Startups should always be thinking about recruitment, according to Magdalena Krön, Head of Rise London, FinTech Platform Lead at Barclays and Co-founder Geek Girl Meetup UK. While not a huge craft beer drinker, Magdalena will most likely indulge in a nice glass of wine at FinTECHTalents.

FinTECHTalents is all about exploring the link between talent and innovation. Can you share some of your views on that relationship?

Talent is essential for innovation to flourish but it is also ever so important to create the right culture and environment where this talent can grow.

Banks are operating in a very regulated and risk averse environment which is not conducive for creating an environment where innovation thrive. Talent with creativity, divergent thinking and courage to execute has to be brought into organisations to create real transformation.

In the next couple of years, financial services will be screaming out for a new type of talent thinking differently on how products and services are delivered to customers.

Furthermore, linking diverse talent which includes individuals from different backgrounds, culture, gender and experience is essential to build ground breaking products and services.

You have stellar startup credentials – both in terms of creating supportive networks/communities and as a founder – tell us a bit about the challenges startups face in accessing talent.

The companies I work with – their biggest ask is help with recruiting.

Challenges include:

• Identifying the right personalities that are willing to throw themselves into the roller coaster ride that is working at a startup.
• Another big challenge is to get diversity right in your company early on. Hiring is difficult enough. But then you add to the mix, finding male and female candidates, looking for people with different backgrounds and ethnicity whilst delivering on your investor’s expectations and keeping to your product roadmap – it is hard work.

Overall the number one tip is to always think about hiring – build a pipeline of potential talent that you can tap into when your company starts to grow.

Who would be your dream co-founder?

I want to give you a really clever answer. But, really, it would be one of my GeekGirls or my other half in life Michael. They challenge me and compliment my weaknesses.

Any sectors that you think are ripe for a tech driven kick in the pants?

Legal world.

You are bringing a group to startups to demo in the FinTech Stories session – can you give us a sneak peek into what type of companies are in that group?

Rise London is the home to some of the most exciting FinTech companies in Europe. We want to highlight three exceptional startups which are all building awesome companies.

Multiply.ai helps self-employed people make the most of their money by using smart technology to create unique financial plans covering; savings, investments, pensions, mortgages and insurance — all in the same place. Multiply.ai makes managing personal finances easy.

You want to get on the property ladder – StepLadder can help. By enabling groups of qualified home buyers to work together, StepLadder helps reduce the average time taken to raise property deposits by up to 45%, compared to saving alone, which means the possibly of owning a home is brought forward months or even years sooner.

Last but not least, Judopay, a payment product which is built for mobiles and designed to give you the simplest and safest way to accept payments, wrapped up in a beautiful customer experience.

The FinTECHTalents team is passionate about diversity and we would love to hear more about the Geek Girls meetup group that you co-founded and its purpose/goals.

I co-founded GeekGirl Meetup UK back in 2012 and we’ve grown to one of London’s largest women in tech groups. We have since the start hosted over 45 events, five conferences and have had over 230 women speaking at our events. Our aim is to highlight women in tech who can act as inspiration and role models to others. We’re all about creating a community sharing knowledge, inspiring and finding likeminded people who can add positive change to tech and help others find their path.

Our mission is to get more women speaking at conferences and industry events. Our meetups act as a starting point for people to get over the fear of presenting on stage.

This year we have been thinking much more how we can work to empower our community as we mature, and the tech community has matured. Our next conference, which will be held at Plexal on the 1st December this year, will be all about creating a guide to your tech and how you navigate the opportunities the industry brings.

Following a day of discussion and demos, will you be unwinding with our specially brewed (with a secret dash of AI) FinTECHTalents beer?

I’m sadly not a big beer drinker so I’m hoping there will be some natural wine to sip on instead 🙂