David Durand, Advisor, Innovation and Advocacy
September 9th, 2020
David Durand, LL.L., B.Sc. chem., – Founder and Managing Partner of Durand Lawyers – Lawyer (Québec)[...]
Category Archives: Fintech Services
We’re the first neo-bank to break-even, says Starling Bank
AltFi | Daniel Lanyon | Nov 20, 2020
A boom in business banking has helped boost Starling Bank’s coffers.
Strong momentum in new customer accounts and increasing revenues have prompted digital bank Starling to break even, according to a trading update for the three months to 31 October.
Starling Bank, which was launched by Anne Boden five years ago, is the first ‘neo-bank’ to reach this milestone, the company said.
In October Starling hit 1.42 million retail accounts compared to 827k, an increase of 71.7 per cent. Over the same period business accounts were the standout growth area with an increase of 245 per cent, from 74,000 to 256,000. Business accounts saw a 500 per cent increase in total deposits with the average amount held by SMEs also going up.
Starling now has total customer deposits of c.£4bn.
This has all helped Starling generate a positive operating profit of £0.8m for the month of October 2020, which represents £10.1m on an annualised basis.
See:
Neobanks Can’t Fight the COVID-19 “Flight to Quality”
Investment Crowdfunding Advocates Join to Launch New Fintech Startup GUARDD in Move to Boost Secondary Markets for Exempt Securities
In total Starling generated total operating income of £9m for the month of October 2020. This, it adds, translates to an annualised revenue run rate of c.£108m. This figure is split £5.5m of net interest income and £3.5m of gross fees and commissions income.
The figure represents a 400 per cent increase in revenue compared to 12 months ago and a c.30 per cent increase from Starling’s last trading update three months ago.
“Interest income continues to be supported by strong growth in lending volumes, particularly the extension of government-backed lending schemes,” Starling said.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS!   |
Investment Crowdfunding Advocates Join to Launch New Fintech Startup GUARDD in Move to Boost Secondary Markets for Exempt Securities
Crowdfund Insider | | Nov 24, 2020
The exempt securities marketplace can be arcane and challenging to manage for entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital. The advent of online capital formation has helped to democratize access to capital as well as streamline securities offerings but hurdles do remain. A new startup co-founded by several prominent names in the investment crowdfunding industry seeks to facilitate secondary transactions for private securities.
Sherwood “Woodie” Neiss, co-founder of Crowdfund Capital Advisors, Doug Ellenoff, Managing Partner of Manhattan law firm of Ellenoff, Grossman, and Schole, and Jim Dowd, founder and CEO of North Capital Private Securities, have joined to launch GUARDD: A Fintech designed to support secondary market trading for private company securities, including digital assets/tokens to facilitate compliance with both federal transparency requirements and state blue sky laws.
According to a note from the company, GUARDD enables the necessary disclosure and dissemination of private company information for investors, regulators, and market participants. This allows issuers to comply with federal and state financial disclosure requirements related to the trading of private company securities in secondary markets, thus addressing a challenge regarding exempt securities that tend to be illiquid. Overall, more liquidity can help price discovery while boosting interest in private securities.
Following the announcement that the platform is now live, Crowdfund Insider contacted Neiss with questions regarding the platform’s operations and his expectations for GUARDD. Our discussion is shared below.
You have been in the securities crowdfunding space for a long time so you understand the sector well. How did the concept for GUARDD emerge?
Woodie Neiss: When the final rules came out for Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) we knew that these securities could be available for secondary transfer after the one-year holding period was up. We also knew for Regulation A+ offerings those securities could be transferred immediately. However, nothing in the rules addressed the obstacles issuers would have to face to be in compliance with state laws that govern the secondary transfer of securities nor pre-empted state laws.
See: SEC Votes to Approve Changes to Regulation Crowdfunding Increasing the Maximum Raise to $5 Million
At that point, a seed was planted but it didn’t sprout until the industry had a chance to evolve and Online Investment Platforms, as well as Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs), started to express interest in facilitating the secondary transfer of securities.
At this point, we knew that it would be incredibly difficult and costly for issuers to tackle the 50 different state laws that govern the secondary transfer of securities. But we also knew the Manual Exemption could be a pathway. It would require getting issuers to provide ongoing disclosures in a National Securities Manual. Such a pathway for private companies didn’t exist. It was then that we decided to embark on developing a Technology solution to enable this.
Effectively, you are making private securities compliant under Blue Sky rules for secondary transactions. How do you accomplish this?
