When attempting to flog their software to Deutsche Bank’s head of innovation, fintech founders may be encouraged to learn that, in a previous life, Elly Hardwick was a fintech CEO.
She knows how it feels to run a small business and to “see the bank account going down every day”. Yet her experience of running a startup does not mean she shies away from criticising the industry. “There’s an element of tough love that I want to bring to fintechs,” she says.