In the business world, five years is a lifetime, but in the technology sector, five years is an eternity. The Busconomic banking product comparator has managed not only to resist a five-year period as a company but also to gain a foothold in a sector with such difficult competition as the Fintech.
Ferrán, Roger, Javier, Carles, and Daniel make up the Busconómico team. The obstacles they have had to go through as entrepreneurs are similar to those of any other business, but thanks to their effort, perseverance and hard work they have achieved what most startups aspire to achieve.
Grow and consolidate as a company and work on their true passion, finances. After five years as entrepreneurs, they tell us about their experience and all the difficulties they have had to go through.
In Spain, there are very few startups that have managed to survive five years and less in the Fintech sector, how did you achieve it?
The Busconómico team has never been considered a startup to use, we do not depend on any external investor, nor do we have large fixed costs associated with a physical structure. We really exploit to the maximum all that the internet offers us to maintain that virtual structure that allows to relocate all the members of the team.
With discipline, trust, hard work and, above all, humility, results are achieved. Our project is long-term, born with that idea and after five years of hard work are coming to the fruits of everything planted. Year after year, we doubled visits, revenues, and visibility. Today we are considered one of the 5 best online comparators of financial products and that fills us with pride.
With discipline, trust, hard work and, above all, humility, results are achieved
What growth forecasts do you have in the coming years?
Really does not matter the forecasts that we make or have set as annual goals, in the end, we always pulverize records year after year, both visits, as users registered in our database, as income.
Our goal is to continue learning and apply the knowledge acquired over the years to other markets such as Mexico, a niche that we have been exploiting for a year now with busconomico.mx. In addition, for this 2019 (and we tell it as a scoop), we have acquired the Cupooon.es discount code portal, which will allow us to diversify, complement and grow our online business.
Do you think the Fintech business can unseat traditional banking as we know it right now?
Of course. Traditional banking is mortally wounded, millennials are changing the world of business and those banks that remain anchored in the customers of the window are going to succumb to fintech, blockchain, and new online users.
You just have to analyze the typical type of traditional banking, the elderly basically. It is a generational issue, in 20 years there will not be a single client of this type, and the new digital generation will take control.
In fact, before the Internet boom, entry barriers for the banking sector were enormous and it was strange to find new banks. Some foreign banks tried to enter Spain and failed in their attempt, see the case of Citi Bank, BNP, Barclays, etc. Now thanks to the Internet and the euro, which allows us to work in the same currency in many different countries, new entities that offer their products in Spain appear every year.
Some examples are N26, NN Bank or the huge amount of deposits of banks in the Euro zone that can be contracted online. Young people are currently interested in this type of bank and not the bank of all life is a fact that we see every day from Busconomic.
Young people are increasingly interested in the Fintech and less in the bank of all life
As you know, the majority of SMEs in Spain depend almost exclusively on bank financing. Do you think that Spain is ready to change this model and get closer to other countries in our environment, where banking exposure is lower?
In Spain there is a lack of financial culture, that is why Busconómico tries to make the average user aware that the best loan is the one that is not requested. It’s that simple, do not spend what you do not have.
The pursuit of a dream that involves mortgaging your life can cost you a great dislike. Busconómico was born from the effort of each one of us, without funding, betting on unpaid hard work for several months.
In Spain we still believe in the culture of pitch, projects and startups “vendehumos” that are born directly to raise rounds of financing. Until we change the way we do and create business we will not leave where we are.
What is your current business model? Do you plan to change some aspect of your income source in the coming years?
Our business model is the direct sale or through third parties of advertising of financial companies, banking products and personal loans. This year we have started new collaborations with other fintech companies that have been very profitable and we hope to expand them in the future. In addition, the world of Internet advances and changes very fast, so we are open to any other business model or source of income that may arise if we find it interesting, always giving preference to the content is of quality and information is accurate. and be updated, since we want users to find what they are looking for so they want to return.
Who is your target customer? What features does it have?
We are very clear about our target audience from the first day we set the Busconomic bases, it is a type of person with little financial knowledge who, on the one hand, looks for information to make their savings profitable and, on the other hand, has financing needs . At the end of what is at issue is to help both to find not only what they are looking for but also what best suits their needs.
Like many other entrepreneurs, you do not have a fixed workplace. Do you usually work from home or meet in a physical office?
As we have previously pointed out, we are totally delocalised. We exploit to the maximum the tools that the Internet offers to speak every day, plan strategies, mount campaigns, carry out experiments, and above all, put in common all and each one of the ideas. To give you an idea, the headquarters is in Cuenca with one partner, another in Barcelona, two in Valencia and the last one in Uruguay.
And the same happens with our usual collaborators and expert editors, who are distributed throughout the Spanish geography. We can say that we are a 100% online company. Every trimester we try to coincide to devirtualize a bit in front of some beers and squeeze all the ideas that we have. In the end, we do not stop being good colleagues with more than 10 years of friendship behind.
Our company is 100% online and we are totally delocalized.
In your opinion, do you think that the current political situation harms the entrepreneurs or is not as important as it seems?
Of course, and not only to entrepreneurs, but the economic and financial sector also needs stability and the socio-economic situation in which we are immersed is incapable of generating that confidence that the system needs to function. The change of Government, the Catalan crisis, the war on mortgages and in the medium term the crisis that is brewing does not bode well for our country.
Finally, I would like you to send a message of hope for all those entrepreneurs who have just started and see their future with some uncertainty.
Our recipe for success is simple and has no trick: work hard. Internet projects are like a roller coaster of emotions, today you are up, euphoric and tomorrow low, and if you keep giving the key you go back up.
Stay away from false prophets and surround yourself with capable people, humble and with which you are able to undertake coherently, in the end, the friendship is above all and is the real treasure that should be valued in any work team. Stay as little as possible and do not falter until you really see that there is no way out. Many entrepreneurs do not know how to get out of the tunnel they are stuck in by not realizing that they are crashing again and again against the same wall. Take a step back and look at everything with perspective.
Our advice is that you surround yourself with capable, humble people with whom you are capable of undertaking coherently.
From SMEs and Autonomous, we can only wish Busconómico’s team to continue to reap as many successes as it has done so far, and that its financial products and services comparison portal continue to grow in the Fintech sector and help many people and companies to choose the product that best suits your needs.