1. Who are you?

I am Robert Abend, one of the founders of BörseGo AG. One of our many successful products is our platform Guidants, which we created in 2012.

2. Which services do you sell and who are your competitors?

Guidants is a browser- and cloud-based investment and analysis platform for investors and traders to monitor, analyze and discuss the financial markets. It is customizable and filters the flood of information according to what the users need for their trading and investment decisions – this allows for an extremely time-saving and target-oriented approach. Furthermore, over 100 industry experts are represented on Guidants with their own desktops and streams. Users can follow them and discuss their comments and analyses with the experts and other users. Thanks to our Guidants Mobile app all features are available on the go, too. And the basic version is entirely free of charge!

Our competitors are other providers of financial information, forums and news portals focusing on finance, different social media types and Social Trading.

3. How did you get your start-up idea and how did you finance your start-up?

Thanks to the internet everyone has access to basically limitless information. However, traders and investors certainly do not have time to spend hours researching for the piece of information they are looking for. We wanted to create a tool that enables users to be always up-to-date on anything that may influence their investment decisions. Furthermore, we wanted to provide users with a platform they can use to exchange views with other users and experts. And this is why we created Guidants.

Guidants was entirely funded by the founders.

4. What were the biggest challenges in starting?

The biggest challenge was to differentiate the features we wanted to provide on Guidants from the offering of existing portals such as our portal GodmodeTrader.

5. What areas within FinTech do you personally find most interesting and why?

Investment management and Big Data because our mission is to provide Guidants users with any piece of information they need for their investment decisions – always up-to-date and tailored to their individual needs.

6. What opportunities do you see for FinTech start-ups in the DACH region, and how can we help to accelerate it?

With the financial and technology sector being a highly dynamic industry, start-ups have the opportunity to incorporate new trends and offer brand-new business solutions. Since developments in the different markets often have an immediate effect on each other, start-ups should be able to network and exchange views on current and new developments. You could serve as a platform new and established business can use to discuss and support each other.

7. What tip would you like to give FinTech entrepreneurs in the region?

Keep an eye on current and future market trends and use the knowledge you gather from your observations to create a product that mirrors your customers’ Needs.