Finding Growth in Times of Retraction, and Stability in Times of Volatility. How OneBlinc did it.

Over the past few years, businesses have encountered a series of significant global challenges. From the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, to the Ukraine war in 2022, to unprecedented high inflation rates, companies have faced a rapidly shifting environment. In 2023, further complexities arose with geopolitical tensions involving Israel and the advent of AI as a disruptive technology. As markets adapted and shored up their defenses, funding for startups, particularly fintechs, dried up faster than a puddle in the Sahara Desert.

For OneBlinc these events had a profound impact. Traditional credit-risk models faced severe challenges, particularly with the inflation spike leading to increased credit losses and delinquency rates. With a leadership team with over 100 years in credit, we could clearly see this marked a definitive break in the lending industry model. The market would never be the same, and so we could not stay the same.

"It Is not the strongest of the species that survives but the most Adaptable." – Charles Darwin

We decided that sitting on the sidelines and waiting for interest rates to come back down was not an option this time, because the landscape would be vastly different when the dust settled. And when we took a hard look at the market, at our team, and all the insights we had gathered building a scrappy lending tech company serving tens of thousands, we had a sudden realization: We could actually grow our way out of this crisis!

One of our proudest achievements at OneBlinc has been fostering a culture of rapid adaptation and innovation. We have always encouraged experiments– failure, when trying out something audacious, is a coveted badge of honor. But we only allowed this as long as operational excellence in the core business was never compromised. This approach naturally led to the company's transformation into an 'ambidextrous organization,' a term referring to the dual focus on exploring new opportunities while optimizing existing operations.

Startups are usually discouraged from being ambidextrous, with most venture capitalists (understandably) insisting on focus, focus, focus. Therefore, while others would hide their side projects, it was a bit of a surprise to our investors when we decided to embrace our ambidexterity. We openly shared and celebrated our new vision and, against all odds, secured a substantial funding round at a time when unicorns could not raise a penny.

The ambidextrous approach is not simple, and not for everyone. You need a rock-solid foundation to keep your core business up and running, while building something brand new. More importantly, you need leaders who are audacious, and investors who are 100% committed – even in the face of the inevitable ups and downs of the journey, says Andre do Valle , OneBlinc’s Board Advisor.

What did our investors see?

In the previous two years we had come to two main realizations. The first was that all financial services were migrating to subscription-based business models. The second insight was that our largest competitors were still struggling with fully leveraging data and APIs in the open banking era. The team had been working on several projects in these veins that ended up being the growth pillars that convinced our investors that not only we would survive the credit downturn, but that we would come out on top of it.

The main project built on the first insight on subscription-based models, was our short-term Salary Advance product (BlincAdvance?), which effectively addressed customer needs in a high-inflation environment. We leveraged the heck of our API knowledge in building an ultra-streamlined onboarding and credit assessment processing in an app format, at breakneck speed. Additionally, since other credit-based startups were aggressively scaling marketing down we saw overall customer acquisition costs drop dramatically – and this we saw as a once-in-a-decade opportunity to grow. BlincAdvance? has significantly expanded our customer base, adding over 250,000 members in the last year alone. Also, it has consolidated our mission to help the underserved avoid predatory lending practices at a scale we had never imagined.?

While BlincAdvance? may have been seen as an easy pick – a natural evolution to our core product, the real surprise was the impact AI would have on our operations and the speed at which the team would adapt to it. Before we knew it, we had launched OneBlincPrime?, a premium offering that included Blinky, an AI assistant that helps members better allocate budgets and rebuild their credit scores. We delivered cutting edge technology that improved the lives of our community, at a low cost and in record time– a veritable home run!

Strangely, we did not see other players in our sector making similar product adaptations, and those who attempted fell short, which brought us to our second insight. Why not leverage our know-how with Data Integration to advise others? So we piloted a B2B solution for companies that intended to get better usage of alternative data, and after only a few exploratory calls, we were astounded with the excitement around the offering. Everyone we spoke to shared the pain point of sorting through and integrating all available fintech APIs, assuring robust connections, generating real customer insights, and ultimately delivering a delightful customer experience. In the blink of an eye, strategic clients lined up, and we now have a growing pipeline of clients.

I am particularly excited with the potential multiplier effect on impact of B2B. It's an accelerant to help an exponentially higher number of underserved families through our tech and data frameworks.”, said Fabio Torelli , OneBlinc's Co-Founder and CEO.

It is thrilling to see how OneBlinc has leveraged the opportunity to positively transform itself in an otherwise gloomy macro-economic scenario and I hope that your company has also taken this opportunity for reinvention. For companies who haven't, or worse– who have kept a single-product focus– it is likely that challenging times are ahead. Likewise, if a company just stayed quiet, and passive in light of all of these changes, then we wish you all of the luck in the world, because you will need it. The market will never go back to 'normal'- it will not happen. The new paradigm requires an ambidextrous approach.

Please take this post as a call to action: a friendly wake-up call. The future belongs to businesses that are willing to reinvent themselves; to those who see change not as a threat but as an invaluable opportunity. Let us not just adapt to the new normal; let us define it. Embrace this challenge and join the ranks of those who are not just surviving but thriving in this new, dynamic business era.

OneBlinc's journey through recent global upheavals is not just a story of survival, but one of transformative growth and innovation. Our experience underscores the power of a strong team, a solid corporate culture, and a high-tech framework in navigating tumultuous times. We have proven that with these elements, a business can not only withstand challenges but can also emerge stronger, more seasoned, and more capable of creating impactful solutions.

Read more about Ambidextrous Companies:

https://hbr.org/2004/04/the-ambidextrous-organization

https://sjbae.pbworks.com/f/march+1991.pdf