Introducing Richard Stegall in today’s episode, the CEO of Urban FT, which is recognized as one of the most progressive and successful FinTech companies in the Financial Services industry today. Richard is a results-driven entrepreneur with a record of success and a passion for accelerating and capitalizing on emerging opportunities.

At Urban FT, Richard and team are enabling financial institutions to deliver an exceptional customer experience through the world’s first, and most capable, FinTech Core. Urban FT’s X-35 FinTech Core™ is positioned to clean up this challenging ecosystem and help financial institutions stay on the bleeding-edge of innovations when it comes to providing their end-users with superior Digital Banking Experiences, Money Movement capabilities, Identity Verification and Account Opening options, and Behavioral Insights, all of which enhance overall user engagement.

Before entering the FinTech space he spent 17 years in IT&T, serving as COO of UK-based Burlington Rye Plc and head of corporate strategy for NASDAQ-listed and U.S.-based Kit Digital Inc. (formerly Roo Media Inc.). In these roles, he was responsible for the growth strategies of private and public companies in North America, the U.K. and Asia. Throughout his experience, Richard has focused on acquisitive and capital growth, and led IPOs (including via reverse mergers) across the globe.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Discovering his passion for entrepreneurship at an early age [3:28]
• Being in his first business accidentally [5:40]
• His academic journey [7:10]
• Realizations he learned from his failures [8:45]
• What is fintech industry [12:50]
• How he got into the fintech industry [16:03]
• Marketing a fintech business in New York [17:50]
• Moving into a white label digital banking platform -- the Urban FT [19:00]
• The impact of digital currencies in the fintech industry [20:00]
• Urban FT’s specializations [22:01]
• Approach to building a team [23:51]
• Process of hiring people [25:17]
• How to identify if the person is fit for a specific role [27:20]
• Best ways to get in touch with Richard’s company [30:55]

Quotable Quotes

• Life is full of bad news, you just have to get more good news on balance -- then you can actually persevere. And then you can actually pull in and move forward.
• As long as it's following some sort of sets -- of two or three steps forward, one step forward. You just got to maintain a forward momentum.

Links to sources and tools

Get connected with Richard Stegall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steggallrichard/ Learn about Urban FT’s products: https://www.urbanft.com/

Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/passthesecretsauce to get updates on new episodes. If you haven’t already, please follow and leave a review for our podcast, we’ll really appreciate it. And as always, don’t forget to pass the secret sauce.

Support our podcast

If you’re a fan of the show, there are three simple things you can do to support our work:

1. Subscribe, rate and review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pass-the-secret-sauce-by-matt-shields/id1506940483 the podcast on iTunes or wherever you subscribe.
2. Tell a family memb...