Name:

Steve Tigar.

Age:

36.

What is your business called?

Money Dashboard.

Where is it based?

Edinburgh.

What does it produce, what services does it offer?

An award-winning personal finance app, which helps people to stay on top of their finances.

To whom does it sell?

Our aim is to help people from every walk of life. That said, we find the app is most popular with people who are planning for a big “life event”, such as getting married, getting on the property ladder, or going on a well-deserved holiday! The app is free, but we offer suggestions for products and services like credit cards, home loan offers or insurance providers that can save our users money – and on occasion earn Money Dashboard a fee from the product provider.

We also provide insight and market research services to help companies better understand trends in consumer behaviour. We identify shifts in consumer preferences using anonymised spending information from Money Dashboard users.

We’ve reached the milestone of having one million accounts connected to Money Dashboard from 450,000 registered users.

What is its turnover?

Over £1m and growing.

How many employees?

We have 20 staff today and hope to grow to 70 in the next year.

We’re gearing up for a Series B round of financing next year. That will allow us to recruit a further 50 staff across all business functions.

When was it formed?

The first version of Money Dashboard launched just after the financial crash in 2009. I was fortunate enough to join the team early on, in 2014, just as we were re-launching our app, raising capital and figuring out our revenue model.

Why did you take the plunge?

Technology had disrupted pretty much every major industry, but financial services seemed to be stuck in the past with products and services that I thought were mind-numbingly dull. The market was ripe for disruption and I believed Money Dashboard could play a part in that transformation.

What were you doing before you took the plunge?

I ran another tech business, Lettingweb, which was the country’s leading rental property portal. Prior to that, I undertook an entrepreneurial scholarship in Boston, which was off the back of a career in creative advertising in the era of large-scale TV and broadcast media campaigns.

How did you raise the start-up funding?

In total, the business has raised around £10m since it launched. Our first investors were Par Equity, an Edinburgh-based angel syndicate. Most recently, we raised £1.4m in a crowdfunding campaign, which involved over 1,000 of our users investing in the business.

When I became chief executive officer in 2015, we immediately focused on developing the core product and user base that regularly used the app. Having made good progress on that front, we invited our users to become even more invested in our success by inviting them to take part in the crowdfund. We were overwhelmed by the support – reaching our target in a matter of weeks.

What was your biggest break?

Winning the British Bank Awards ‘Best Personal Finance App’ in 2017. The award was voted for by members of the public.

What was your worst moment?

Taking on the role of CEO during a period of restructuring, which involved scaling back across all areas of the business. It was a challenging way to start, but we managed to turn it around.

As is often the case in tech start-ups, the business faced a cashflow issue in mid-2015 after we had lost a couple of key revenue deals. In lieu of additional funding, the only way to keep the business afloat at the time was to cut costs.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

Seeing ideas come to fruition really quickly. The team work in a way that allow a brilliant idea to be turned around extremely quickly. Someone could have an idea one day about a new way of developing the business and we see it come to life the very next day.

It’s important that all employees have the freedom of execution – and a big part of that is hiring well, surrounding yourself with really smart people who have skills that you don’t have. It’s also really rewarding to see junior staff coming through the business.

What do you least enjoy?

It’s very difficult to “switch off”. You have to be fully committed when leading a start-up. It’s brilliant fun, but there is an element of always being on, focused on a single track, which is a blessing and a curse

What are your top priorities?

We are focussed on a single priority right now - to scale. We’re working hard on new innovative features that make the app even more appealing.

What could the Westminster and/or Scottish governments do that would help?

I think national and local governments already provide fantastic support. The Open Banking regulations (which mandate that banks must provide banking data to trusted third party apps when consumers ask them to) is a great example of that. I’m also delighted that, locally, Fintech Scotland has formed with an ambition to make Scotland a “Top 5” fintech hub globally. . It’s early days, but they are doing a great job of developing a vibrant fintech ecosystem.

What was the most valuable lesson that you learned?

On culture: people need autonomy, a sense of purpose and an ability to master something in order to thrive and do their best work.

On business strategy: Jim Collins’ “hedgehog” concept that the best businesses know the one big thing that will lead them to success. This is found at the intersection of: (1) What you are deeply passionate about; (2) What drives your economic engine and (3) What you can be the best in the world at.

How do you relax?

Spending time with my family, getting involved in my church, which is doing amazing work in Edinburgh, and the occasional round of golf.