The fintech revolution is being led by an unexpected group—former bankers. Armed with firsthand knowledge of financial institutions’ inefficiencies and deep industry networks, ex-bankers are launching startups that challenge the status quo. But what gives them an edge, and where do they struggle?
To explore this, we spoke with Vasyl Soloshchuk, CEO of INSART, a fintech business accelerator that helps scale next-gen financial services companies. With 20 years of experience in software development and startup growth, Vasyl shares insights on why ex-bankers thrive in fintech, the key challenges they face, and how they can bridge the gap between finance and technology.
In this interview, Vasyl breaks down the strategies behind fintech success, the investor green flags that matter most, and how AI is reshaping the industry’s leadership.
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Why do ex-bankers thrive in fintech? Is it strategy, connections, or just knowing how the game is played?
Ex-bankers thrive in fintech because they don’t need to guess what’s broken. They’ve spent years dealing with real client pain points and regulatory mazes, watched banks move at a snail’s pace, and know exactly where to inject speed and efficiency. They also come preloaded with networks of high-net-worth individuals and decision-makers who can fund their ventures or become early adopters. Building fintech is about recognizing where the industry resists change and building a company that forces it.
A couple of real-world examples from our own experience illustrate this perfectly (names and companies withheld for confidentiality):
One of our decade-long partners spent years in senior institutional brokerage and investment advisory roles at several top financial institutions. He recognized that advisors desperately needed better technology to streamline their workflows. Leveraging his insider knowledge of compliance, product development, and client pain points, he built a platform that transformed how advisors operate day-to-day. We joined his journey in 2015 as a software engineering partner, helping deliver everything from custodian integrations and ETL solutions to improved web UX, portfolio management, and rebalancing tools. These innovations propelled his venture into a major player in the wealthtech space.
Another long-standing client of ours previously led consumer banking expansions at multiple well-known firms. He oversaw multi-billion-dollar deposit growth, launched new card programs, and brought corporate paycards to thousands of customers. Drawing on this deep bank-operations insight, he co-founded a next-generation compliance orchestration platform. By harnessing data integrations, AI, and RPA, his team helps banks and fintechs cut through red tape and manual processes. We’ve supported him by engineering solutions that ensure seamless data flows and user experiences, driving meaningful time and cost savings for financial institutions.
In both cases, these founders could see exactly where traditional banks stall, and they knew how to build tech solutions that bypass the usual bureaucracy.
How customer-facing finance pros turn insights into innovation?
They sit at the intersection of need and execution, and those who don’t just listen but act have become the best fintech founders. These people constantly field client frustrations—be it slow loan approvals, outdated wealth management tools, etc. Instead of waiting for their employer to fix things, they launch startups that solve specific pain points.
However, to transform insights into solutions, they should validate ideas fast, lean on their networks for initial traction, and constantly iterate based on user feedback. This may become complicated for first-time founders, but accelerators like INSART and other Fintech-oriented software development companies help them build the MVP, as well as support them going forward on each step of their journey.
Some say a banking background can hold founders back due to an old-school mindset. How are fintech founders breaking away from old-school banking mentalities to win over Gen Z?
I personally haven’t seen banking pros who wanted to build anything old-school and slow-moving. Successful fintech founders reinvent how financial services are experienced. Square’s team didn’t just build another banking app but made peer-to-peer payments feel like sending a text. Revolut gamified finance with real-time analytics and budgeting tools tailored for digital natives. Both of them were built by former bankers.
Many ex-bankers struggle with the tech side of fintech. What’s the best way for them to bridge the gap in product development and engineering?
The best fintech startups are built by teams. So, ex-bankers who recognize their tech blind spots bring in strong technical co-founders or fractional CTOs early. Knowing about this problem, we switched INSART’s focus to becoming a fintech-focused accelerator like YC or Techstars to help non-technical founders, especially from banking and finance institutions, deal with product development, build MVPs, and integrate with existing financial infrastructure. As of now, we’re proud to help 20+ fintech companies execute software development strategies, cutting over $30 million in engineering costs and pushing their collective valuation past $100 million.
What are the top green flags investors look for in fintech startups? Does a banking background make VCs more confident—or does it sometimes work against founders?
Green flags for fintech investors:
- Solving a real pain point and clear product-market fit.
- At least $200K ARR is the new baseline for early-stage investors.
- A well-rounded founding team where sales, product, and tech are covered.
- Compliance and regulatory awareness (banking background can be a plus here).
- B2B or B2B2C models tend to get funded more easily than pure B2C fintechs.
With AI reshaping financial services, will the next wave of fintech founders still come from banking, or will we see more tech professionals leading the charge?
We’re already seeing a shift. While finance professionals still dominate fintech, AI-driven startups are increasingly led by data scientists and engineers. Look at companies like Upstart, which uses AI to improve lending decisions. Its founders weren’t traditional bankers but rather tech entrepreneurs who used machine learning to fix outdated credit scoring models. The future of fintech will likely be a hybrid—ex-bankers partnering with AI experts to build products that are both financially sound and technically superior.
Not every fintech led by ex-bankers has been a hit. What’s the big takeaway from those that failed?
Execution beats assumptions every time. The faster you validate, the better your chances of survival.
One of the biggest mistakes is skipping real customer discovery. They assume that the few client needs they saw in the bank are universal, so they build solutions based on those limited insights. Too often, founders get stuck building instead of selling. But what works inside a bank doesn’t always translate to a viable startup product.
Then there’s fundraising. In the corporate world, budgets are allocated with a few internal approvals. In startups, every dollar is a battle. Many founders think they can secure funding with the same level of effort they used in their banking careers, only to find out that investors aren’t just handing out money—they need proof.
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