If you’ve spent any time at all researching new business ideas, you’re no doubt aware that technology businesses are highly lucrative prospects to consider. Have you ever wondered whether you could start your own financial technology (FinTech) business?
Of course it’s true that many of the well-known, lucrative FinTech companies are enterprise-level businesses. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that FinTech is entirely out of reach for the home-based entrepreneur. As it turns out, there are a few niches that could potentially be workable for home-based entrepreneurs — ones who have either broad skills or deep pockets — to tackle. Let’s take a look at several of them:
Start Your Own Cryptocurrency-Related Business
Blockchain technology has been one of the hottest recent trends in the financial sector, and there’s still room for newcomers to bring new innovations to this space. You could even start your own cryptocurrency — why not? There’s open source coding available at Github to get you started, and you could improve it with your own ideas.
Or perhaps you could create a new software or service that improves the way cryptocurrencies are invested and traded. One of crypto fans’ most frequent complaints is that Bitcoin and the other existing cryptocurrencies are not very user friendly when it comes to spending, trading and divesting. Business opportunities in this niche abound.
Create a New Investment App
There are lots of investment apps out there already, which proves that this is a viable market to be tapped. It should theoretically be possible to improve on any of the existing investment apps. If you’re already a user of these sorts of apps, it probably wouldn’t be a stretch for you to imagine ways to make a new app that improves on the shortcomings of the other currently available options.
Start a Peer-to-Peer Financial Services Platform
Peer-to-peer lending has been gaining traction because many of the larger financial institutions aren’t interested in making micro-loans to small businesses and individuals. Peer-to-peer financial platforms are helping to introduce borrowers and lenders for the mutual benefit of all. While this is already getting to be something of a crowded space, there’s definitely money to be made here. You could differentiate your platform from others by making it focused on a specific niche such as education loans, real estate loans, car loans or debt consolidation.
Obviously, there are many other FinTech business models beyond these that are ripe for exploration and exploitation by innovative entrepreneurs. You’re certainly not limited to using any of the specific ideas mentioned above. However, these seem like some of the likeliest niches that could potentially be open to home-based entrepreneurs.
Obtaining the Expertise You Need for Success in a New FinTech Business Venture
Perhaps you’re convinced that you want to start a new business in the FinTech sector, but you’re lacking confidence that you have the expertise, skills or connections you would need to make the new venture a success. If that’s your situation, you might want to consider making an investment in your own education. A master’s degree in financial technology could help you to fill in the gaps between what you already know and what you absolutely must know to succeed in this business niche.