Woodie Neiss: There are very few exemptions under which issuers do not have to register their offerings or resales under state laws. These include non-solicitation and private isolated offers and sales to accredited investors. The only way one can have broad exemption is to publish ongoing company and financial information in what is known as a National Securities Manual. We spent almost 3 years building the technology and solution and socializing it with NASAA and the state regulators.
See: Bid – Ask: Seedrs Secondary Market Now Allows Variable Pricing for Listed Securities
GUARDD standardizes private company reporting much like a 10k or a 10q does for a public company. We work with issuers that have performed an audit so that a CPA has verified the integrity of information disclosed. We then take their GUARDD report and audit, run it through our blue sky compliance team, and publish it in a National Securities Manual.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
Top 5 legal considerations every tech entrepreneur should know
Gowling WLG | Tara Amiri-Khaledi | Nov 24, 2020
As an entrepreneur trying to get your business off the ground, there are many factors to think about and the legal "stuff" may easily be forgotten. In this article, we touch on the top 5 considerations entrepreneurs need to think about when starting out.
Term Sheets
Once you have structured your business, you will have your idea tested (hopefully) and you will need capital. One typical way is to look for parties that will invest in start-ups such as angel or venture capital investors ("VC"). At this point, you will hear the term "Term Sheet" a lot.
See:
Debt vs. Equity Financing: Pros And Cons For Entrepreneurs
7 Types of Investors to Avoid Like The Plague When Trying To Raise Capital For Your Startup
Convertible Debt vs. Equity: Which Is Right for Your Startup?
At its simplest form a term sheet is a summary big picture document of key terms agreed upon between the entrepreneur and the VC in contemplation of a financing and will cover, at a minimum, "economics issues" (valuation of the company, i.e. how much money for what percentage of the company) and "control issues" (who will run the company). The term sheet is an important document, as it signals that the VC is serious about an investment and will serve as a roadmap for the relationship between the parties.
Provisions included in a term sheet are typically non-binding and at least subject to due diligence, other than confidentiality and exclusivity provisions which require the parties to keep the information disclosed VC between them confidential and only negotiate with each other for a specified agreed upon period of time (typically 30-60 days), which are usually binding on the parties.
Shareholders Agreements
Following the execution of a non-binding term sheet, the VC will typically work with the entrepreneur to complete its due diligence and prepare definitive legal documents, which typically includes a shareholders agreement.
See: Why Partnerships Are the Future for Fintech
A shareholders agreement is a contract between all of the shareholders of a company and the company itself. It attempts to: (i) structure the relationship between the shareholders of a company, (ii) create certainty and set the expectations between the parties, and (iii) anticipate and address many of the potential future disputes. A shareholders agreement can also be an effective way to set out the details of how a business will be run. It is important to think about the business and the shareholders and their specific needs when drafting this document and anticipate what is needed in each case. This document, while containing certain typical provisions, can be tailored to the specific needs of each group (i.e. there is no "simple standard shareholders agreement).
Rights that VC or major investors look for when investing in a business
So what are these rights that are negotiated in a term sheet and then ironed out in a shareholders agreement?
Other than terms relating to economics (valuation of the company) and control (who will make decisions and run the company), the following are some of the rights VC and major investors look for when investing in a new company:
Liquidation preference - preference in getting paid out first in the event of liquidation of the company;
Participation rights - right to participate in future financings to maintain percentage ownership;
Veto rights - right to prohibit certain material or significant changes for the company;
Anti-dilution rights - protection against the company issuing shares at a valuation lower than the valuation represented by the VC investment;
Vesting - a VC will want to make sure that the founders are motivated to stay and grow the company, as a result, they will likely request that shares owned by the founders become subject to vesting based on continued employment (and then become "earned") over a period of time. Typical vesting for founders is monthly vesting over a 36 to 48-month period, with the first 12 months of vesting delayed until 12 months of service are completed. A form of vesting that is usually acceptable to VCs is the so-called "double trigger" acceleration vesting, where vesting accelerates and shares are considered "earned" if the company is acquired and if the buyer terminates the founder's employment without cause after such acquisition;
See:
Top Investors Advice To Prepare For The Next Decade
Retail investors are becoming more than shareholders
Drag along and tag along - a drag-along provision is a clause that allows majority shareholders to force the minority shareholders to join in on a sale of their shares. This prevents small shareholders from creating a roadblock to an acquisition by objecting or exercising appraisal or dissenters rights under applicable law. Tag-along rights on the other hand allow minority shareholders to sell their stakes in a company if a majority shareholder wishes to sell its stake in a company. Tag-along rights are usually good for minority shareholders because they allow the shareholders to capitalize on a deal that another shareholder is able to strike. These clauses (tag-along and drag-along) balance each other out and are typically either both included or left out of a shareholders agreement; and
Information rights - right to obtain certain information such as financial information.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
Global Fintech Ecosystem Report Launch | Top 20 Ranking
Startup Genome | Nov 24, 2020
The Global Fintech Ecosystem Report 2020 by Startup Genome is launching today at FinTech Abu Dhabi, a conference focused on the latest launches, pioneers, brands, and insights that are powering the world of financial technology.
