Interview with Aman Nabi – Associate, Information VP

Aman Nabi is a two-time founder with a passion for innovation in financial technology. He brings his background in aerospace engineering, entrepreneurship, and business operations to the Information VP team as an Associate. Aman considers his value likens to a swiss army knife and is eager to contribute to the team in a wide variety of ways.

We are excited to have Aman join the Information VP team this year and wanted to take this opportunity to introduce him to our network.

—

What tech trends are you most excited about?

There are a few trends that really jump out at me as reshaping tech right now, but there’s one macro trend that is particularly exciting. There’s a new demand for innovation in technology to have positive social impacts, which is a significant deviation from simply building shinier, cheaper, or faster products. While this has major effects across all tech sectors, we’re seeing this trend impact financial services in several ways – shifts towards sustainable finance, impact investing, financial inclusion, decentralization of services, and the general democratization of finance through open banking are reshaping our futures as we speak.

What interests you about the FinTech space?

I heard the saying ‘Everything is FinTech’ a few years ago and while perhaps a bit exaggerated, I agree that FinTech is everywhere and touches people’s lives in many ways every day. As our world continues to become increasingly digital, FinTech innovations unlock a vast potential for how the future works. I don’t think we’re far away from the day that you walk into an employee-less store, select what you want, and simply walk out, with any financial transactions happening automatically in the background. There are several FinTech pieces which would come together to make that a reality, and they’re all in development already!

What do you look for in startup companies/founders?

While a lot of the criteria I assess companies on is typical, I love coming across a company taking a bold bet on the future. It’s easy enough to build products that service the world as it is right now, but much harder and riskier to look ahead to how things might work 5, 10, 20 years from now. Companies that are early adopters of industry shaping ideas like machine learning, embedded finance, quantum computing, etc., bear much greater risk in their early stages compared to safer plays, but have much more to gain long term.

Great founders can come in all personalities and leadership styles. If I had to nail down a persistent trait, from my experience, successful founders have passion for the problems they are solving and an ability to instill that passion in their teams.

What’s your favourite way to spend a day off?

I’m a big fan of the outdoors – on days off I’ll do anything from hiking, camping, and golfing in the summer, to skiing, snowshoeing, and playing shinny in the winter. Whether its +30 or -30, you can usually find me outside!

What are some books/podcasts/groups you follow?

I enjoy anything written by Michael Lewis. I find his ability to break down complex and often unprecedented events into understandable, even relatable, pieces and anecdotes brilliant. Whether he’s explaining high frequency trading or the importance of smooth presidential transitions in the US I’ve always been captured by his writing.