FX Cubic EGE KOZAN Co-Founder and CEO of FX Cubic
Q How did you begin in the financial markets? I was introduced to financial markets at a very early age, as this is what my family has been doing for a long time. I was slowly and naturally trained in both financial markets and how related technology works throughout my early school days, which shaped my future from very early on. Having this opportunity early on inspired a very keen interest in the subject for me. To such an extent that I used to code trading algorithms, albeit relatively simple ones, and back-test these strategies as a hobby in high school, which was both a fun and highly effective way to learn hands-on about financial markets and their characteristics. Q What tips can you give an entrepreneur in beginning a tech business? I believe that the most important thing to get right from the outset is having the right people on board. Having a great team around you will inevitably result in most other aspects of the business taking care of themselves to a certain degree. The synergy between team members and departments is also vital. You could be doing something that is not necessarily a unique business whereby competition is cut-throat. Still, if you simply provide that same service with more concise communication and superior support to your clients, it will make a difference and can still make your offering stand out. Of course, having a solid and reliable product is imperative too. Still, to a certain degree, that also can come from having good people all around, from core developers to the sales team and to support members. I would recommend dedicating time to form this core team before starting anything else and not rushing into anything without it. Once this is done, a lot of other things will come organically. Q Would you advise up and coming entrepreneurs to look for outside financing for an idea? I would say definitely. It is very hard to get any business off the ground effectively without financing these days. Even if you are not going to spend a lot on marketing, there are invariably many hidden costs
GAME CHANGERS Issue #33
that you cannot plan for initially. Outside financing also has benefits other than the financing itself. It can help with connections, both in terms of finding clients and also finding quality team members. So overall, I think it is a very positive thing as long as expectations are aligned, and each party is able to bring added value to the venture. Convincing investors is a job on its own, though. It is essential to understand your business and the market opportunity clearly so you can make a solid and realistic pitch to any potential investors. It is worth spending a good amount of time studying the correct ways to do this and finding the right kind of investors that are most suitable for the proposed business. It can take a lot of effort to do this, so one needs to be careful not to waste time and learn the correct ways first wherever possible. Q When was the FXCubic idea conceived and, by who? FXCubic idea was conceived about ten years ago, initially by my father. He has been involved in fintech together with his partner for a very long time. An FX bridging/aggregation tech opportunity presented itself initially from a client that was in need of such a service. Back then, there were many bridging products out there that were inherently unstable and had very limited functionality, especially with regards to risk management and advanced order routing capabilities. Having so much experience with financial technology, the team decided they could build a new product that would be much more comprehensive and add much greater value to said client, as opposed to using one of the existing tech vendors’ products. After delivering this proprietary technology suite in its first format to the client in question, the feedback we received was excellent, so we decided to offer this to some other close clients, which was also very well received. From here on, it was clear that we had something of real value and decided to invest more money, time, and focus on this in earnest. Thus, FXCubic was born! Q Do you see the future for FX brokerages, where they own their own technology? In my opinion, it is very tricky for an FX brokerage