The Global Fintech Ecosystem Report is an extension of Startup Genome’s Global Startup Ecosystem Report and the first installment of the annual sub-sector report series. The Report ranks the global top 20 and runner-up Fintech startup ecosystems on five Success Factors, including Performance, Talent, Funding, Focus and Legacy.
The top five Fintech startup ecosystems globally in 2020 are Silicon Valley, New York City, London, Singapore and Beijing, respectively.
See:
Using ecosystems to reach higher: An interview with the co-CEO of Ping An
View Canadian Fintech markets on FintechCanada.io
Highlights:
- The top 5 global Fintech ecosystems are Silicon Valley, New York City, London,Singapore and Beijing.
- Europe and North America no longer dominate the Top 20 Fintech ecosystems with the Asia-Pacific region contributing as many globally leading hubs as North America.
- Overall, the growth in Fintech funding is slowing down globally. Early-stage funding (pre-seed, seed and Series A) has plateaued almost everywhere. China in particular has seen a drop. The notable exceptions are Europe, and Americas (excluding USA), both of which have seen an increase.
- Series B+ funding is doing better, with China being the only region down in 2019,but this is due to a whopper year in 2018, led by a $14B funding round for Ant Financial.
- The increasing share of series B+ rounds in total funding for fintech indicates industry consolidation with more money being poured into winners. This is ultimately necessary as Fintech commercials require large volumes for profitability.
- European Fintech funding continues its steady climb at all stages and with consistent unicorn growth, not the least reflective of rapid growth in user adoption since pandemic.
- Digital-only banking clearly is on the rise; including by adding new services such as wealth management as well as broader service bundles.
- Artificial Intelligence: A natural complement to Fintech, helping the industry develop hyper personalized solutions.
- From competition to collaboration - incumbents and startup challengers increasingly realize benefit in collaborating, resulting in a much larger number of partnerships between incumbent FIs and Fintechs as well as between non-financial players and Fintechs.
Download the Global Fintech Ecosystem Report --> now
Checkout Toronto-Waterloo (Ranked #18) --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
Keynote speech OSC Dialogue Conference
Norton Rose Fulbright | Walied Soliman | Nov 23, 2020
The following is an abridged version of a keynote speech given by Walied Soliman, Canadian Chair of Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP and Chair of the Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce, at the OSC Dialogue Conference on November 4, 2020.
Whenever I speak about the capital markets, I like to reflect on the incredible privilege we have of being practitioners and stakeholders in this area. In just over 100 years, Ontario has developed what is widely regarded as one of the most sophisticated capital markets regulatory frameworks in the world. Ontario was five years ahead of the federal government in the United States in regulating the capital markets in an organized manner.
We were ahead. We cannot fall behind.
It was with this backdrop that Premier Doug Ford and Minister Rod Phillips had the vision to form the Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce, reporting to the Minister of Finance, to conduct a broad review of the state of our capital markets in Ontario and determine what we can do to modernize the regulatory framework and ensure that we continue to be global leaders.
See: Big Changes In Financial Regulation: Dialogue With The OSC 2020
That vision was focused on ensuring that we are a safe and secure capital market for people saving for their retirement and equally a market that efficiently marries capital with opportunity. This latter objective is critical: it is how we create new head offices in Ontario, how we ensure that our capital markets contribute to wealth creation and, most importantly, how we create new jobs in this province.
Select parts of speech
- An alarming and recurring theme in the comments we received was the belief that there has been a decline of new issuers, new initial public offerings and new reverse take-overs in Ontario.
- We heard from numerous stakeholders that in order to incubate the next Canadian issuer success story, we need to increase the number of independent intermediaries whose focus is on marrying capital with junior opportunities. We heard that the number of active independent dealers has fallen – largely, in the view of many stakeholders, due to a business model where independent dealers were losing out to bank-owned dealers with commercial lending capabilities.
