Oscar A Jofre of KoreConX
Today we talk to Oscar A Jofre from KoreConX.
KoreConX is an all in one business solution.
Our questions are in bold.
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Who are you and what’s your background?
I’m currently one of the top 100 global thought leaders in Equity Crowdfunding, and a Top 10 Fintech & Blockchain Influencer. I published an eBook that has been downloaded in over 20 countries, and been distributed by partners worldwide in English, Spanish and Mandarin.
I’m a featured speaker on Fintech, equity crowdfunding, compliance, shareholder management, and transparency in the USA, Australia, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Peru, Singapore, Indonesia and China. I speak on alternative finance, regtech, insurance, banking, legal, and crowdfunding. I also advise the world’s leading research, accounting, law firms and insurance companies on the impact fintech is having in their business.
I’m a member of the Crowdfunding Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA) in the USA, and a contributing author to The Fintech Book, the world’s first crowdsourced book on fintech globally. He writes for DailyFintech, Sharewise, Locavesting, Equities.com, Business.com, Crowdfund Insider, Crowdfund Beat, and Agoracom.
We ended up in Fintech because of a collective interest in making orgtech work for SMEs seeking funding.
What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?
I’m President, Co-founder and CEO of KoreConX. I lead the company’s overall strategic direction, and play a key role in connecting us to the alternative finance industry as a thought leader.
Can you give us an overview of your business?
KoreConX is a free all-in-one solution that helps companies navigate the process of raising equity capital, and simplifies shareholder communications to reduce risk. Our secure, integrated and efficient platform is a multi-tool for companies to properly organize, manage, and share corporate information. We help companies stay transparent with shareholders, reduce risk, and save time and money.
KoreConx was founded in 2013 by Oscar A. Jofre, serial entrepreneur, and Jason Futko, C.A, C.P.A. They saw a need for a capital market solution that could meet the needs of traditional capital markets, as well as equity crowdfunding, a trend just beginning to emerge at the time.
KORECONX FOR CAPITAL MARKETS
KoreConX supports the equity crowdfunding, capital markets, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) industries by connecting the eco-system. We provide the essential tools utilized pre-during-post capital raise transactions, by facilitating due diligence on issuers, providing a data repository, and enabling shareholder management and communications.
KoreConX helps companies (both private and public) organize their corporate and financial information for due diligence. Our platform allows companies to pre-screen principal players with background checks, corporate searches, etc. At the post transaction level, all of the closing documents and shareholder information is automatically uploaded into KoreConX. This provides regulated access to closing documents, share certificates/registers, and any information an issuer is required to share with its shareholders and stakeholders, all in a secure environment accessible online.
Tell us how you are funded.
We’re entirely self-funded to date.
Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?
As an entrepreneur I have a passion for solving the big problems. I’ve been starting companies for more than 25 years. Each venture has provided me with further insights. I’ve learned how entrepreneurs think, and how companies need to operate and structure themselves for success, and gained the domain expertise within tech innovation to match. I’ve been involved in compliance and governance for more than ten years, and a saw a need for tools that supply the infrastructure companies need to stay transparent without losing sight of their business goals.
In my own previous ventures I saw the need to actively and aggressively stay transparent with shareholders and stakeholders, and I felt that entrepreneurs needed to be empowered to do so in a way that would work for them.
In a world with ever increasing risks of regulatory penalties and sanctions:
Companies (driven by directors and officers) are concerned about effectively managing information so as to maintain good governance and compliance. Crowdfunding portals, broker/dealers, and other service providers are concerned about managing due diligence and transaction support.
Shareholder management and communications has become crucial for companies to provide transparency.
Broker/Dealers are looking for new and alternative methods to traditional, and somewhat fractured, financing models and are lacking the expertise to develop, market and implement crowdfunding solutions.
A lack of big data that consolidates the small to medium size corporate market as well as not-for profits also exists.
Who are your target customers? What’s your revenue model?
We’re targets SMEs based out of the US, China, UK, Singapore, Brazil, Germany, Ireland, Australia, and Canada that are raising money or may need to in the future that would like to ensure that they’re staying transparent with their stakeholders, and that their corporate information is being efficiently and effectively managed and maintained, reducing risk.
Our current services are available for free, however, we are introducing a suite of premium tools and services later this year. We also have revenue share arrangements with partners like CrowdCheck, Algovalue, and EarlyIQ, as well as a Certified Expert Program designed for companies and individuals that manage multiple minute books.
If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?
In the overall Fintech sector would be education. They key to adoption, investment and growth in the sector is for masses to be educated to truly understand Fintech and see the opportunities and the changes that need to be made for the greater good of their position in a company or for company to see that this will mean LIVE or DIE.
The challenge banks have internally that undermines innovation is the same problem any large institutions faces: their original culture was built around following directions, and not to innovate and disrupt. Now you’re asking that environment to look within itself, and to change how it does things on a monumental scale. Now, this is very important for any company: we need stability, so the workforce within the banks are not wrong, but what has happened is that within the these large institutions the culture has never changed.
The early Fintech disruptors have now show the banking sector what is possible and how they can implement these new ways of doing business.
What is your message for the larger players in the Finance industry?
What is very exciting to me and my colleagues is the disruption that is happening to the institutional pillars of business around the globe. We have never seen anything like this before: banking, capital markets, private markets, legal, insurance, regulations are all being changed for the better, and with a scale and scope I don’t think the industry comprehends even now.
The challenge banks have internally that undermines innovation is the same problem any large institutions faces: their original culture was built around following directions, and not to innovate and disrupt. Now you’re asking that environment to look within itself, and to change how it does things on a monumental scale. Now, this is very important for any company: we need stability, so the workforce within the banks are not wrong, but what has happened is that within the these large institutions the culture has never changed.
What phone are you carrying and why?
I’m an Apple addict. Everything Apple. Right now I’m carrying an iPhone 6 plus. I love the innovation in design and functionality, and just think they make great machines, but most important everything works together.
Where do you get your industry news from?
I read a very diverse set of online publications, but because I follow and am connected with most of the industry thought leaders in Fintech, I get much of my news from LinkedIn and Twitter.
Can you list 3 people you rate from the FinTech sector that we should be following on Twitter?
@SpirosMargaris
Can you suggest the name of an Angel Investor or VC that might be interested in being profiled?
Great Angel investor to profile from Germany, Jörg Diehl.
VC that is making a difference in Fintech is Canaan Partners.
What’s the best FinTech product or service you’ve seen recently?
WeChat, by far is going to and is already making a massive impact. Any person who uses twitter, facebook, instagram, skype, snapchat, googlePay, ApplePay, Google+ and I can name them all. WeChat is the all in one.
WeChat and KoreConX share the same vision, these are the tools people need give it to them in one seamless easy tool.
Finally, let’s talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?
We are finally asking the right questions in business, with all these great technologies why am I still working even harder at my computer?
WeChat is now entering North America and Europe and its business users will see the power of an all in one solution, rather than 20 plus applications on their mobiles.
In order to truly revolutionize the entire business environment too much time is wasted in adopting different tools and training, and integration etc..
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Thanks to Oscar for his answers today. You can find out more about KoreConX on their website, twitter, facebook and linkedin.
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