March 13, 2024
Samir Shergill, Co-founder & CEO, Highbeam
Is The Banking Revolution Coming To Your Company?
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The U.S. banking industry began in 1780, when the Bank of Pennsylvania was started to fund the American Revolutionary War. Banking is not what it used to be, when just a few decades ago you probably had a personal relationship with a banker who knew your business—and could even provide advice fundamental to running your business. Some say banking hasn’t changed much, and the main thing business banks provide is (hopefully) security, which is important—but today companies need more.
There are no shortages of companies trying to reboot this sector into the 21st Century. Part of the neobanking sector of fintech, companies like Nubank, SoFi, Chime, Revoult, and Highbeam provide integrated banking, capital and cash planning platforms, to help small businesses (SMB’s) operate with more agility and insights so they can make smarter decisions.
To discuss how he is rebooting old school banking, we invited Highbeam’s CEO, Samir Shergill, to The Reboot Chronicles Show. An ex-Microsoft engineer turned banking CEO, Samir is creating a bank that manages your money and assists your business endeavors.
Convincing Customers To Join The Revolution
When a new fintech company enters into the arena, they try to get people to use a credit card, or some other service they have, and then hope you’ll continue to return for their other products. Highbeam is looking to get “you to switch your operating bank account over to us.” Which is no small task, and Samir knows it, even stating “ it’s a pain to switch banks, it is. But people will switch if the product is differentiated.” This is made an even larger task when Highbeam is trying to compete with the legacy banks that have had years to gather trust among their clientele.
Unconventional Competition
The viewers that follow the fintech world at all may remember that Apple has tried to enter into the banking market before. Luckily, Samir does not think Apple, or other platforms like Walmart, Amazon or even Shopify to be a competitor. He notes that from a trust and relationship perspective, people do not want those companies to also be their banks. Since Highbeam is a bank that wants to be a financial partner, they are looking at companies like QuickBooks and Intuit as big competitors. Between the big legacy banks on one side, and financial assistants on the other, Highbeam is uniquely placed to compete with two huge pillars of the banking industry.
Rebooting Yourself
Like with all of our guests we often end episodes with a personal story from our guest regarding lessons they have learned during their careers. This is meant to be a little nugget of advice for the future generations of entrepreneurs. For Samir, his advice was “ruthlessly prioritize how you want to spend your time and energy.” There are a lot of activities that you can spend your time on, and being more diligent on how you spend that time, and making the most out of any activity you do will carry you a long way. A lot farther than spending an afternoon scrolling TikTok for sure.