- We heard from retail investor advocates on the importance of ensuring that wealth management distribution channels allow easy access to competitive and independent wealth management products. It is clear that the OSC’s Client Focused Reforms are going to have a significant impact on the contents of the retail shelf.
- We have also recommended enhanced powers for the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments.
- Every Taskforce member is in favour of a national regulator. Clearly, this must be the goal. Our national reality poses challenges to achieving that goal. Our federation is complex both geographically and culturally, with varying capital markets objectives across the country. The political will needed to accomplish the goal of a national regulator does not currently exist.
- [Before] whether setting up a dealer or a registrant, there was a clear path in the market for a business plan to succeed. Today, there are structural barriers to the business plans of new entrants. When combined with high entry costs, these structural barriers have a significant impact.
See: OSC unveils charter for office to promote innovation and reduce regulatory burden
What comes next?
We continue to actively engage with stakeholders and are working diligently with the Ministry of Finance and the OSC on developing our final recommendations. We anticipate delivering to the Minister a final report sometime in December. From there, the Minister of Finance and the government will review our final report and work to advance the recommendations that they choose to accept as government policy.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
Google Pay’s massive relaunch makes it an all-encompassing money app
The Verge | | Nov 18, 2020
It (Google Pay) will include tap-to-pay, peer-to-peer, personal finance aggregation, customizable deals, and even full banking services
Today, Google Pay for both Android and iOS is relaunching with a giant array of new features. It turns the app from something that most people think of as a tap-to-pay card repository or peer-to-peer payment system into a much more ambitious service. The new app begins rolling out across the United States today.
The new version of the app will have three new tabs:
“Pay,” which includes peer-to-peer payments as well as your transaction history using tap-to-pay; “Explore,” which will be a place where Google will offer deals and discounts; and finally, “Insights,” which will allow you to connect your bank accounts to get a searchable overview of your finances.
You will even be given the option to allow Google Pay to crawl your Gmail inbox and your Google Photos account to look for receipts. Google will use OCR technology to auto-scan them and integrate them into your finance tracking.
In 2021, Google will partner with some banks to directly offer fully online checking and savings accounts inside Google Pay — a service Google is calling “Plex.”
Not all of these services are strictly new for Google, but this will mark the first time they’re unified into a single app. In doing so, Google Pay is now arguably a direct competitor to a wide array of other apps and services, including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Square Cash, Intuit’s Mint, Simplifi, Truebill, Shop, and also online banks like Ally. That is a lot of companies that will have to contend with Google making a high-profile push into their market.
See: Google and Gates Foundation to help spread digital payments in developing countries
All of the advanced features are opt in, so if you prefer to simply use it as it currently exists today (as a tap-to-pay app on Android or peer-to-peer payments on the iPhone), you should be able to do that. Even so, this is a huge expansion of capabilities and data collection in a Google app that is likely to raise privacy concerns.
Google tells me that it has a policy to not sell or share data to third parties and that it will not “share your transaction history with the rest of Google for targeting ads.” It will also have a first-use experience that will present a series of privacy prompts and settings options. Unlike Apple Pay, Google’s servers will have access to your data so it can be analyzed and made searchable for you in the app — though the company assures that it’ll be strongly encrypted.
A stranger — and perhaps telling — privacy option is that those who want to get personalized deals will have the option to agree to a three-month “trial” of allowing Google to analyze their transaction history to customize their offers. After the three months, they’ll be prompted if they want to keep using that part of the service.
Let’s dig into what we know about each aspect of the service.
Insights
The rightmost tab in Google Pay is the place where the app will provide a lightweight version of apps like Mint and Simplifi that presents much of your financial information in one place. Google’s take on it is called “Insights,” and as you might expect, it heavily integrates both search and Google’s ability to process data with its algorithms.
See: Fintech Fridays EP46: Making Business Borderless: International Payments and Partnerships
After you connect your banking and credit accounts, Insights will begin to show you reports of your spending and saving as well as upcoming bills. It does this by scanning through your transactions rather than needing you to manually enter or categorize things. It works with standard checking, savings, debit, and credit cards.
