that allows you to scale from one to as many as you need.” These systems became crucial as they balanced growth with fintech’s regulatory demands.

All these lessons point to a fundamental truth about building fintech companies: success isn’t just about innovative features or regulatory compliance. It’s about methodical customer acquisition, scalable systems, and the willingness to challenge conventional wisdom. As Felix notes, it comes down to “having a great vision, being a great recruiter, and then executing like crazy.”