Hello to the world - Ale

There is a new great blogger coming up!
Her name is Ale Solano

Running News Fintech - Feb 19th, 2018

Modeling Automation a paper on how automation is going to affect society.
Authors: Daron Acemoglu, Pascual Restrepo
This paper points out that modeling automation as factor-augmenting technological change has several unappealing implications. Instead, modeling it as the process of machines replacing tasks previously performed by labor is both descriptively realistic and leads to distinct and empirically plausible predictions. In contrast to factor-augmenting technological change, the substitution of machines for labor in additional tasks always reduces the labor share in national income and can reduce the equilibrium wage (for realistic parameter values). link

The Impact of Big Data on Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation
In academic and policy circles, there has been considerable interest in the impact of “big data” on firm performance. We examine the question of how the amount of data impacts the accuracy of Machine Learned models of weekly retail product forecasts using a proprietary data set obtained from Amazon.
We do find that the firm’s overall forecast performance, controlling for N and T effects across product lines, has improved over time, suggesting gradual improvements in forecasting from the introduction of new models and improved technology. link

Algorithmic Toolbox Coursera Course link

GV Summit - Mexico agenda Thursday and Friday link

LendIt Fintech Industry Awards Finalists across all categories link

French Startup Lydia Says It Wants To Take On PayPal
Lydia is now the mobile payment leader in France, where it began by offering new users free and instant transactions between friends. Now, it allows users to pay in store, online and more with their account. Customers can even use it to pay on Cdiscount, France’s second-largest eCommerce website behind Amazon.fr.
And for places that don’t accept Lydia, the company has launched a credit card connected to the user’s Lydia account. It allows customers to replenish their balance with their personal IBAN, activate or deactivate features in real time and more. There’s also the option to enable the card and add it to Apple Pay.
Lydia processes around 1 million transactions per month – €25 million in monthly volume. There are more than one million registered users, with more than 2,000 people signing each day.
The company recently launched in the U.K., Ireland, Spain and Portugal. There are plans to expand even further, with Germany and Austria the next targets. The company also plans to hire more staff; there are currently around 40 employees; the startup wants to increase to 60 employees by the end of this year, and 90 by the end of 2019. link More Lydia details: link

NepFin Finds White Space In Middle-Market Lending link

Google Clud Summit link

Instructors for Startup Investor School
We recently announced our new, free course for seed investors called Startup Investor School. The course will kick off in Mountain View on Monday, March 5 and run through Thursday, March 8. The four-day class will have two lectures per day from 10am until 12pm and will be live-streamed for online viewing. link; registration at: link

7 Companies From the YC Winter 2018 Batch - link

No original text - all verbatim

Elon Musk - from The Economist

verbatim from The Economist: link

Both companies beat the incumbents in their industries by combining a clear view of how technology was changing the scope of the possible with a fierce devotion to pushing that technology even further. That is familiar from other Silicon Valley success stories

A risk-taking boss does not mean a cavalier company. Ms Shotwell points to a dichotomy in attitudes to risk at SpaceX. It is in many ways a very unified operation. Most of the managers and engineers have desks in the manufacturing facility, in among production experts and line workers. People circulate easily, trying out new ideas and learning from colleagues who, in a more traditional structure, they might never meet. But the designers and engineers are encouraged to be mavericks, whereas the operations and manufacturing teams are most definitely not. A former senior executive says that Mr Musk takes the risks he thinks he has to, but does not run extra ones just to cut corners. Another insider describes him as “a risk taker for himself, but a risk mitigator for everyone around him”.

Chris Anderson, the curator of TED, a non-profit organisation that spreads ideas, says that Mr Musk is “uniquely good at system-design thinking”. He reduces thorny problems to what he sees as their essence—typically expressed in terms of physics—and then extends his analysis to technologies, business systems, human psychology and design in an attempt to solve the issue.

He then created a culture that emphasised experimentation, rapid learning and incremental improvements, along with a system of sticks and carrots that pushed people to squeeze out inefficiencies

The Economist | The impact investor

Los tres retos principales de la Ley FinTech - Perspectiva Deloitte

Se trata de la primera legislación que habrá en su tipo en América Latina. Su objetivo principal es regular a las empresas de tecnología financiera, que en los últimos tres años han presentado un índice exponencial de crecimiento en el país, con un nivel de transacciones que han superado incluso los 400 millones de pesos, según cifras del Banco de México.

link to the POV

Running News Fintech - Feb 8, 2018

Y Combinator Newsletter - Feb 5, 2018 link
The Apple Watch can detect diabetes with an 85% accuracy, Cardiogram study says link
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide link
The Definitive Guide To SEO In 2018 link
Zigglio Bridges Gap Between Offline, Online Marketing and Elevates Customer Engagement link
Are You Working on a Side Project or a Startup? link
Skin Cancer Detection Using Artificial Intelligence link
Deep Learning Summit and AI Assistant Summit Day 1: Highlights - ReWork link
Paying Down Credit Card Debt in Suboptimal Ways
Many consumers split their credit card payments across multiple cards in proportion to outstanding balances, ignoring interest rate differences and paying more than necessary link

Running News Fintech - Feb 2, 2018

Filmmakers at Sundance Explore New Narratives Using Artificial Intelligence link

Mexico Regulators ‘Looking Into’ eCommerce ‘Monopolies’ link

Amazon’s Plans To ‘Cash In’ On Mexican eComm Market link

In Mexico, shoppers can deposit between 100 pesos ($5.20) and 5,000 pesos per transaction at several convenience store chains throughout Mexico, including 7-Eleven, placing up to 10,000 pesos a day into Amazon accounts online.
The service is not offered at Oxxo convenience stores, which compete with 7-Eleven in Mexico and accept cash for MercadoLibre shoppers. Ramirez said Amazon aims to expand its network, but declined to comment on whether Oxxo would be included.

Challenger bank Fiinu to put people before profit link

The bank has developed an automated lending robot, Fiinuscore, which, combined with PSD2 and Open Banking will be able to provide “small overdrafts to millions of people within the payday loan price cap”.
The technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics and blockchain, will enable Fiinu to operate a high-volume, low-margins lending model and “be more efficient and cost-effective than any other traditional bank in the world today”.
Fiinu describes its monetisation strategy as the “Walmart of Banking”. It will lend its fixed long-term depositors’ savings on a very short-term basis to consumers. In terms of its target market, it believes it will be “particularly appealing” to millennials and young adults, and consumers with lower credit scores. Fiinu will also target the wealthier segment with its savings accounts and cryptocurrency offerings.
The bank will be launching a Seedrs funding round in February this year and is aiming for the early 2019 launch. It says it is already more than halfway through the Bank of England authorisation process.
In terms of technology, it will be a combination of in-house development and purchased software.

All quotes - no original text

First 90 Days - Book learning promise

The book promises the reader to learn how to:

• generally and quickly diagnose the situation in the new role and organization
• gain clarity about the challenges and opportunities
• asses personal and situational strengths and weaknesses
• identify greatest personal vulnerabilities
• quickly establish priorities
• manage key relationships
• leverage yourself by building teams, creating coalitions, recruiting supportive network of advisors and councelors