Disrupting Tomorrow with Spiros Margaris: An Exclusive Glimpse into the Future of Fintech

05.06.2023
Interview of Spiros Margaris by MachineLab Ventures

Embrace challenge. Commit to passion. Believe in your winning proposition. And most of all? Focus.

This is the invaluable counsel of Spiros Margaris, a man who is the embodiment of the message he has for the world. The child of Greek immigrants to Switzerland who became a leading global influencer in fintech, blockchain, and AI, Spiros’s journey is both an extraordinary personal narrative and a reflection of our rapidly changing times where the possibilities are endless if you simply have the focus and passion to make it happen.

This is a story of navigating the complexities of the digital age, a story of shaping the future through the lens of the present—a story of Spiros Margaris.

In the high-stakes world of tech ventures, Spiros has crafted his own royal flush, scoring the Triple Crown of tech influence: he is the first international influencer to rank first in fintech, blockchain, and AI by Onalytica. And this Triple Crown is backed by Spiros’s standing in the world of fintech. His insights are sought after at international conferences: his unique standing in the industry is exemplified by his 2019 keynote speech at Europe's largest IBM event—the first by a non-IBM speaker. His Twitter stage, graced by an audience of roughly 130,000 followers, echoes his insights and visions and allows him to shape conversations around technology and innovation.

But such recognition hardly scrapes the surface of his accolades. A maestro providing order to the beautiful cacophony of the startup world, Spiros has conducted symphonies of success with ventures like end-to-end insurtech platform Wefox and Saudi Arabia’s STC Pay. Both startups flourished into unicorns—evidence of his inimitable ability to identify and nurture potential.

Whether it’s launching the first-ever active fintech value investment solution with CAT Financial Products, the Margaris No. 1 Artificial Intelligence AMC, or his work as venture partner at SparkLabs Group, Spiros’s oeuvre speaks for itself—it is clear he is shaping the future of the fintech universe. “I didn’t plan to become a futurist,” he says, “but I suppose that through time and my generous audience and followers who share and like my content, I became a thought leader.”

Raised in Switzerland, Spiros completed most of his education in the country known for its precision and order. But it was his MBA journey to Canada and a significant stint in the entrepreneurial crucible of New York City that profoundly influenced his thinking. Imbued with a relentless drive for enterprise, Spiros established multiple startups and secured professional roles from hedge fund manager to, now, founder of Margaris Ventures. 

His trajectory, however, has not been linear. "I am who I am because I’ve had so many different professional experiences, interests (from photography to art), failures, and successes," Spiros notes. This tapestry of experiences not only shaped him but also cultivated an uncanny ability to anticipate and shape the future, earning him the title of a futurist.

For Spiros, his formative years in the dynamic hub of New York, peppered with the vicissitudes of success and failure, carved out his path and defined his resilience. The sting of failure, he reflects, is a masterful teacher, the lessons of which fortify self-confidence like no other.

The spectre of financial uncertainty that once loomed large in his life, he confesses, crafted a relentless drive within him. It's a hunger that remains undiminished, irrespective of his subsequent successes: “Not knowing how to pay the bills is something you will always remember and will make you stay hungry even when you are successful.”

From his personal saga, Spiros distilled an enduring wisdom: to ride out the storm, believe in the promise of better days. "Life comes in cycles," he muses, "and bad times are just a part of life. Remember, however, that so are good times."

In an increasingly digitized and hyper-fast-paced world, where change is the only constant, Spiros' philosophy is guided by the wisdom of the late Steve Jobs: "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards." But underlying his accomplishments is a belief in the importance of passion, focus, and the irreplaceable value of supportive people during difficult times.

As consistently the top-rated influencer in fintech and finance, and a leading figure in artificial intelligence since 2017, Spiros has a singular vantage point on the evolving landscape of tech. His belief in the transformative power of AI has long been reflected in his work, and his early prediction that this technology would revolutionize the financial industry is being rapidly realized.

But even so, no one saw generative AI coming. "The advancements in generative AI, particularly in large language models (LLMs), were largely unforeseen - even the godfather of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, was surprised by the speed of their development," Margaris observes.

But for him, AI isn't just a passing trend or moment of excitement, it's a seismic shift - an earthquake causing a tsunami in its wake. Many companies are scrambling to harness the power of AI to gain a competitive edge, following the groundbreaking work of OpenAI with its ChatGPT model.

But Spiros stresses that it's not just about AI. A range of technological trends, from augmented reality (AR) to advances in data analytics, will all play pivotal roles in shaping the financial industry. He likens the application of technology to the work of a chef: "It's about how you mix various technologies to provide your customers with an attractive and compelling offering." And the resulting dish? “‘Tasty’ in technology, so to speak, is what gives a company the possible edge over its competitors.”