Plex
In 2021, Google will launch a new banking service called Plex. It will let you handle basic checking and savings in the app, engaging directly with an online bank. This isn’t Google directly offering banking services, to be clear. Instead, Google will essentially let some banks use Google Pay as their banking app.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
5 Techniques to Unite Remote Content Writing Teams
Guest Post | Amanda Dudley | Nov 17, 2020
Nowadays, the way we work is being redefined. The days when companies had a physical space where employees showed up every day are giving way to modern approaches to work. Since COVID-19 came into the picture, many professionals now work from home.
Globally distributed teams are becoming the order of the day. Whether it is in the essay writing service industry or the design world, remote work is now the way to go. The fact that many content creation companies are adopting remote working conditions shows that there are several benefits to this approach.
But every good change comes with a few worries. One of the most prominent issues in this regard has to do with getting a team of individuals that have never met one another to work cohesively. The good news is that this article shares a few tricks to help content managers and team leaders better manage a remote team of content writers.
Content managers are advised to try out the techniques discussed in this article and use the ones that work for them.
Should Employers Consider a Remote Team of Content Writers?
Before discussing how to keep a remote writing team cohesive, employers should know if a remote writing team is ideal for their agency. There are a lot of gains in having a remote team of writers since if they go remote, there will be endless prospects to choose from as they will not be hindered by distance and geographical barriers.
If a company is based in the US, it can have the best writers from Europe, Africa, and elsewhere on its payroll. Having remote teams is also cheaper. Business owners operating a remote model do not have to rent a large office space, desks, setup lounges, etc.
If skeptical, business owners can start small. They can hire one remote content writer and monitor their progress. If impressed, they may slowly expand until they have entire teams based around the world. Afterward, the team will have to stay united to deliver content on a regular basis. Some basic techniques will help you, so let’s get started.
Management Techniques for Uniting Remote Writing Teams
Clearly defining content goals
If employers and managers do not spell out the objectives they want to achieve to their remote writers, there is going to be a clash of interest somewhere. Writers will implement inconsistent writing styles. If a company has defined writing tones, target audience, or corporate message, the teams should know about it.
A good way to do this is to create a board or channel on the team’s preferred communication platform and post the content goals. Regularly informing the team of any updates to these goals is highly recommended.
Keeping communication pathways open
When the goals are defined, communication is the key to keeping the team informed. To manage out writers, a team leader needs to keep communication lines open. These writers need to be able to communicate with the people they report to and to each other.
The reason why this is working is because communication ensures that everyone understands what is required of them at every given time. It also helps managers detect budding friendships between writers and encourage them. A team with ties deeper than work provides will be more united than a team without these ties.
Giving everyone a sense of inclusion
Employees tend to be better team players when they feel as if they are part of a bigger picture. If they feel included and accepted by their teammates and managers, they will seek to pay it back in the quality of their work. Inclusion makes workers feel relaxed and important.
A good way to foster inclusivity in remote teams is to create regular team rituals. Setting up weekly discussions on leisurely topics or virtual hangout sessions can improve a team’s spirit. The team should be allowed to choose what they prefer.
Planning virtual competitions
A great way to boost interpersonal relationships in a remote team is to organize healthy virtual contests that give everyone a chance to compete. It is a great way to ensure shy team members step out of their cocoons.
Host games like The 30-second game, Charades, or any other mentally stimulating competitions and have everyone participate. It will break the ice between team members. Avoid competitions that make the writers compete based on their writing skills.
Assigning team members to be peer coaches to one another
When team morale is getting low, attentive content managers will know about it. They do not need to be in the same room to detect this. It will be evident in the productivity levels and communication patterns of the writers.
Assigning team members to one another to work as buddies and peer coaches will help reverse this. In this way, they are actively involved in rebuilding team spirit, instead of leaving it for management to handle. Another upside is that it helps writers bond while improving morale and team involvement.
See: Fintech Startups Broke Apart Financial Services. Now The Sector Is Rebundling
Hiring remote content writers is great, but it is not all rosy. As tough as it is to keep in-house writers working together without having fallouts, keeping remote writers united is more tasking. However, this must be taken care of if the writing agency hopes to continue delivering great content to its audience.
For content managers, these techniques may seem like a gateway to an entirely new role. After all, keeping writers united even with the distance barrier is part of human resource management. But with the tips outlined, team leaders can better guide remote content writers on the path to working as one for the good of the company.
About the author:
Amanda Dudley is a lecturer with a Ph.D. in History and a writer. She has always loved helping students with their essay writing projects. Her expertise goes past essays as she is grounded in most forms of academic writing. She knows the current educational techniques and is a part-time essay writer at EssayUSA where she creates masterpieces for customers.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
