Matthias Hunn Is Bringing Transparency to Swiss Banking

Name: Matthias Hunn

Company: FinGuide AG

1. In one sentence, how would you describe your startup?

We bring transparency to the customers of one of the most non-transparent marketplaces: Swiss private banking.

2. What are you building and who benefits most from it?

We have built a match-making platform for private banking customers and providers. It helps customers find the provider that really meets their needs, while providers get access to potential customers that are a good fit for their offering. Therefore, we aim to create sustainable, long-lasting customer relationships.

To do that, we first developed criteria for measuring the quality of a wealth management provider and then started to examine providers along these criteria. We have collected data from those who passed the due diligence test about how they do business and what their exact offer is for potential customers. For the customers, we have created a questionnaire in which they can enter their needs and wants. We have also developed an algorithm that compares the two data sets and determines the best matches.

That’s where the personal consulting starts. We think the choice of your wealth manager is important enough to go deeper than an algorithm can. Together with our customers, we determine the two best providers. After that, the customer gets to know the personal advisors from both providers and can make an informed decision. 

3. What has been the biggest challenge so far and how did you overcome it?

The service that FinGuide offers is new to the market; therefore, the major challenge was and is making it known to potential customers. We have found that our best acquisition channel is clearly online and that creating good, user-friendly content is certainly key to gaining the trust of our potential customers.

4. What tool or app could you not live without and why?

Our promise to our customers is that we do all we can to protect their data and store it exclusively in Switzerland. That means we cannot use services that transfer data out of the country, which severely limits the use of tools and apps. Our software is tailor-made, and we use none of the tools and apps that other entrepreneurs love.

5. What marketing strategies have worked for you?

As mentioned, good content helps to build trust and raise awareness. We distribute our content online and offline. On the offline side, we use newspaper supplements on finance topics whose success we found out to be totally weather-dependent: No one reads them on a sunny summer day, but lots of people take a look at them on a cold winter weekend.

Our service is free of charge for our customers, and they can abandon the search process at any time. Therefore, we need to focus strongly on the quality of everything we do. The slightest glitch makes us lose customers in the process of choosing their best wealth manager. If we deliver more than the customers expect, they will go through the whole process with us and recommend us to other people. So, we really know what we have to focus on.

6. What’s the best specific piece of advice you have for other entrepreneurs?

Don’t go for maximum funding rounds—go for maximum customer satisfaction and the best offer you can come up with.

7. What does your company’s trajectory look like over the next five years?

We want to improve constantly at what we do. There are no plans to diversify or get external funding because we have reached profitability. In five years, I want to know who will lead the company after me.

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