Susanne Krehl does not fit the cliché of the fintech founder. She did not attend a private business school, but has a degree in linguistics. Nevertheless, she has had a remarkable career in ten years in the industry. She was the first employee of Viafintech (formerly Barzahlen), a company that made one of the biggest German start-up exits last year. She has since founded her own company and now wants to be one of the first start-ups to break into the mass market.

Ms. Krehl, what have you done recently?

A carpet. I'm currently renovating my living room, so I've now found a suitable bargain in the Black Friday sale. But I'm generally not a consumerist. That's probably due to my personal background, I come from an East German family where saving was always important.

This must make you an exception in the financial world in which you have been working for many years, right?

There is definitely room for improvement in the fintech world. This is perhaps also the reason why so few products have been built for the mass market so far, but rather for digital-savvy high earners.

So why did you switch to the fintech sector after studying linguistics?

The start-up I started at - Viafintech - had a different approach. It was about giving people access to online retail and installment payments, for example, who didn't have it before. I knew the founders personally, we liked each other and I appreciated the product. So I agreed to support them in setting up corporate communications.

But it didn't stop there

Right from the start, I did much more than just communication. That's why the founders trusted me with internationalization, for example. And of course I also found it exciting. I then took Viafintech to Austria and Switzerland. The latter was particularly exciting. In Switzerland, we had to comply with completely new regulations and also needed a new partner bank. It was almost a complete start-up.

But didn't it motivate you to keep doing it?

Viafintech motivated me for 8 years, including to start something myself. After the end of the Switzerland project, I went on a trip around the world - luckily just before the coronavirus pandemic broke out - and had time to think about what idea I wanted to implement. I wanted it to be one that would help the population as a whole, not just a small niche.

And your start-up Fabit has achieved this?

I think so. Fabit is a kind of Weight Watchers, only for personal finances. There are an incredible number of people who have problems managing their money. Our handling of money is shaped by habits, by things we learn from our parents.

And why is that bad?

That's not a bad thing across the board, but you have to be clear: Parents often had completely different circumstances. They had savings accounts with seven percent interest. At least in my adult life, that was completely illusory. So my parents' experiences don't help me here. That would actually be a task for the schools, but the necessary financial education offensive won't come any time soon.

Changing habits is not easy either.

That's right, which is why we at Fabit also rely on findings from behavioral research and a kind of coaching approach. I developed this idea with my co-founders Robert Heim and Ralf-Michael Schmidt. When I came back from my trip around the world, I actually intended to set up Fabit as a purely financial product. The coaching approach only came about through the exchange.

Does this approach also go down well with investors? As you said, FinTechs are often aimed more at high earners and digital aficionados.

It is very well received. And that should come as no surprise. After all, we appeal to a much larger potential user group. So anyone who invests in us is not doing so out of pure altruism. I believe that FinTechs, which are aimed more at the masses, are on the rise. This will finally take the market out of its niche.

Why is this wave coming now?

One of the main reasons is the increasing diversity. This is due to the fact that current founders are no longer just business school graduates and former management consultants. Instead, many have previously gained experience in start-ups themselves. This professional experience also enables people with a different background to build networks. We at Fabit have also benefited from this; our first business angels included acquaintances from my Viafintech days.

So prospective founders should first work in a start-up?

It can't do any harm. It is rightly said that you should build up a network if you don't need it yet. Especially in the coronavirus era, when we were also founded, it was difficult to find investors without a network. There were no events where you could get in touch with them.

I look at things more relaxed today than I probably would have if I hadn't worked at Viafintech before. I know first-hand that not everything always works straight away in a start-up.

Have you copied things?

Definitely, especially when it comes to management style. I've seen for myself how helpful it is when bosses give their employees freedom. So I try to do that too.

Are you staying in the start-up sector permanently?

I am very committed for the time being and want to drive this project forward in the coming years. We also have really exciting projects in the pipeline. And then we'll see. If someone had told me 20 years ago that I would be here today doing this work, I wouldn't have believed it back then. Probably not even five years ago. So I've become cautious about making predictions.

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Personal details: Susanne Krehl is Founder and Managing Director of Fabit. She previously worked for Viafintech for over seven years, most recently as Managing Director for Germany & Austria. She studied Linguistics and Communication in Siegen and European Studies in Frankfurt an der Oder.

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Thank you very much for the interview.

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