Scaling a business at speed can feel like an out of control roller-coaster. Taavet Hinrikus More Quotes by Taavet Hinrikus More Quotes From Taavet Hinrikus The two main benefits of being part of the EU are access to talent because of the free movement of labor and the fact that you can 'passport' regulation so if you're regulated in the UK, you're regulated across the EU, we don't know what's going to happen with either of those. Taavet Hinrikus company-news Nothing's changed yet but everything's changed. Taavet Hinrikus company-news Large incumbents become big and sometimes become lazy and set themselves up for failure in the future. Taavet Hinrikus future lazy failure sometimes A seed depends on a whole host of factors to grow - from the fertility of the soil to the right mix of rain and sun to not being eaten by a passing bird. The same goes for an idea. For an idea to really take hold, other factors come into play, from timing to the emerging technology that makes it possible. Taavet Hinrikus technology sun rain bird Being a 'global citizen' is not something reserved for the global elite anymore. Thanks to the democratising power of technology, it's not a trend determined by privilege or even age but by attitude. Taavet Hinrikus technology power age attitude People need the financial sector to be safe; people also need the financial sector to go through a massive phase of innovation. That means delivering on the positive rhetoric, like around settlement accounts, not allowing Open Banking to be diluted, and leading the way on AML. Taavet Hinrikus innovation positive people way The world is getting smaller thanks to technology. Taavet Hinrikus getting thanks technology world Most of my time at Skype was spent doing new things. Taavet Hinrikus new doing new-things time We're living in a world where international governance is failing to overcome borders, but technology is succeeding in removing them. Taavet Hinrikus overcome living technology world The financial crisis of 2008 created a seismic shift in the dynamics of trust in financial services. FinTech would have happened without the global financial crisis - but it would have taken much longer. Taavet Hinrikus without crisis trust financial There's always been a lot of interest in the tech community about how to foster innovation and creativity - both within a company but also in the ecosystem of a tech cluster. In both cases, creating opportunities for people who don't encounter each other normally to meet and talk is key. Taavet Hinrikus meet innovation community people When we talk about technology changing the world, we often hear about how it makes our lives easier, more connected, safer, or even healthier. They're all things we can easily identify with. The Internet makes our lives easier; services like Skype and WhatsApp allows us to be more connected - the examples are endless. Taavet Hinrikus talk internet technology world People bought bitcoin because they thought it would be worth more tomorrow. And a lot of people got lucky. But we're not seeing real people use bitcoin. And we don't know what problem it solves. Now, blockchain, I think, is a genius advancement in technology. Taavet Hinrikus technology genius tomorrow people As consumers in general, and with Millennials in particular, we're getting used to everything being cheaper, faster, better - and banks aren't keeping up. Taavet Hinrikus better everything being millennials No amount of PR works if you've got a bad product. Taavet Hinrikus product got bad you Securing and attracting the best talent is an obsession in the tech industry for good reason. It's your main asset; it's your edge. Taavet Hinrikus your best good talent Historically, people have flocked to Silicon Valley because of the belief that that's where the latest innovation is happening. It's a snowball effect. Taavet Hinrikus valley innovation belief people Talent is a complex subject: from the education our kids get in kindergarten and beyond to the re-skilling of some parts of the workforce; from the opportunities available for research to how we attract the best people to work in our companies. Taavet Hinrikus best education work people The attitude to failure is one of the characteristics that's often called out as the difference between the U.S. and Europe. And we do need to be less risk-averse, more embracing of failure. Having failed makes you look bad in Europe. But in the U.S., it makes you look experienced. Taavet Hinrikus look you failure attitude I was in my early 20s when Estonia joined the E.U. For a kid who'd grown up in the Soviet Union, it seemed like my country had come of age. For a country that had been isolated and cut off from the rest of the world, it seemed like we were becoming part of the global community. It opened a whole new world of possibility. Taavet Hinrikus rest community age world