In this competitive arena, large financial institutions are catching up to fintech companies in terms of technology and user experience. The 'low-hanging fruit' has been picked, as Spiros puts it, and fintech companies are faced with a heightened challenge to differentiate themselves from traditional incumbents.

“Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well." This quote by Jack London has stayed with Spiros, and now it stays with me. 

The labyrinth of the fintech industry is perpetually shifting, its low-hanging fruits increasingly elusive. Yet, Spiros maintains that for the passionate entrepreneur, this challenge should be a call to action. "If you are passionate and have a winning proposition, you must go for it," he asserts. Spiros sees new players as inevitable game-changers, capable of reshaping the established order—much like OpenAI's disruption of the AI and search space. "If people believe in their fintech offering, they should go for it with all they have."

"Innovation is crucial in this environment," he points out. As he sees it, many smaller fintech firms risk becoming passing fads unless they can offer something compelling to their customers.

Spiros is quick with fitting metaphors, a compelling communicator of any topic, no matter how complex. Comparing fintech to fast fashion, he notes that without significant innovation, consumers may simply flit from one fintech trend to another, presenting a significant challenge for smaller companies and founders. 

For startup founders, the journey to success is a dynamic labyrinth of trials, triumphs, and transformative moments. According to Spiros, it's an environment in which founders must exist with every breath they take. It's not just about clocking in the hours; it's about an unwavering passion, a relentless pursuit of something special, a focus sharper than the finest blade.

He advises, "The more focused you remain, the more chances you have to succeed." His equation for success also includes diligent cash management to ensure startup survival and a recognition of the often-underestimated role of luck. "Luck is always an essential part of succeeding," he notes—but not just dumb luck. Spiros points out that as time passes, the chances of a product or service meeting a surge in consumer demand might increase. As he says this, I cannot help but think of Nvidia, founded in a roadside diner 30 years ago, now a $1 trillion dollar company thanks to the recent surge in demand for AI. 

When asked about insurtech, Spiros lives up to his name as a man who also helped make an insurtech company a unicorn. Spiros points to a challenge—there is limited customer interaction inherent in insurance offerings compared to more customer-facing sectors like banking. Building robust customer relationships becomes a difficult task for insurtech companies. "Simply said, I think more about my bank account than my insurance(s), which goes for most people," he remarks.

To combat this, Spiros unveils a strategy of crystal clarity—insurtech companies must form alliances with fintech players, to capitalize on the burgeoning trend of embedded finance, where non-financial firms are offering financial products. 

Needless to say, Spiros carries a portfolio teeming with successful ventures. And yet he navigates the question of singling out any one project with a considerate diplomacy that is clearly borne out of a passion for all of his projects. Rather than highlighting specific ventures, he emphasises the unifying elements of the companies he chooses to involve himself with: focus and passion. It is these qualities, he believes, that are vital to the solution-driven approaches his partnered companies offer their customers.

"The greatest privilege," he says, "is to work and exchange thoughts with amazing founders that burn for what they do." His measure of success lies in the remarkable people he has had the opportunity to collaborate with, and the shared journey through highs—and lows.

When asked about the secrets of his influential success, Spiros candidly admits his investments in excellent, passion-driven companies across fintech, AI, insurtech, cybersecurity, and healthcare have bolstered his position. However, he insists that the real fuel to his rise has been the strong support of his followers on social media platforms, especially Twitter and LinkedIn.

He provides some advice for aspiring thought leaders: "Support others and the content they share and not only focus on yourself." Emphasizing the importance of promoting others - from journalists to fellow thought leaders - Spiros believes that becoming an influencer is a gradual process built on generosity and mutual support. “The more you help others with their great content, such as journalists, other thought leaders, or content producers, the more you will slowly but surely become an influencer.” 

He applies the same principles to his guidance for startups: maintain focus, nourish passion, work diligently, and success will likely follow. He acknowledges the simplicity of his advice, but adds, "as we all know, simple is difficult”—while the path may appear straightforward, the journey is anything but easy.

“You don’t lose if you get knocked down; you lose if you stay down.”

This quote by Muhammad Ali is one of Spiros's guiding lights, and I’m struck by just how his message for the rest of us embodies this principle.  It’s a potent reminder of resilience and the indomitable spirit of a champion—a spirit that embraces failure as a part of the journey and celebrates the will to rise and keep going.

Triple Crown. Number one influencer. Unicorn-advisor. Venture partner. Running through all of this is the thread of determination, of a man who is as wise as he is straightforward, as generous as he is incisive. The lessons one can learn from him are numerous, with an open mind and a passion for growth. 

And through the lens of this fintech icon, we now have a clearer picture of the word of tech ventures—a world where battle-hardened lessons of the past intertwine with the boundless possibilities of the future. It is a world where complacency has no room, where failure is but a stepping stone, and where passion and commitment light the way forward. It is a world that invites the brave and the bold to challenge the status quo, one innovation at a time.

Published in MachineLab Ventures